Blog Bling

Below is a video that I use during the 5th grade human body unit. A 6th grade teacher named Mr. Parr has made an awesome series of songs that help explain each of the major human body systems. These videos are great because students can access them to review anytime they have access to the internet. They introduce material in a very fun and engaging way.

Personally, I can see using blogs to share passions, interests and knowledge with the world. I have thought this summer about keeping a blog about some of the spiritual/faith formation thoughts I have been wrestling with. A blog like that would be more for personal reasons, like a journal, but if someone wants to read it, why not. After all, this is the age of collective knowledge!

In the classroom I am really excited to use the "kidblog" that we set up at the end of this year. I have been really impressed with the ease of use of Kidblog.org thus far. It has some great options for the teacher maintaining control, while still allowing individual students to do the posting.

I hope that this will function as a great way for students to share their writing. Often is will serve as the new "final draft." Instead of typing something to print out and hand in, they will know if they have reached final copy quality if it is ready to be posted to the blog. We all know that reading what other writers write is a great way to develop your own skills. Posting student writing to a blog is just one more way for them to have access to each others work.