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38 Question Starters based on Bloom’s Taxonomy - Curriculet

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38 Question Starters based on Bloom’s Taxonomy - Curriculet

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This link will take you to the presentation slides

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Get access to files anywhere through secure cloud storage and file backup for your photos, videos, files and more with Google Drive.

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Student Blogs and Commenting Skills | Salsich Team 5

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Student Blogs and Commenting Skills | Salsich Team 5

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Setting expectations: Start with paper blogging.

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Every student in Mr. Salsich's class now has their own blog! You can visit the home page for student blogs here.

To get us started on blogging and commenting, we did a "Paper Blog" activity. Each of us wrote, typed, and printed a rough draft of our first blog post and then decorated it with a border.

Then we walked around and left comments on the blogs using sticky notes.

We talked a lot about how to leave a quality comment.

A comment should keep the conversation and the learning going. We don't want to write that just say things like "Cool!" These are dead-end comments because they are hard to respond to and they don't open the conversation up.

Instead, we want to write "highway" comments that keep the conversation going and maybe take the post in new directions. Highway comments may have questions, connections, or suggestions in them. And they definitely have specific details and clear, correct writing.

Here is a link to a document with more tips for leaving a great comment.

Below is a slide show of some of our paper blogs and us commenting on them:

Please check out our student blogs, and leave one of us a "highway" comment! We will be sure to reply back!

What did you think of our paper blog activity?

What are some things you can include in your comment to be sure it is a "highway" comment?

What else should you be sure to do when leaving a comment on someone else's blog?

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Every student in Mr. Salsich's class now has their own blog! You can visit the home page for student blogs here. To get us started on blogging and commenting, we did a "Paper Blog" activity. Each of us wrote, typed, and printed a rough draft of our first blog post and then decorated it with a border.

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Tech Tips | When Paper Blogging Trumps the Computer!

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Tech Tips | When Paper Blogging Trumps the Computer!

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Preparing students for blogging by doing it with paper first

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When Paper Blogging Trumps the Computer!

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After the discussion, instructions were given. Students were to leave their paper blog at their computer but take the sticky notes with them. I had them stand behind their chair then told them to count 4 chairs clockwise.

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Step 4: Teach Quality Commenting Skills | Edublogs Teacher Challenges

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Step 4: Teach Quality Commenting Skills | Edublogs Teacher Challenges

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Great resource for getting kids started with blogging, especially helpful for teaching students how to leave quality comments. All kinds of links to other resources!

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Welcome to the fourth step in our free professional learning series on class and student blogging!

The aim of this step is to:

1. Explain how comments are used on class blogs.

2. Provide tips for teaching students quality commenting skills.

Kathleen Morris has shared some thoughts on why comments count in a blog post:

Comments turn your blog from a static space into an interactive space.

They allow for back and forth conversation which can lead to a huge amount of learning.

The fact that comments aren't instantaneous (like online chat) can fuel deeper reflections, responses, and research.

Comments allow for feedback, constructive criticism, and the adding of ideas and opinions to the original post. The content can grow and evolve.

It can be encouraging for students to know they have an authentic audience who can connect with them.

Commenting can be an ideal way for parents to get involved in the classroom (virtual parent helpers!)

A single comment can be the start of a fantastic working relationship or friendship. You never know where that can take you and/or your students.

The Blogging Cycle

Important parts of the blogging process include encouraging students to:

1. Read other students' posts.
2. Comment on other students' posts.
3. Write posts in response to other students' posts.

It's amazing how even just a few comments can make students realize they are writing for a global audience - for many it's incredibly motivating.

Must Watch Video

We recommend you watch The Possibility of Student Blogging by Andrea Hernandez and Slivia Tolisano.

This video provides an excellent explanation of the blogging, the commenting process, the impact of quality blogging on student literacy, and the importance of writing as part of a global audience.

Remember, discussions in comments are important for reflective learning. Comments that challenge or suggest alternative options encourage you to reflect, revise, evaluate, and review your thoughts.

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By default, comments are enabled on all newly created blogs, and a comment form will appear at the bottom of posts and pages where readers can respond to what you've written.

