Lesson 2
This lesson involves the use of the Web 2.0 tool Blogging
Using the website www.kidblog.org, the teacher will create a Class. Within your class, you can set up usernames and password for all your students. Once you've set everything up, and the class has access to their blogs, they may begin the assignment:
Using the website www.kidblog.org, the teacher will create a Class. Within your class, you can set up usernames and password for all your students. Once you've set everything up, and the class has access to their blogs, they may begin the assignment:
- Start the class by presenting a set of pictures. These could be pictures of anything from kids playing, to people camping, to portraits of animals. (The idea is to get kids thinking about something to write about by inferring meaning from the pictures.
- Instruct students to pick one or more of these pictures to build a story from. Ask them to come up with ideas of what could be going on in the pictures: thoughts, actions, conversations, etc...
- Give students time to write. Allow time for two or three different days so that students have extra time to think and so they don't get too bored of the writing process.
- By the second or third day, students should have completed stories with a beginning, middle, and end.
Why I Chose This Tool:
Blogging is a great way of putting ideas into words and is a great platform for writing stories. With Kidblog, students can blog safely without the use of email addresses or social profiles and the teacher can access their page easily to see their progress. By using a blog instead of paper, you reduce the risk of losing work, students won't get frustrated with having to erase mistakes, and everyone's blogs are in one place.