A Blogging Epiphany and FREEBIE!!

I love words. I love the word epiphany. Today, on the way home from a super fun playdate, I had an epiphany. I'm pretty sure if I was able to still teach with the two ladies, Laura and Lori (from The Thompson Trio in Texas), I would have more of them.

Blogging has become a kind of obsession with me this summer. It annoyingly (sorry everyone) comes up in my daily conversations. I was determined to make this work. Life has a tendency of getting in the way of so many things, but I thought if my students were going to do this then I'm going to do it too. So, needless to say, blogging has been on my mind.

On the drive home, I began thinking about blogging with my kids. Was I going to use kidblog or Edublogs? Was I going to have the same requirements as last year? What was I going to introduce to them first? How? Then it occurred to me. The teaching blogs I read, I've been exposed to them through a linky party. Why not have a linky party with my students? Why not have guest bloggers on my teacher blog page? Thus, the epiphany!

I came home and began to think of all the things that I want my kids to do on their blogs. This is their reader's/writer's notebook. I want them to write reflections, wonderings, book reviews about their books, etc. I also want them to be creative and create their own writing. I want them to share with their peers. I want them to give each other feedback about their reading and writings.

That's what we do as professional educators. We aren't reading one another's blogs looking for mistakes and how to edit our writing. We're learning about teaching from one another. We're looking at the content of the blog post. I learn just as much from an elementary blogger as a middle school blogger as a high school blogger. This community has so many talented people in it. I want my classroom to have that same sharing of ideas and community feel.

I made this schedule for my students to follow. I won't require them to blog every day. Let's be real here- these middle schoolers have their plates full with athletics, extra-curriculars, and academics! I do expect one blog post a week. They can pick the day. They'll link up like we do here in "teacher blogging land" and share with one another. Here is the schedule I've created. It's FREE on my TpT store. Get it now!

Beginning of the Year Prep

I've gone to school one time. I've gone to training multiple times. Now is the time that I really have to buckle down and start thinking about what I'm doing this coming school year. I've decided to incorporate more ways to connect with my students and parents. With all the technology available to my students and their parents I feel as though I should really utilize it.

Our students will each have a Dell tablet. I'm going to have them blog for their Reader's/Writer's notebook again. It was pretty successful last year and I've learned a lot. I have a much better idea of what to expect from them and what I need to do this time to start them off. I loved seeing the progress they made. It was such a great journey we had together. My favorite moment was when one of my students who was dead against blogging at the beginning decided to start a story. She had submitted multiple chapters and I had been getting behind in approving posts. So she came to me and asked me to hurry up and at least approve hers because she had people who were asking when the next chapter would be out! I loved that! From not wanting to blog to having fellow classmates waiting for the next chapters? That to me was awesome!

I still haven't decided which blogging platform to use. We used kidblog last year. It worked. It was easy to use both for students and myself. This year, I've been seriously thinking about Edublogs. It gives my students a little more options with widgets and personalization that they didn't necessarily get with kidblog. If anyone has thoughts on that, please comment below! I would love to hear about your experience. If you have never blogged with your kids and want a place to start, I would recommend using kidblog. It really is super easy!

I've made an additional Twitter account where I'll be posting upcoming assignments and reminders for parents and students to follow. From last year, I learned my students are using Twitter more than Facebook and I really do like being able to shoot a quick tweet about what we're doing. This would help communicate with parents and hopefully allow my 8th graders a way to take some ownership over what they're responsible for.

I also added an additional Instagram account. This is going to be more of a headache for me going back and forth between my personal Instagram and school one. I think I'll manage though. I want to use this to show parents the work their kiddos are creating as well as a place for my students (and parents) to reference anchor charts over what we're learning. My kids rely on the anchor charts and I have them create them as well. The anchor charts at school aren't helpful when they're working on something at home and don't have that visual reminder.

Due to all these places to connect, I plan on making these magnetic business cards for parents to pick up at Open House. It gives them access to all of it conveniently placed on a magnet! I'll have this information on my school website for parents that can't make it.