Note: Comments are disabled on pages by default and can be enabled.

Approved comments are displayed under the individual post or page. You just click on the post title or the comment link to read the comments.

Threaded comments allow readers to reply to other comments inline/nested which encourages better discussion and responses.
Here is an example of a threaded comment on a post:

The great thing about comments is you have control over moderation and approval. Refer to the following support documents for more information on dealing with comments.

These examples of comments on class blogs to demonstrate just a few of the ways comments can be used by educators and students.

1. Two Truths and One Lie: A Culture Exchange (Miss Jordan's grade 3/4 students in Australia had a commenting conversation with some of their blogging buddies in the USA)

2. Learning in 21 - You Are Invited (Grade 3 students wrote a comment to their teacher)

3. St Charles Borromeo students run a Mystery Word competition that students can comment on.

4. Roslyn Green's high school history class (Night of Notables) and English class (G is for Gratitude) wrote some insightful reflections in their comments.

To leave a comment on a post, simply:

1. Click on the heading of the post you wish to comment on or the 'comment' link at the top or bottom of the post.

2. Scroll down the page to the comment form or click on Reply (to reply to a specific comment).

3. Enter your name and email address -- your email address is hidden and only the blogger sees it ( If you are logged into your Edublogs account you won't need to add these details).

4. Write your comment in the box.

5. Enter the anti-spam word.

6. Select ' Notify me of followup comments via e-mail ' if you want to get an email when other people comment (so you know if people reply to you etc.).

7. Click Post Comment
Below is a video from Kathleen Morris explaining how to add a comment for students.
Note: Email address isn't required in her example as the email requirement has been disabled in Settings > Discussion.

Want to make your own 'How to comment' video? Try a free tool like Screencastify or Loom.

If commenting skills are not taught and constantly reinforced, there can be a tendency for students to limit their comments to things like,

While enthusiasm is high with these sorts of comments, students are not developing their literacy skills or having meaningful interactions with other members of the blogging community.

Conversations in the comment section of a blog are such rich and meaningful learning experiences for students. Conversations begin with high quality comments.

Blogging is an authentic avenue for developing student literacy skills. When you invest the time in teaching, modeling, revising, and promoting high quality writing of comments, students can make great gains in their overall literacy development.

Set your standards high from the start and reap the rewards!

Developing strong commenting skills also provides a good foundation for when you move students on to writing posts on the class blog or their own student blogs.

The following diagram summarizes a scaffolded approach to blogging in the classroom. It begins with the teacher being responsible for the posts while the students learn quality commenting skills.

We explained this progressive model more in step three.

In her post on commenting, Kathleen Morris shares eight ideas to encourage a culture of quality commenting.

1. Blogging guidelines: Set high standards to ensure students are using correct writing conventions and practicing things like asking questions, staying on topic, making connections, complimenting in a specific way etc. See below for examples.

2. Be consistent: Consider spending a couple of minutes each day or a few times a week focusing on commenting as a whole class. You might read comments together, write replies together, and have students come up with constructive feedback. Embed blogging into your routine.

3. Use mini lessons. You can embed on-the-spot commenting tutorials into whole class blogging time. You might choose a comment to reply to as a class. The teacher can model how to write a quality comment with input from students. Check out some mini lesson ideas Kathleen put together with annotated examples a number of years ago.

4. Use explicit lessons. Come up with a few more detailed lessons on commenting. For example, Kathleen used to give her grade two students some example comments to sort. Older students could find examples themselves and analyze them on a much deeper level.

5. Integrate. When you use literacy lessons to teach various conventions (like letter writing, editing, grammar, spelling, punctuation etc.) have students practice these concepts through commenting. If you have literacy rotations, blogging is always an excellent activity station!

6. Involve parents. Family members have the potential to be regular commenters on your class blog. We need to bring this potential to life. Just one idea is sending parents an email asking them to comment on a specific post with their child. Well know blogger, Linda Yollis, gives parents suggestions, such as typing for their child but leaving errors for them to correct. Step six of this series offers lots of ideas on helping parents and students connect with the class blog.

