What is a blog?
A blog is a web page, or ‘web log’ which is a type of website. Blogging provides students and teachers with a platform for connecting, communicating and collaborating. Blogs allow a variety of multimedia to be uploaded and embedded, including images, videos, pod casts and more. Most blogs are interactive, allowing visitors to leave comments about the work they have viewed.
Why have a class blog?
Blogs at COHR have two main purposes. The first is that blogs provide excellent communication between school and home. Classes can use a blog to write about and reflect on what they have been learning and share samples of student work. They may also share photos or videos of events and activities. Parents have easy access to the blogs and are able to keep up to date with what is happening in class. They can even leave comments to encourage and support the class.
The second purpose for blogs is that they are a fantastic learning tool. Blogs enable students to connect with the global community and provide an authentic purpose for writing. People from all around the world (through the internet) are able to read blogs and post comments responding to what they have viewed. The comments are the most exciting part of blogging as the students get feedback on their work and are able to see the purpose of their learning as they have a clear audience when posting information.
It is important that students learn how to work safely online, especially as they become exposed to other online technologies at home such as instant messaging and social networking sites. At COHR, students are taught how to be responsible users of the internet. Blogging enables teachers to model and teach safe internet practices. Students follow blogging guidelines (which are posted on each class blogs) which ensure anonymity and privacy online. Students will only use their first name and must have parental permission before photos are published on the blog. All comments that are posted onto our school blogs are moderated by the class teacher. Only comments that are positive and appropriate will be published onto the blogs.
What’s on the blog?
Each class global2 blog will differ in presentation; however all will have a home page with posts displayed in reverse chronological order. Pages (usually located at the top of the blog home page) contain extra information – eg: blogging guidelines, curriculum pages, websites for kids. We aim to put something new on the blog each week.
Comments
One of the most exciting elements of blogging is the interactivity provided by reader comments. We welcome and encourage parents and other family members to comment on the blogs. Parents are asked to avoid using their surname and may wish to identify themselves as, for example, “Jane – Sally’s mum”. Students with parent consent (returned signed permission form), are able to comment from home on the level blogs using the proper commenting skills they have learnt in class. All comments are sent to the teacher via email for approval prior to appearing on the blog.
