I feel that I have a better sense of how I should organize my blog and how I will most likely have students use it. What I am still struggling with, or perhaps worried about, is how I can control it. If I am using the blog for general students to post thoughts on controversial issues I may want their responses to be private. Can I do that? Is there a way to quickly check that a specific student has posted a comment or will I need to scroll through every comment? Can offensive language be flagged easily?
In addition, I need to work more on formatting. While focusing on aesthetics can be a bit of a waste of time with teenagers I think, something that looks polished will receive more respect than something that looks thrown together.
I am with you on the formatting issue. I spent at least an hour last night experimenting with various formats. I am thinking that at least getting started simple is better. I ended up deleting several gadgets that I thought would be cool but realized that just because you can add a feature doesn't necessarily mean you should.
What I struggled with most was sitting for such a long duration : ) One of my concernt is navigating to the various pages and having too many tabs open because when I edit it will open a new tab. But primarily I need to think creatively in using blogs.
We'll take more breaks tomorrow. Sorry about that! Yes, tabs can be very annoying. The hardest part of setting up a blog is thinking about how you want to actually use it ahead of time.
I am impressed on how much information we learned today. I appreciate being given the class time to work on the design of our blogs. I am confident with more time I will continue to learn the mechanics of going through the different steps, it is just a new thing right now. I look forward to adding more pictures and formatting techniques to the page, I know parents and students appreciate the "look" of the page.
I knew a little about blogs coming in to this class, but I am leaving knowing much more just after a day. Everything was very easy to navigate. I think that the main issue for me will be remembering how to do everything. So far no struggles. I think the biggest aspect that went well today was feeling very comfortable navigating the dashboard successfully.
Wow!!! I have learned so much in one day! If this is Day 1, I can't imagine what we'll know by Day 5! :) When I entered today, I honestly had very little understanding of what a blog was let alone how to create my own.
Was I frustrated? Yes! But, I'm feeling a little more comfortable. Ask me tomorrow; let's see if I can access it all again! I think it's a matter of sitting down and taking the time to play with it all.
I think it's so important that teachers put themselves in the "student" seat every once in a while!
Jill...you were very good at wandering around the room and helping all of us.
I would like to learn how to upload pictures from my phone.
I was on the same page as you regarding my understanding of blogs. I'm also wondering how much I can remember once we get started today. Had to take a break from it all after class and clear out head. I also agree it's very important to put ourselves in student seats and realize how I many times I move too fast for many students and how that causes stress. It's always difficult to know how quickly to move through material familiar to us, but new to learners of many levels.
I enjoyed all aspects of what I have learned. I struggled with all the information and as well as trying to remember how I did things. I just need to play with all the different components of putting this together, just like I did when I was learning weebly webpage design, so it will be easier to manuver around.
I would like to see what others have done, this would help me move forward with designing my blog. Why reinvent the wheel when others have done amazing work that I can piggyback on?
I liked being able to learn new items then have time to practice this
As usual the first time I work with one of these applications it takes me a while to remember how to navigate through the program. I remember the first time I created a web page or a form it took me seemingly forever to remember how to go back and add or revise things. It will take some time fooling with it but eventually I'll get it.
I agree with you that it will take time to become more comfortable navigating our way through our new blog. I worked on mine a little last night and was surprised how much I had remembered from our class. I'm wondering how long it will take to feel comfortable using the blog and how much time it will take each day to use the blog. I can see myself spending too much time with the look and content of the site. I feel like mine looks quite basic right now, however I need to not worry about perfection.
I am surprised at how easy it can be to make a blog for a classroom. I have never made a blog or a website before so I will need some time to process the information and "play" around in the site to create a blog that suits my needs. Spending some time at home in my new blog will be a great use of my time. I realize that this will be a revolving sight and my first classroom blog will evolve into something greater. Using the blog in the classroom will certainly help with student engagement and parent communication.