7. Connect with others. There are so many ways you can connect with other classes around the world to create authentic opportunities for both writing and receiving comments. The Student Blogging Challenge which begins in March and October each year is a good place to start. #Comments4Kids is a Twitter hashtag you can use and follow too.

8. End with a question. A question at the end of a blog post is an invitation to comment. You can teach students about using open ended questions, and help them understand the etiquette of replying to comments too.

Here are some suggestions for activities you can use to develop your students' commenting skills.

Videos can be a great way to introduce students to the art of commenting.

Watch this video by Linda Yollis' students about leaving quality comments.

Linda's students have also created this excellent video with tips for quality writing on blogs.

Watch Ten Tips For Great Blog Comments by Bloggin' Frogs students.

Silvia Tolisano's students put together this impressive report into quality commenting.

Check out Nicolas Weiss' Leaving High Quality Blog comments video for quality commenting explained for high school students.

Facilitate a collaborative discussion with your students to create your own commenting guidelines.

Here are some examples of commenting guidelines to look at from different age groups:

T ell them something you like about their work

A sk them a question

G ive a suggestion

Remember, use others' guidelines for ideas but don't copy others' work without permission and acknowledgment.

A page is a good place to document guidelines. Refer to Step 2: Set Up Pages for more information on pages.

As an alternative to displaying guidelines through text, you could get your students to create their own videos on writing quality comments.

Watch this Comments video shared by Andrea Hernandez made by a 5th Grade student.

A poster is a great way to make a visual representation of your commenting guidelines.

A poster could be made by the teacher or the students.

Display your poster in the classroom, on a blog page, and send it home to share with parents and caregivers.

You could make a digital poster in Canva, PowerPoint, or any number of online tools Mrs. E. made her guidelines poster using Adobe Spark which is now free for teachers and students.

Short on time? Kathleen Morris has shared her commenting guidelines poster on her blog which you're welcome to download and use.

Point system

Linda Yollis' class uses a point system for evaluating comments. A one point comment is a general comment that doesn't add much to the conversation. A two point comment is a good comment that adds something to the conversation.

Check out Linda Yollis' evaluation guide and how she teaches commenting to see if you want to set up a quality comment evaluation guide for your class.

Another idea for setting standards for commenting, writing, or blogging in general is using a rubric.

Teachers could make this to meet the needs of their class, or students could create their own.

Here are three examples:

Publish a blog post about commenting and what you define as a quality comment and then have your students practice leaving a "quality" comment on the post.

Check out Jan Smith's " I'm New Here" post. It's an excellent example of introducing students to reading student blog posts and learning how to write comments.

6. Try paper blogging

Paper blogging is a hands-on, concrete way of introducing students to writing posts and comments using paper and post-it notes.

You'll find a detailed explanation of how to paper blog with your students here. You'll find an example of using paper blogging activity with students here.

7. Other advice and tips

The following is Fiona Stafford's reflection on commenting and strategies she uses with her Grade 6 students:

After some time, I noticed a stand-still in commenting. It appeared that students were posting a lot but not commenting, which limited the amount of student learning from their peers via feedback. So, over time, I incorporated a number of strategies to encourage the students to comment on other people's blog posts. The different tactics I employed to enhance feedback via commenting were: allowing some time in class to do it; setting expectations to comment as a part of their weekly home learning; making it compulsory for parents to comment somewhere on their child's blog site as confirmation that their home learning had been completed; making the majority of their home learning via their blogs; getting them to set a blogging goal in order to move forward with the process; and introducing a 'what's trending?' page to our class blog. The rationale behind this page was to encourage students to suggest other students' blog posts that were worthy of their attention and encourage people to give feedback. So far, this has been working. But, this is still an ongoing journey. This journey into the Blogosphere has and continues to provide just as much learning for me as it does my students.

There are some commonly asked questions that we receive at Edublogs Support. Let's break them down.
1. How do you enable comments on pages?
Most Edublogs themes support comments on pages and by default comments are disabled on pages.

You can enable comments on pages using Quick Edit as follows:

1. Go to to Pages > All Pages

2. Locate the post or page you want to enable comments on.

3. Hover over its title to bring up its action menu.

4. Click on Quick Edit, deselect 'Allow Comments' and then click on Update.

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2. Why won't comments display on pages?
Most Edublogs themes support comments on pages, however, there are a few themes that don't.

