Strategies

Lesson 1: What is a Blog and Cyber Safety 1.0 Objectives: Read a blog Based on the lesson, the learner will explain in his or her own words that blogs are similar to online journals and will be able to identify the parts of a blog in a group discussion. 2.0 Adhere to Cyber Safety Guidelines and Acceptable Use Policy Using the school’s Cyber Safety Guidelines and Acceptable Use Policy as a guide, the learner will apply Internet Safety Guidelines and Acceptable Use Policy when blogging and commenting meeting the criteria stated in the guidelines and policy.

This lesson will introduce students to blogs. During the forty-minute scheduled library class, the librarian will use whole group instruction and explain that blogs are similar to online journals. They allow anyone to publish their thoughts online. The librarian will use the SmartBoard to access the Internet and the blog First Grader At Last (http://firstgraderatlast.blogspot.com/). She will explain that this is a teacher’s blog that is written with her students and their parents as the audience. Like a journal, blogs are arranged in a calendar format with the most recent entry first. Unlike a journal, the entries are meant to be read by other people. The students and librarian will discuss the different parts of the blog: title of blog, title of post, date of post, and comments section. Students will have a chance to ask questions and make observations. The librarian will explain that the students will begin using blogs in their reading class, in the library, and in their computer class.

Using the school’s Cyber Safety Guidelines and Acceptable Use Policy as a guide, the learner will apply Internet Safety Guidelines and Acceptable Use Policy when blogging and commenting meeting the criteria stated in the guidelines and policy. The librarian will lead a discussion with students that reviews the Cyber Safety Guidelines and Acceptable Use Policy. She will explain that students will be writing their own blogs and commenting on other blogs. Students will be expected to follow the [|Cyber Safety Guidelines]as well as the Acceptable Use Policy. Students will be encouraged to ask questions and discuss why it is important to use these guidelines.

Lesson 2: Login and Comment Objective 3.0 Guidelines for commenting on a blog Using the guidelines handout, the learner will discuss the guidelines and distinguish between sample comments that meet the guidelines and those that do not. The learners will express in their own words why a comment meets or does not meet the guidelines. Objective 4.0 Logging into Kidblogs.org Using individual computer workstations, the learner will be able to open an Internet browser, type [|www.kidblogs.org] into the address bar, and successfully use his/her username and password to login to the kidblogs site.

Objective 5.0 Practice commenting on a blog Using Kidblog and the guidelines for commenting on a blog handout, the learner will compose and submit a comments on three classmates’ blog that meet the criteria stated in the guidelines.

During their reading block, the classroom teacher will bring the students to the library for this lesson. The lesson should take approximately one hour. One of the really neat things about blogging is that it allows for a conversation between the writer and the reader through the use of the commenting feature. Learners will be given the Guidelines for Commenting on a Blog and will discuss the guidelines. The librarian will show the video : How to Write a Quality Comment [|http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDVSw54VU1A&feature=player_embedded#]! Using the SmartBoard, the teacher/librarian will then navigate to the Mrs. Yollis’ Classroom Blog which hosts the video and has several excellent examples of comments. The learners will discuss whether or not the comments meet the guidelines and tell why they do or why they don’t. The learners are encouraged to extend the conversation and discuss how the comments could be improved so that they do meet the guidelines.

Students will move to their individual computer workstation. They will be given an index card with the Kidsblog web address and their username and passwords. They will open an Internet browser and type [|www.kidsblogs.org] into the address bar. Students will login to Kidsblog.com and read their teacher’s and librarian’s introduction blog. They will choose one of the blogs to comment on. They are encouraged to read the blog twice before clicking on the comments link. They will use the guidelines for writing a comment, review their comment and submit their comment.

Lesson 3 Writing your first blog entry Objective: 6.0 Publish introduction blog post Using Kidblog and the instructions for the introduction blog post, the learner will compose a blog post that meets the criteria stated in the instructions. During their reading block, students will come to the library with their teacher for whole group and individual instruction. In a whole group setting in front of the SmartBoard, the librarian will show learners how to click “new post” and will point out to students that the blog post editing screen looks very similar to Microsoft Word and that learners can use it the same way they use Word. The librarian will demonstrate how to change the font size, type, and color. She will then do a sample post and submit it so that learners will know what each step looks like. Learners will then move to individual computers and login to Kidblogs.org. Learners will be given time to navigate and get logged in independently but the librarian and classroom teacher will be available to assist learners. Learners will be encouraged to number their interesting facts and to compose at least five but no more than ten. Discussion among learners will be encouraged as a means of prompting learners with ideas. Once learners are finished, they will be encouraged to review their post for spelling, grammar, and punctuation before submitting.

Lesson 4: Get the Conversation Going Objective 7.0 Comment on other students’ posts Using the guidelines for commenting on a blog post handout, the learner will compose and submit comments to interesting posts that meet the criteria stated in the guidelines. During the reading block, the learners use either the library computer lab, the main computer lab, or the laptop cart to access Kidblogs.org and read classmates’ introduction blog. As a whole group, the classroom teacher will quickly review how to write a quality comment, how to login, and how to click on “comment” to open the commenting tool. Students will then independently log in to Kidblogs and will have thirty minutes to read their classmates’ posts and comment on at least three. The teacher and the librarian will assist students in logging in as well as making sure they are able to navigate through the class blogs. The teacher and librarian will provide immediate feedback to students at the point of need to ensure that students are writing quality comments and are able to successfully post their comments.

Lesson 5: Keep the Conversation Going Objective 8.0 Publish blog posts independently Following a class discussion on blogging topics and ideas and using the instructions for publishing a blog post, the learner will compose a blog post that meets the criteria stated in the handout. Objective 9.0 Read and comment on classmates’ blogs Using Kidblog and the guidelines for commenting on a blog handout, the learner will compose and submit a comments on classmates’ blog that meet the criteria stated in the guidelines.

During the reading block, the teacher will lead a class discussion about topics that students can blog about. Since the goal is to encourage reading motivation, the teacher will encourage students to blog about what they’re reading as well as hobbies, special interests, talents, and experiences. The teacher will record ideas on the SmartBoard and will later add these ideas to her blog for students to reference. The teacher will explain that the class blog is an online social conversation that will make learning from each other fun. The teacher will provide students with a handout with basic guidelines for a blog post. Students will then be given time to log in to Kidblogs.org and compose a new blog entry. They will also be given time to read their classmates’ blogs and writing quality comments.

The librarian and classroom teacher will use the Motivation to Read profile survey and interview as a pre-assessment and post assessment for the goal of improving student motivation. Because the goal of the project is to increase reading motivation in students who have low self-efficacy, the blogs will be assessed but students will not be graded. The value in assessing and evaluating the blogs will be that the teacher and librarian will see students growing as readers and writers and their motivation improving. The rubrics will be used to provide positive feedback to students.
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