I was looking for inspiration for my class blog. One of the children had written a story and I posted on twitter.
Richard, a boy in my class who was 'allergic' to writing in detail, had posted a story off his own back and was developing his own style. I wanted to share this - for him.
He isn't the most confident of children and I knew that if he felt that he was valued as an author, it would encourage him to write more.
I didn't expect 13 comments. The response was overwhelming and it got me thinking. We should do this more as a class, but I only know a few blogs made by other schools.

So I tweeted again, using a hashtag of #classlinkup to encourage other teachers to share their blog addresses and therefore provide a comprehensive list of blogging schools for everyone to use.
This was taken up by a lot of people, who added their own class blogs to the list.
Evolution.
Then a chance comment by Oliver Quinlan @oliverquinlan got me thinking. I know there are lots of people out there who share and communicate with others well. But what about those who are like me? Willing and wanting to share, but not sure where to start.
So I made a wiki. It's called http://classblogs.wikispaces.com and it's only been going a few hours. The idea is that people all over the world can add their class blogs to it, and it'll make it easier to search for a specific year group, or topic.
If you want to add your school to the wiki, please do so. But can I ask a favour too? Please can you add a badge to your site, showing that you're linked to the wiki?
All you need to do is go to this page past the large image badge into a text box on your blog. Linking up will make us connect our children's learning.
Thanks for taking the time to read this post. I can't wait to see you added to the wiki.
Richard, a boy in my class who was 'allergic' to writing in detail, had posted a story off his own back and was developing his own style. I wanted to share this - for him.
He isn't the most confident of children and I knew that if he felt that he was valued as an author, it would encourage him to write more.
I didn't expect 13 comments. The response was overwhelming and it got me thinking. We should do this more as a class, but I only know a few blogs made by other schools.

So I tweeted again, using a hashtag of #classlinkup to encourage other teachers to share their blog addresses and therefore provide a comprehensive list of blogging schools for everyone to use.
This was taken up by a lot of people, who added their own class blogs to the list.
Evolution.
Then a chance comment by Oliver Quinlan @oliverquinlan got me thinking. I know there are lots of people out there who share and communicate with others well. But what about those who are like me? Willing and wanting to share, but not sure where to start.
So I made a wiki. It's called http://classblogs.wikispaces.com and it's only been going a few hours. The idea is that people all over the world can add their class blogs to it, and it'll make it easier to search for a specific year group, or topic.
If you want to add your school to the wiki, please do so. But can I ask a favour too? Please can you add a badge to your site, showing that you're linked to the wiki?
All you need to do is go to this page past the large image badge into a text box on your blog. Linking up will make us connect our children's learning.
Thanks for taking the time to read this post. I can't wait to see you added to the wiki.
Hi! Just stumbled on your blog. Love the idea of classes blogging (Am still doing my degree here, so don't have a class- yet)... I read somewhere yesterday (I can't recall where, have seen many sites in the last 24 hours! Epic research spree) of a potential pitfall for class blogs linking up, if other classes get points/rewards/whatever for commenting. I recall someone saying that they got a lot of superficial comments on their students' work that would read: "Great writing! Pls comment back!" in order to just get comments.
ReplyDeleteI found it! Here: http://www.joebower.org/2011/01/lessons-i-learned-from-my-students.html
Anyway, just thought I'd share! Love the classblogs main picture, too. Very cute!