If the theme you are using doesn't support comments on pages, and you would like this feature, then you will need to use an alternative theme.

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3. How do I make comments display on my homepage?
Traditionally comments are designed to be displayed under a post and you view the comments by clicking on the post title or the comments link. It is done this way because posts can have hundreds of comments and displaying them directly under a post on the post page can make it hard to read the content.

Most teachers display the comments on their homepage by adding the Recent Comments widget to the sidebar. You'll learn more about widgets in step five of this series.

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4. How do I remove the option to add email address to comments?
By default, anyone leaving a comment must leave a valid name and email address.

If the 'Comment author must fill out name and e-mail' is unchecked in Settings > Discussion, any visitor can leave a comment and isn't required to enter an email address. Please note, readers will still see the name and email address option on the comment form but the email address is no longer required to submit a comment.

This option is often used when teachers don't want students to use their email address.

Learn more about Discussion settings here.

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5. How do you stop the "Posting comments too quickly" message?
Comments allow your readers to add feedback to your posts and pages.

Unfortunately, if all your students are submitting comments at the same time to a class blog on your school computers they may see the 'You are posting comments too quickly. Slow down' message and they might lose their comments.

This happens because the computers on your school network use the same IP address and Edublogs, which is powered by WordPress, has comment throttling to protect blogs against spam bots.

Find out how to prevent the posting too quickly message here.
6. How do I moderate all comments?
The default comment setting on all newly created blogs is 'Comment author must have a previously approved comment before a comment appears'.

This means any visitors that have had a comment approved on the blog in the past will have their comment immediately posted and only comments from new visitors are placed in the moderation queue.

To moderate all comments you need to change it to "Comment must be manually approved" in Settings > Discussion.

Blogging is about sharing, collaborating, and learning from each other. So here's your chance to ask a question, comment, and get involved!

Complete the following tasks:

1. Choose one of the Activities for developing commenting skills, complete the activity, and then leave a comment to share what you created or to let us know how you went. If you created something for your blog like some commenting guidelines, feel free to put the link to your blog in the comment so we can take a look!

2. Read through the most recent comments in reply to this step and leave a response to another person's comment.

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Welcome to the fourth step in our free professional learning series on class and student blogging! The aim of this step is to: Explain how comments are used on class blogs. Provide tips for teaching students quality commenting skills.

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Great video to introduce kids to blogs: what they are and how they are used.

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A video for people who wonder why blogs are such a big deal. This video introduces the concept of a blog as a way for every person to have the power to share news and information.

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5 Reasons Your Students Should Blog | The Principal of Change

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5 Reasons Your Students Should Blog | The Principal of Change

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As a school division, we are deep into developing blogs as portfolios with our students. To do this with approximately 10,000 students is a major undertaking but the work is important and I really believe that students should have a space to share and reflect on the work. This should not be unique, but the standard.

With that being said, as a school division we have decided to use a blogging platform ( Edublogs) for student portfolios, as it can be used both as a "learning portfolio" ( here is what I am learning right now) and a "showcase portfolio" ( here is my best stuff). Through my own experience both blogging, and using my blog as a portfolio, I have seen some powerful benefits of blogging that would directly benefit our students.

1. Open Reflection - How many times do we actually just sit down and take time to reflect on what we have learned? How many times do we go to a conference and it is speaker after speaker after speaker, with no time to sit down and reflect on what we have learned? Instead of simply dumping information into our brains, we have to take time to think about what we are learning and make meaningful connections. Blogging has been hugely beneficial in doing this for myself because I have seen the benefit of sitting down, writing, and reflecting on what I have learned while also learning to create an emotional connection to the information. Through being totally open, I have had the opportunity to learn from the comments and advice of others as well, which has helped me refine my own ideas. By allowing our students to openly reflect, we do not only see what they learn, but they can learn from each other as well.

