Recommittment to Reflection (Farewell Summer)

It has been 2 months since my last blog.

I think that sounds like some sort of confession.

It was a conscious decision to step away from my blog and from Twitter, even from my Feedly reader for the summer, so I shouldn't feel the need to apologize.  I lived my summer--at the beach, in the mountains, in the gym, in a book--but I didn't reflect on my summer, at least not in writing.  It was just how I wanted it.

And yet...

I've spent the past three days with our new faculty, and I've asked them all to blog each day this week, to reflect publicly about their new Flint Hill lives.  So it's time to sit myself back down at the computer and recommit to my blog and to public reflection.

Check out our new teachers' blog posts, which have reminded me to get back in the game.

Reality Strikes

Last week my daughter decided she wanted to start her own blog--a "real" one--not her school Kidblog one.  Her friend had been getting some props for her own blog, and so...

We logged onto WordPress and set her up.  I reminded her to be safe online--to keep her personal information personal.  She nodded, full of the lessons she'd learned in school (thanks to Melissa!)  Then I left her to it.

Frankly, I forgot about the blog.  I didn't even know she'd finished a post.  I didn't follow her or pass along the link.  (Bad mother)

But last night I found her checking her email and saw that she had a follower on her blog.  She looked concerned as she moved away from the screen to reveal this follower's blog, filled with strange posts.

"Who is this?" she asked.  I sat down beside her and looked at the blog. 
"I have no idea," I told her.
"How did he find my blog?" she wanted to know.

I showed her how easy it is to follow someone's blog.  Then we talked about this very real stranger who may now choose to read her posts.  And here's what she said:

"I'm going to really think about what I put on this blog.  I'm going to be more careful."

Cha-ching!

Even though she'd been taught that, she didn't get it until it was REAL.  I asked her if she wanted me to make her blog less easy to find, but we decided that the whole value of blogging is to have a wide audience. 

So, if you feel like it, check out her blog! 

Next Stop: Vermont

Now that Spring Break and the VAIS conference are behind me, I am setting my sights on Vermont where I will have the pleasure of visiting Sharon Davison and her kindergarten class at Allen Brook School in Williston.  I am looking forward to learning from Sharon, her students, and her colleagues about the ways they use their iPads and other technology to enhance and transform their teaching and learning.  I would never have known about Sharon or her blogging, tweeting kindergarteners if I had not begun my digital professional development journey this fall.  Each time I run through my Google Reader or Twitter feed I learn something new, feel inspired, and wonder what I might try in my own school. 

I will use my blog to journal about my experiences in Vermont, so perhaps someone can learn a thing or two from me.  Stay tuned!

Make it Real to Make it Matter

So we began the fourth grade blogging unit lessons on Monday.  Some kids were excited, some were nervous, and many were confused.  What would they blog about?  Who would read their blog?  Would the whole world get to see it?  They settled down enough for us to go through our blog overview lessons and our two internet safety and responsibility lessons over the next several days.  They even played along during the third lesson when we asked them to write simulated respectful blog posts about scenarios like these:

• You want to write a blog post about your most recent math test, which you finished before anyone else and answered all of the problems correctly.  How can you write this AND be respectful of your classmates who did not finish as quickly or as well?  What would you write?
• You want to write a blog post about a group project that you recently participated in, but you don’t think that everyone in your group contributed equally.  You are proud of the work you did.  What would you write?

There's nothing wrong with these scenarios, except that they were scenarios, not real and immediate.  While some of the students have actually experienced these situations and my choose to blog about them when they get underway next week, the kids all knew that this wasn't for real.   The blog posts they wrote in this practice session were generally vague, overly polite, and forced.


But things took a turn for the beautiful on Thursday when we taught the lesson on how to write good comments on a blog.  We showed strong and weak examples of comments and discussed the "rules" of blogging, which we adapted from Grammar Girl's blogging rules.  And then...and this is when things got good...we showed them Mrs. Emerick's real blog post and asked the kids to write real comments to her.  Mrs. Emerick amazed her class with her blog about helping the dogs at the animal shelter where she volunteers find homes.  The kids were moved by the pictures of the dogs and by the stories Mrs. Emerick told them about the dogs.  They wrote heartfelt comments about how her blog made them think about their own dogs who have passed away, about how they wished she had included more stories about the dogs on the blog, and about how they'd like to come help her at the shelter.  Their comments were respectful and thoughtful and sincere.   We were amazed by how well they responded when they were writing to a real person (and even more importantly, to their teacher) for a real purpose. 

Students see right through simulations and role-plays.  What they need are more opportunities to put the skills we teach them to use for real, about things they really care about, and for real audiences.







 

The Next Frontier

The talk of blogging has been swirling around me for quite some time, but this morning when I offered to help a fourth grade teacher prepare a series of minilessons to teach her students how to blog, I decided it was time to dive in.  So this is my first blog post, and it is little more than a confession that I've never blogged...and that I need to head into this new frontier so I can actually figure out how to teach blog-writing strategies to fourth graders.  Why would we want to teach fourth graders to blog?  Because for now, blogs are the way many people get the news, form opinions, or develop hobbies.  When these fourth graders are out in the world, who knows what new genre supported by what new technology will be their main source of information.  But for now...this is it.  So kids better understand how to communicate in this forum without being disrespectful, inappropriate, or vain.  Online etiquette, solid grammar/usage/mechanics skills, effective communication, digital responsibility...there are so many lessons here that I am anxious to get started.