Teachers Talk English

Just seeing if I know how to work this. What information do you receive on the computer when you grade the RAI from Marion Middle’s scan tron machine?

A blog (a portmanteau of web log) is a website where entries are commonly displayed in reverse chronological order.

     -www.wikipedia.org

Here are some examples of classroom uses for blogs.

The Outsiders Vocabulary Blog - The students had access to create posts–as opposed to simply commenting on my posts. They drew one word out of a hat and completed a word study on it. The posts were sorted by chapter and part of speech. The result is a comprehensive vocabulary database for the students, and another vocabulary tool for teachers. Two classes worked together to create this glossary. They began to see the benefit of collaborating. By breaking the list down, they were able to get more out of the work.

Along the way the students received mini lessons in citing sources, scanning a text for specific content, etymology, and web publishing. Wordpress blogs have a wonderfully tired system of access, so though students could create posts, they could not publish them.

I gave the students time in class to work on this project, and I had zero unfocused students. Classrooms of students engaged with the content while seeing the benefit of community.  I go back to the blog to talk about parts of speech, or my students are pointed to the blog to discover new words to use in their writing. (Tom Woodward - Bionic Teaching)

The Richard III Blog - is another teacher led blog where the teacher posts in the voice of a character and students respond both to the post and one another in the comments.

The Book Review Blog - is a blog designed to allow community interaction. Students, parents and teachers can contribute audio content for inclusion.

Paula Roop’s Debate Blog - a blog arranged so that the teacher leads discussion in the posts and students comment on the posts and share resources on special password protected pages.

Tonight’s assignment.  Use comments if you need help.  Don’t give away answers!!!

In order to write a post, you must first log in. (Logging in is unnecessary if you only wish to comment.)  Once you have logged in, your screen will look different.  Click on Write from the light blue bar, then select Write Post  from the dark blue bar below.  Fill in the Title and your Post.  Make sure you select or add a category.  Then, click on the Publish button.  To see what it looks like on the page, clik on “View Site” link at the top of the page.  If you have any problems, email me… cgoodwin@scsb.org .  Don’t be afraid to play around if you make a mistake, let me know and I’ll fix it.  Have fun!

Since this is the English blog, feel free to edit my writings.

Click here to access an editable curriculum map in google docs.

This blog was created at the request of Middle School teachers.  Teachers Talk is a place where you can share ideas or websites and collaborate on projects.  We are starting with a very simple design layout until everyone is comfortable.  It is my hope that once you are comfortable using the blog yourself, you might consider using it in the classroom.  Students could discuss a character or debate a “hot button issue.”  It is possible to lock the blog down so that students must be registered and no comments will be posted until the teacher proofs them and allows them to go through.

 If you encounter any difficulties or have any questions, please email me:  cgoodwin@scsb.org and I’ll to my best to help.  I’m new at this too!