In
between the questions little tidbits of information were shared, such
as how their siblings are on the computer 24-7, how much they love
working with technology, and up popped this question from one
bright-eyed and entergetic soul……”Can we use our own email?
Don’t you just love this? There is nothing better, absolutely nothing
than working with elementary students. They keep you on your toes and
they are so inspiring. I love to listen to them.
Let me back up and share how we began with this group of second
graders. We created a class blog, Neville’s Bloggers. The idea is to
start of with a class blog, explore possibilities as we tie the
conversations in to what we are learning in class. The teacher is going
to post as much as possible. She is learning right along with the class
- she’s sharp, just like her students.
The goal today was to introduce the kids to blogs and then teach them
how to comment. When they comment, we use bogus emails. Those of you in
schools know how hard it is to get emails for students. Not having an
email is OK because we really don’t want anyone emailing them, at
least not until we have had lots more opportunities to provide
guidance. So I told the one (sorry, I haven’t mastered names yet)
that asked about emails that for now we were just going to use bogus
emails. Of course, I had to explain bogus – they got it and they
understood why.
I talked briefly about being ambassadors, of their class, their school,
their state, country, and yes even the world. I spent time on the
importance of learning how to use a tool well and being a good
representative of responsible use of that tool. I’m planting
blogging seeds so that when they are teenagers and want to “write all”,
maybe, just maybe, they’ll ponder the possible results.
I asked Miss Neville to post a comment for the kids to see. They
watched. Gosh, they are a great group, so attentive and so willing.
Then I pointed them to BlogWrite and each student posted a comment to
one of the JHH students. I might add here that this took a bit of the
45 minute time slot we had. This group is currently participating in
Type to Learn Jr. so it will be nice when keyboarding skills have
progressed a bit. They got the comments done – short and sweet! It was
a good beginning and I can tell this group is going to soar.
The class went to PE and Miss Neville and I had a little planning time.
I showed her the inner workings of TypePad.
I’m going to make a help sheet for the students and a sheet for the
parents on how to comment. I’ve discovered that many times parents want
to comment but are unsure just how.We set up a few dates and
brainstormed. We meet again Feb. 3rd and she will have one session with
the children in the lab prior to my returning to the school.
On my way out of the school I had the chance to talk with the
Instructional Technology Specialist. We’re going to meet and he may
start a blog!