It has been a while since I have blogged. I was reading the book that I have my Tech Club students reading and realized that I have been asking them to blog each week as they read their book, but I have not been blogging at all throughout the process. It reminded me of an article I read recently about how adults say that we need to respect each other, but when it comes to children/students that seems to go out the window. I have always tried to show my students what respect is before I expected them to show it to me. Rather than just demanding respect from them right away.
It is not necessarily the same instance, but if I am asking them to blog each week, then I think I need to get back at it and keep up with my blogging!
Tech Club. I got the idea last year at TCEA14 when I attended a session about an after school Technology Book Club. I took some of their ideas and started Ermel Tech Bug Blogs at the beginning of the year. It has been a learning process throughout the whole year, but the kids are really enjoying Tech Club! We started with the students reading a couple chapters of a book each week and then they would respond to some questions that I posted about the reading. The students did this on the Ermel Tech Club Website. Each week after they finished reading we would discuss it and then they would respond to the questions. The students who enjoyed reading loved it! But those who wanted to be in the club more for the website part struggled to keep up with the group. Once we finished the book, the students started making their own websites! Everyone was very excited to get started on their own websites! It took a while to get going, because each student had to create an account with weebly. Once they all had their accounts, we still had to go step by step with showing them how to work on their sites and what they needed to have on their sites. After a couple of weeks, some of the students really started to get the hang of what to do! I even had a couple students who wanted to start putting games on their website! Of course they were just putting links to their favorite games, but it was great seeing them learn how to do some of these things on their own!
Once they had enough of their site built, I made sure they had their own blog page. Now they were able to start putting their blog on their own website and would not have to go to the group website to do their blog. They wrote their first blog as soon as they found out what the next book was that they were reading. I had them create their new blog post and get everything ready so they could start writing as soon as I gave them their new books! They were very excited to find out what their new book was going to be and start reading! Last week they wrote their first blog on their own website and this week will be their second blog on their own websites. They have started reading their new books and I am excited to see what they think about the books! Please take a minute to check out some of their sites and leave a comment for them to encourage them to keep working on their sites as well as to keep reading!
It is not necessarily the same instance, but if I am asking them to blog each week, then I think I need to get back at it and keep up with my blogging!
Tech Club. I got the idea last year at TCEA14 when I attended a session about an after school Technology Book Club. I took some of their ideas and started Ermel Tech Bug Blogs at the beginning of the year. It has been a learning process throughout the whole year, but the kids are really enjoying Tech Club! We started with the students reading a couple chapters of a book each week and then they would respond to some questions that I posted about the reading. The students did this on the Ermel Tech Club Website. Each week after they finished reading we would discuss it and then they would respond to the questions. The students who enjoyed reading loved it! But those who wanted to be in the club more for the website part struggled to keep up with the group. Once we finished the book, the students started making their own websites! Everyone was very excited to get started on their own websites! It took a while to get going, because each student had to create an account with weebly. Once they all had their accounts, we still had to go step by step with showing them how to work on their sites and what they needed to have on their sites. After a couple of weeks, some of the students really started to get the hang of what to do! I even had a couple students who wanted to start putting games on their website! Of course they were just putting links to their favorite games, but it was great seeing them learn how to do some of these things on their own!
Once they had enough of their site built, I made sure they had their own blog page. Now they were able to start putting their blog on their own website and would not have to go to the group website to do their blog. They wrote their first blog as soon as they found out what the next book was that they were reading. I had them create their new blog post and get everything ready so they could start writing as soon as I gave them their new books! They were very excited to find out what their new book was going to be and start reading! Last week they wrote their first blog on their own website and this week will be their second blog on their own websites. They have started reading their new books and I am excited to see what they think about the books! Please take a minute to check out some of their sites and leave a comment for them to encourage them to keep working on their sites as well as to keep reading!
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