Melinda, while this is my first time making a blog I have worked with a number of people who use them already and I am convinced that blogs are a powerful tool. They allow the classroom to expand and to draw in students who are not ready to be open in front of groups. I am not sure, however, how this will work with younger students. That is something i would love to hear about as I have two young boys who will most likely be doing some of this later.
I struggled today with embedding the calendar mainly. But I'm getting great help, thanks. Also, I've struggled juggling all the aspects of fully owning all the settings and responsibilities of maintaining a blog. It was a bit overwhelming at times, but I feel my blog is more developed than it ever has been (since I started attempting blogs/websites 2 years ago).
I would agree with Dave. I have used blogs, or attempted to use blogs, a couple of times with no success, and after yesterday my blog is far more put together than it ever was before, and I feel confident about using it effectively.
This has opened my eyes to so many possibilities. I'm especially excited to use this as a participation option for timid students. However, management seems a bit overwhelming. Do I need to read through each post for appropriate content? I don't want to miss student comments that may carry negative connotations or be used to garner attention. Suggestions?
How much time, on average per week, does it take to keep up the blog? What difficulties have teachers faced in classrooms without computer labs? What do teachers do about students who don't have home computers?
Questions: What is the easiest route to keep accessing the dashboard? I'm still wondering if I should create separate blogs for each class (to manage comments/posts) Can a student post a question anonymously? I'm thinking of students who aren't comfortable asking questions in front of class. These questions could be a fantastic way to begin class the following meeting.
I loved your comments. They are very thoughtful and questioning in nature.
If you're asking students to comment, you will initially need to monitor their comments. The easiest way to do this is in the comments section of the blogger dashboard. Students will also tell you pretty quickly if someone is behaving inappropriately.
The most time intensive part of blogging is the beginning. You'll need to set up who is an author, train people on how to comment and then how to post to the blog, get students to label their posts properly, and monitor comments. As far as assignments go, I think it's easier to have students post their assignments. As a teacher, you can rotate which student assignments you personally grade in a random fashion. Since students will be providing feedback as well, you don't need to personally view each student's assignment every time.
I've been fortunate to work in classrooms with computers. For students without computers, there should always be a written option.
The easiest route to access the dashboard is by clicking the design button in the upper right corner of your blog
I would create separate blogs for each class. I found come cool tools to publish posts to multiple blogs. You can also have different pages for each class, but it gets messy. I'll show you some options tomorrow.
I would stay away from having people post things anonymously as it tends to cause issues. If you really wanted to, you could set up an anonymous gmail account and give it authoring access to your blog. Then students could use this account to anonymously post to our blog. Sounds like trouble though. Might be more valuable to assign a student a question of the week post that they get to create. Then everyone else has to comment on their question or create their own blog entry in response.
As I encountered in the past few years, we are frequently faced with a lack of technical resources at THS. Too often I was unable to get computer lab time for my classes, which hinders the class progress.
I want to support Jill's comments on the issue of anonymously posting comments. Students need to learn to own what they say in my opinion. People can be really nasty if they don't have to take responsibility for what they say. Some people can be nasty even if they take responsibility, but at least then you know who you are dealing with. Given the natural tendency for teenagers (the group I teach) to be a little harsh, I want to know what kid I need to work with on how to not be a jerk.
I feel that I have a better sense of how I should organize my blog and how I will most likely have students use it. What I am still struggling with, or perhaps worried about, is how I can control it. If I am using the blog for general students to post thoughts on controversial issues I may want their responses to be private. Can I do that? Is there a way to quickly check that a specific student has posted a comment or will I need to scroll through every comment? Can offensive language be flagged easily?
ReplyDeleteIn addition, I need to work more on formatting. While focusing on aesthetics can be a bit of a waste of time with teenagers I think, something that looks polished will receive more respect than something that looks thrown together.
You can limit who has access to your entire blog (only blog authors can read posts for example), but you can not make selective posts private.