2. Developing Literacy with Different Mediums - Blogging is a great way to write and share ideas, but there are many other ways that students can share content through this platform. Using a site like SoundCloud can give students an easy opportunity to share their actual voice with the world. YouTube is an obvious one, but even presentations through SlideShare are helpful to tell stories in many different ways. The nice thing about a blog is that basically anything with an embed code can be placed into that space. This gives many different opportunities for students to share their voice while becoming fluent in "21st century literacies".

3. Student Voice - Building upon the last point, giving students a space to share their voice is extremely important. Blogging should not only be "school related" but "learning related". In a blog, you may learn a lot about not only what students are learning in school, but what they are passionate about and hopefully how we could serve them better as educators. In a world where everyone can have a voice, isn't essential that we teach students how to use this powerful medium to share theirs in a meaningful way?

4. Creating an Open Archive of Learning - At any point, I can go back to the beginning of my blog and see where I have learned. Almost 600 posts later, I can see how I have grown and what my thought process has become and how has it developed. I have seen the power of this by recently looking at my Twitter archives, but that is in only 140 characters. Through my blog, I am able to look more in depth into what I have learned, and if I tag and categorize it properly, I am easily able to google my own work, as can anyone else. The opportunity to search that this medium provides makes it a lot easier to go back and revisit what I have learned in the past, as opposed to flipping through notebook after notebook, trying to find something extremely specific. Can you imagine googling your work from your childhood?

5. Developing a Positive Digital Footprint - Recently I spoke to a university class on the notion of developing their digital footprint, and I simply suggested that they learn openly, and their footprint will happen. It has been suggested by Will Richardson that our students should be able to be "positive google", by their name, by the time they graduate and I would totally agree. What are we doing as a school to promote a positive footprint? I wish that I could say that I had the foresight that when I first started blogging that this would happen, but after doing it for several years, I realized that this is only one, albeit very important side-effect of writing a blog.

To be honest, not every student will take to blogging the way that we envision as teachers, and to be honest, that is okay. If we make them do it the way we think it should be done, they might have trouble adopting this past the school setting. That being said, if we do give them the freedom to write or share not only what they are interested in, but also share it how they like, it could develop into something very powerful that will also give them an authentic audience.

Why do you believe students should blog? If they aren't, why not?

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As a school division, we are deep into developing blogs as portfolios with our students. To do this with approximately 10,000 students is a major undertaking but the work is important and I really believe that students should have a space to share and reflect on the work.

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Blogging in a Primary Classroom–With Only One iPad! | Primary Preoccupation

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Blogging in a Primary Classroom–With Only One iPad! | Primary Preoccupation

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Explains the use of Easy Blogger Jr.

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Many primary teachers who only have access to one iPad in their classroom assume that there is very little they can do to make that iPad useful for an entire class. A few weeks ago, I blogged about the way I would do the "listen to reading" option of the Daily Five in a one iPad classroom. Today, I want to share some options for blogging with only one iPad.

Blogging with one iPad is possible with several apps, including the Edublogs and Kidblog apps, which allow multiple users. With Edublogs, all of the users can be logged in on one app. Kidblog also allows this with students just typing in their password each time. These options are definitely doable, but a couple of newer apps make the process even easier, especially for young children.

The Easy App Company has created Easy Blogger Jr. and Easy Blog Jr. The former works with Blogger blogs and the latter works with Edublogs.

Because Easy Blogger Jr. works with Blogger, the blog itself is free. You just have to pay for the app. And because setting up a blog seems daunting to some people, the creators of the app will even set up a blog FOR you. Once you have the blog set up, you just need to add your students' names and pictures to the app so that they can begin to post.

I made a practice blog to try this out and discovered that if I gave each student the "label" of their own first name, their name would appear along the side of the blog. While all the student's posts appear in order of posting on the main blog, clicking on a student's name on the right brings you to all of the posts that that child has written.

The best part of the app is that even young students can use this app independently. They just touch their own picture...

...and then confirm who they are. Notice that every page has an icon which, when tapped, will read the words aloud to the child.

Students have a choice about what they will post.

If a student chooses a photo, he can even record his or her voice talking about the photo, making the photo into a screencast or video. Just think of the possibilities this holds for young pre-writers to share the things they create!

If you use (or would like to use) Edublogs, the Easy Blog Jr app works just the same, but works with the Edublogs platform instead.

