1. Meet the Author
When reading a work written by a contemporary author, invite the writer to interact with your students using a blog. Ask students to brainstorm and post questions and comments about the text for the author to respond to. Depending on interest and the author's availability, this can range from a one-time week-long Q&A to an activity that extends throughout the time you're reading the text in class.
2. Blog-Pals
Enlist a teacher at another school who is willing to have students blog with your class. Identify an instructional unit or activity you'll be teaching at the same time such as a weather study or reading a specific book. Take turns posting activities that students from both classes respond to online. Encourage students to comment on posts from other students.
3. Collaborate to Create an Online Study Guide (maybe a way to use Edmodo)
Students can work collaboratively to build an online study guide using a group dialectical blog journal. Frequent posts to the blog build documentation that serves as a reference when it's time to prepare for a quiz or exam. As you cover material, post prompts that ask students to explore important concepts. Then redirect students to earlier prompts and group comments when it's time to review material.
4. Create a Blog Tutorial
Challenge your students to write, record, and post an online tutorial explaining to their parents how to use the blog. Use free tools such as Wink (www.debugmode.com/wink/) or VoiceThread.com to create the tutorial. (Another idea is to assign one student per week to summarize what is happening in class for parents to listen to--see #6.)5. Conduct an Online Survey
The next time you need to survey parents, use a free online survey such as SurveyMonkey.com or Polls (zoho.com) to create the survey and link it to your blog. This encourages parents to visit the blog and allows you to collect, tabulate, and report survey results online.
6. Collaborate to Create a Classroom News Blog
Create a blog for communicating general classroom news. Work with students to identify the kinds of information they'd like to share with parents, then engage them in writing and posting daily or weekly news updates.
Create a blog for communicating general classroom news. Work with students to identify the kinds of information they'd like to share with parents, then engage them in writing and posting daily or weekly news updates.
7. Create a Blog for Problem Solving
Assess and monitor your upper elementary students' problem-solving skills using a special blog you create for this purpose. Post a weekly challenge, like a riddle or brainteaser, that requires your students to think creatively in order to find a solution. Ask students to post their solutions on the blog, then discuss the solutions with the whole class at the end of the week. Each week's post and comments will be saved in the blog archive for later reference. Expand this activity by inviting students to find and share challenges with the rest of the class. This special purpose blog can be linked to your general classroom blog for easy access.
Assess and monitor your upper elementary students' problem-solving skills using a special blog you create for this purpose. Post a weekly challenge, like a riddle or brainteaser, that requires your students to think creatively in order to find a solution. Ask students to post their solutions on the blog, then discuss the solutions with the whole class at the end of the week. Each week's post and comments will be saved in the blog archive for later reference. Expand this activity by inviting students to find and share challenges with the rest of the class. This special purpose blog can be linked to your general classroom blog for easy access.
8. Illustrate an Activity
Parents of younger children are often at a loss at how to help their child with hands-on projects or activities. Use a blog to post written directions and illustrations parents can use as a guide. For example, folding an origami bat is easy--if you know the steps. Take and post digital photos that show how to fold a bat. When it's time to complete the assignment, send home the paper to fold and the Web address for the directions you've posted on the blog. Encourage parents and students to post questions or comments as they work at home.
Parents of younger children are often at a loss at how to help their child with hands-on projects or activities. Use a blog to post written directions and illustrations parents can use as a guide. For example, folding an origami bat is easy--if you know the steps. Take and post digital photos that show how to fold a bat. When it's time to complete the assignment, send home the paper to fold and the Web address for the directions you've posted on the blog. Encourage parents and students to post questions or comments as they work at home.
What other ways have you used blogs? Looking through this list it seems like a lot of these same ideas could be used in things like Edmodo, My Big Campus and Collaborize Classroom. Either way I like the ideas!
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