DeleteYou can use the Blogger dashboard to see all comments. You can also use teacher dashboard to monitor comments.
I am with you on the formatting issue. I spent at least an hour last night experimenting with various formats. I am thinking that at least getting started simple is better. I ended up deleting several gadgets that I thought would be cool but realized that just because you can add a feature doesn't necessarily mean you should.
DeleteWhat I struggled with most was sitting for such a long duration : ) One of my concernt is navigating to the various pages and having too many tabs open because when I edit it will open a new tab. But primarily I need to think creatively in using blogs.
ReplyDeleteWe'll take more breaks tomorrow. Sorry about that! Yes, tabs can be very annoying. The hardest part of setting up a blog is thinking about how you want to actually use it ahead of time.
DeleteI, too, had the problem with having too many tabs open. But, I often have that problem when simply working on the computer anyway!
DeleteMy biggest struggle was sitting for that long too:) I would also like to learn how to limit the tabs.
DeleteI am impressed on how much information we learned today. I appreciate being given the class time to work on the design of our blogs. I am confident with more time I will continue to learn the mechanics of going through the different steps, it is just a new thing right now. I look forward to adding more pictures and formatting techniques to the page, I know parents and students appreciate the "look" of the page.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteI knew a little about blogs coming in to this class, but I am leaving knowing much more just after a day. Everything was very easy to navigate. I think that the main issue for me will be remembering how to do everything.
ReplyDeleteSo far no struggles. I think the biggest aspect that went well today was feeling very comfortable navigating the dashboard successfully.
Wow!!! I have learned so much in one day! If this is Day 1, I can't imagine what we'll know by Day 5! :) When I entered today, I honestly had very little understanding of what a blog was let alone how to create my own.
ReplyDeleteWas I frustrated? Yes! But, I'm feeling a little more comfortable. Ask me tomorrow; let's see if I can access it all again! I think it's a matter of sitting down and taking the time to play with it all.
I think it's so important that teachers put themselves in the "student" seat every once in a while!
Jill...you were very good at wandering around the room and helping all of us.
I would like to learn how to upload pictures from my phone.
Thanks!
Angie
Thanks Angie :)
DeleteI'll play with uploading a picture from my phone tomorrow and try to model it for you in class.
It must be quite gratifying to be learning so much so quickly. Plus eye opening to discover what the capabilities of Blogger in general.
DeleteI was on the same page as you regarding my understanding of blogs. I'm also wondering how much I can remember once we get started today. Had to take a break from it all after class and clear out head.
DeleteI also agree it's very important to put ourselves in student seats and realize how I many times I move too fast for many students and how that causes stress. It's always difficult to know how quickly to move through material familiar to us, but new to learners of many levels.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI added a blogroll gadget on the sidebar. So now you can see everyone's class blog.
DeleteIs the blogroll gadget the "contributor" list?
DeleteYes, it is a lot of information, but, I think we did really well! Looking at each other's blogs and collaborating will help us!
DeleteOops! Never mind. I found it. :)
DeleteI enjoyed all aspects of what I have learned. I struggled with all the information and as well as trying to remember how I did things. I just need to play with all the different components of putting this together, just like I did when I was learning weebly webpage design, so it will be easier to manuver around.
DeleteI would like to see what others have done, this would help me move forward with designing my blog. Why reinvent the wheel when others have done amazing work that I can piggyback on?
I liked being able to learn new items then have time to practice this
As usual the first time I work with one of these applications it takes me a while to remember how to navigate through the program. I remember the first time I created a web page or a form it took me seemingly forever to remember how to go back and add or revise things. It will take some time fooling with it but eventually I'll get it.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that it will take time to become more comfortable navigating our way through our new blog. I worked on mine a little last night and was surprised how much I had remembered from our class. I'm wondering how long it will take to feel comfortable using the blog and how much time it will take each day to use the blog. I can see myself spending too much time with the look and content of the site. I feel like mine looks quite basic right now, however I need to not worry about perfection.