Your students will all be blogging using only one iPad. Such a great way for young children to share their learning with the world!
Full disclosure: The creators of Easy Blog Jr and Easy Blogger Jr gave me a copy of the apps to try.

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Blogging in a Primary Classroom-With Only One iPad!

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Many primary teachers who only have access to one iPad in their classroom assume that there is very little they can do to make that iPad useful for an entire class. A few weeks ago, I blogged about the way I would do the "listen to reading" option of the Daily Five in a one iPad classroom.

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A video demonstrating a blogging app for primary students. So easy to use and such powerful tool to promote thinking for early readers and writers

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This article describes each of 6 blogging platforms and outlines pros and cons of each in a classroom setting.

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Every classroom needs a moderated, online space where students can share their ideas with others and receive feedback. While blogging has "been around" and used in classrooms all over the world for more than ten years now, classroom blogs are still rare in many schools and communities. Like other kinds of technology, blogging platforms have continued to evolve and change, but the reasons why students should regularly blog have remained consistent.

In this "story" on Medium, I will highlight the advantages and limitations of six different blogging platforms which are used and can be used effectively by teachers and students in classrooms in August 2015. These options are highlighted further in the hyperlinked table I've updated on the "Interactive Writing" page of ShowWithMedia.com. The platforms I'll review include Blogger.com, KidBlog.org, WriteAbout.com, EduBlogs.org, EasyBlog.org, and WordPress.com. I'm currently helping my wife, a 3rd and 4th grade teacher in Oklahoma City, decide on her class blogging site for the upcoming school year. I'm also hoping to help PK-12 teachers at my new school, where I'm the Director of Technology, select and use classroom blogging websites this year. While I could write an entire book on this topic ( and did, in fact, in 2013) I will limit details in this post to hopefully help other teachers make well informed decisions about choosing a class blogging platform with less required reading! If you have suggestions or find errors in anything I share here or on ShowWithMedia.com, please let me know via a post comment or a tweet reply to @wfryer.

Overall Factors to Consider

The blogging platform which is the best "fit" for your class or classes, and your teaching situation, will vary depending on a variety of factors. The past two years I've taught 4th and 5th grade STEM, and I used KidBlog.org websites for all 22 of my classes each year. Cost is certainly an important factor to consider, but the management features as well as media/publishing features of different platforms are also vital. While two of the six options I'm highlighting in this post can be used for free ( Blogger.com and WordPress.com) neither of those platforms was designed specifically with teachers, students, and classrooms in mind. The other four platforms were and are designed specifically for educational blogging. Generally today, I think most classroom teachers are better off using a blogging platform with students like these four which are specifically geared to the unique demands and needs of educational users.

Another important factor to consider is whether or not you are going to make your classroom blog a PUBLIC space for others to view student writing and leave comments. The natural tendency of many teachers, unfamiliar with educational blogging, is to make sites PRIVATE so only users who login can view and comment on posts. While a private classroom blog is better than not having a classroom blog at all, I think it's generally a mistake to make a classroom blog private.

The biggest reason to NOT make your classroom blog private is because you WANT parents and other adults who care about your students to visit your blog and leave comments. I've found that the more barriers (like logins requiring userIDs and passwords) we put up for online student content, the FEWER parents will visit and comment. It's VERY hard to get parents to not only look at student digital work online amidst our busy lives today, it's even harder to get them to comment. If you make your classroom blog private, you'll likely rob your students of the opportunity to receive feedback from outside your classroom walls. Feedback is what makes interactive writing powerful and even feel magical at times.

Be sure to cover your bases with student and parent permission forms. Sample school media and publishing permission forms are linked on the OklaEd Learning Showcase website.

Blogger.com

Blogger is free and does not have a paid version, unless you choose to link your site to a custom domain you "rent" for approximately $12 per year from a service like Google Domains or GoDaddy. Blogger sites allow users to enable "post by email," so a secret email address can be used to post text, images, and links to the website. When post by email is used with Blogger, submissions can become "drafts" first before they are published live for others to view. This is always a good idea if using this function with students. Posts shared by email don't reflect the identity of the sender, however, on the blog they show up as being posted by the teacher / blog owner. Students need to include their first name in the email subject (which becomes the title of the post) or within the body of the email/blog post.

