BP4_KidBlog

Once again I found myself spending hours digging through all of the Web 2.0 tools that are out there. I found a great deal of good tools, and decided to focus on a blog for my students. Blogging may not be the newest of tools, but I am excited for my students to get involved in writing more, and learning how to respond to their peers. The blog tool that I chose was KidBlog.org. This student blogging site is safe and free to all students. There is no need for a student e-mail, and there are many different opportunities for grouping and sharing.

A quick and easy to follow tutorial can be found on YouTube. This will guide you through the set up, as well as how students can use Kid Blog and groups can be created. Multiple features are available, from importing pictures and videos to changing themes and fonts and styles.

For my class I am going to start using the blog for my reading groups. In the past I have had small groups read novels that they choose. When we meet to discuss the chapters we have read the students would turn in a reflection and I would make comments. I feel that students would benefit from reading each other’s thoughts, and being able to comment on each other and reflect upon what they have learned. This will promote more student collaboration and hopefully a better understanding of the novels.

A second benefit to having all of the blogs online is that students can work on this at home as well as at school. Each group will be able to read other groups blogs to see if a certain book may be one that they would like to read later in the year. I will also be working with students to learn how to write strong and appropriate comments to their peers. A great feature of Kid Blog is that the teacher must approve all comments. I am also able to add a moderator who will be able to read through and approve comments as well.

After we have worked with the blog on our reading reflections, I will decide if this tool is something that we should continue and open up to other subjects.