DeleteI am surprised at how easy it can be to make a blog for a classroom. I have never made a blog or a website before so I will need some time to process the information and "play" around in the site to create a blog that suits my needs. Spending some time at home in my new blog will be a great use of my time. I realize that this will be a revolving sight and my first classroom blog will evolve into something greater. Using the blog in the classroom will certainly help with student engagement and parent communication.
ReplyDeleteMelinda, while this is my first time making a blog I have worked with a number of people who use them already and I am convinced that blogs are a powerful tool. They allow the classroom to expand and to draw in students who are not ready to be open in front of groups. I am not sure, however, how this will work with younger students. That is something i would love to hear about as I have two young boys who will most likely be doing some of this later.
DeleteI struggled today with embedding the calendar mainly. But I'm getting great help, thanks. Also, I've struggled juggling all the aspects of fully owning all the settings and responsibilities of maintaining a blog. It was a bit overwhelming at times, but I feel my blog is more developed than it ever has been (since I started attempting blogs/websites 2 years ago).
ReplyDeleteI'm looking forward to learning more.
I would agree with Dave. I have used blogs, or attempted to use blogs, a couple of times with no success, and after yesterday my blog is far more put together than it ever was before, and I feel confident about using it effectively.
DeleteI didn't even think of adding a calendar! I would like to learn how to do that too.
DeleteThis has opened my eyes to so many possibilities. I'm especially excited to use this as a participation option for timid students. However, management seems a bit overwhelming. Do I need to read through each post for appropriate content? I don't want to miss student comments that may carry negative connotations or be used to garner attention.
ReplyDeleteSuggestions?
How much time, on average per week, does it take to keep up the blog?
What difficulties have teachers faced in classrooms without computer labs? What do teachers do about students who don't have home computers?
Questions:
What is the easiest route to keep accessing the dashboard?
I'm still wondering if I should create separate blogs for each class (to manage comments/posts)
Can a student post a question anonymously? I'm thinking of students who aren't comfortable asking questions in front of class. These questions could be a fantastic way to begin class the following meeting.
Thanks!
I loved your comments. They are very thoughtful and questioning in nature.
DeleteIf you're asking students to comment, you will initially need to monitor their comments. The easiest way to do this is in the comments section of the blogger dashboard. Students will also tell you pretty quickly if someone is behaving inappropriately.
The most time intensive part of blogging is the beginning. You'll need to set up who is an author, train people on how to comment and then how to post to the blog, get students to label their posts properly, and monitor comments. As far as assignments go, I think it's easier to have students post their assignments. As a teacher, you can rotate which student assignments you personally grade in a random fashion. Since students will be providing feedback as well, you don't need to personally view each student's assignment every time.
I've been fortunate to work in classrooms with computers. For students without computers, there should always be a written option.
The easiest route to access the dashboard is by clicking the design button in the upper right corner of your blog
I would create separate blogs for each class. I found come cool tools to publish posts to multiple blogs. You can also have different pages for each class, but it gets messy. I'll show you some options tomorrow.
I would stay away from having people post things anonymously as it tends to cause issues. If you really wanted to, you could set up an anonymous gmail account and give it authoring access to your blog. Then students could use this account to anonymously post to our blog. Sounds like trouble though. Might be more valuable to assign a student a question of the week post that they get to create. Then everyone else has to comment on their question or create their own blog entry in response.
As I encountered in the past few years, we are frequently faced with a lack of technical resources at THS. Too often I was unable to get computer lab time for my classes, which hinders the class progress.
DeleteI want to support Jill's comments on the issue of anonymously posting comments. Students need to learn to own what they say in my opinion. People can be really nasty if they don't have to take responsibility for what they say. Some people can be nasty even if they take responsibility, but at least then you know who you are dealing with. Given the natural tendency for teenagers (the group I teach) to be a little harsh, I want to know what kid I need to work with on how to not be a jerk.
Delete