I’ve been thinking about ways I can incorporate blogging into some of my student’s lessons, and came across what I thought was a great example.
Mr. C teaches at Noel Elementary, and holds a session called ‘Comments4Kids’ once a week, where his students:
“…have the privilege of reading blog posts from around the world and leaving comments.”
For instance on one day, his students looked at blog posts from both Qatar and Iowa.
I thought this was an excellent introduction to blogging, in that it permitted students to interact, collaborate, and publish with their peers, and encouraged cultural understandings and a global awareness by engaging with learners of other cultures.
I’d love to incorporate this type of lesson into some work I do with my 4th graders, who currently are at work on a long term project titled “Globally Connected”, in which they look at similarities and differences between their lives growing up in the U.S., and the lives of same-age students in other countries.
I do have some questions about implementation, however. In particular:
- Where to find blogs specifically from other places around the planet?
- Do I pre-screen the blog for age-appropriate content?
- How to assess my students’ posts?