If your students do not have Google accounts or you don't want to manage individual logins for your students, being able to have students post by email can be a wonderful thing. In my STEM classroom the past two years, we had a cart of 20 iPads to use for media creation and sharing. During some lessons, I had my students take photos and post them to a shared class blog on Blogger using a SINGLE email account our IT Department configured just for my iPad cart. Tony Vincent (@tonyvincent) wrote a great post in 2011, " How to Set Up Gmail for School iPads and iPods," which can help with this.

If your students DO have their own Google Accounts (you are a GAFE: Google Apps for Education school) you can invite them by email to become "contributors" to a class site you setup on Blogger.

Another reason to consider using a Blogger.com website is if you teach very young students (PreK / Primary) and have access to at least one iPad. In that situation, I definitely think the app Easy Blogger Jr, paired with a Blogger site and a YouTube channel, is the way to go. This four minute walkthrough video communicates this more effectively than I can with words. Thanks to Gail Lovely (@glovely) for sharing this option with me a couple years ago!

Also note the creators of the Easy Blog apps are rolling out a new service called EasyBlog.org in September. More details about that are included below.

KidBlog

For the past several years, KidBlog has been my personal favorite website to use for interactive writing with my own elementary students as well as teachers I help coach during 3 day iPad Media Camp workshops. KidBlog is a customized version of WordPress, and I have loved how the site uses themes which show titles of recent student posts along with how many comments each post has received. I also love how the sidebar of the site includes links to each student's posts, so it's easy to use it as a digital portfolio to showcase student work throughout the year. KidBlog is the blogging tool I recommended a year ago when I wrote the "Digital Portfolios" book chapter on ShowWithMedia.com. (Incidentally I haven't yet published that in a new book, it's just published online for now.)

Kidblog has transitioned to a new format and platform. It no longer has a native iOS app, but has a significantly enhanced web interface which works well on iOS devices as well as other tablets and computers. The site has become more visual, encouraging teachers and students to always include a "featured image" which is shown at the top of posts and on the site homepage. The fee structure of KidBlog has changed, so if you are a classroom teacher you can have unlimited class blogs for $29 per year. If you need to manage multiple classes with different teachers in the same school, you can contact them for pricing for an "Admin Pro" account.

I like how the new KidBlog lets students choose the audience for each post: Teacher only, Class only, Connections only, or public to the world. This can be great for the writing process. I used KidBlog at several of the iPad Media Camps I led this past summer, and I really like the new features. I still love KidBlog, and strongly encourage you to consider using it. It also supports Google logins, so schools where students have Google accounts already can use those credentials when students use KidBlog.

WriteAbout.com

The blogging platform I am most excited and interested in today is WriteAbout.com. Co-founded by amazing educators I deeply respect, John Spencer (@spencerideas) and Brad Wilson (@dreambition), WriteAbout offers some unique and powerful features that set it apart from the other five blogging platforms I'm reviewing in this post. There is a free version, but your students are limited to five posts each until you pay the $25 annual fee. (That's QUITE reasonable, IMHO.) I love how students can join interest groups within the WriteAbout community, and when they post they can submit their entries to a group so other students with similar interests can read and comment on their ideas. This addresses a perennial problem with classroom blog posts, which is: How do I get the attention of others so they can read and provide feedback on my students' ideas? This also promises to connect students directly to others with shared interests... which is exactly what "real" bloggers outside the classroom do!

I also love how WriteAbout lets students record audio messages within individual posts, without using a separate app or website. The options students have to post privately, for the class, or for the world are also fantastic, and resemble the new publishing options KidBlog has rolled out with their new version. It's also great how the site provides a wealth of visual writing ideas. ( John likes the phrase "writing ideas" much better than "writing prompt.") This 84 second video provides a good overview of WriteAbout. My wife is going to ultimately choose which blogging platform she'll use with her students this year. She used KidBlog last year, but I'm going to encourage her to give WriteAbout a try this year because of the many unique features it offers which will benefit her students.

EduBlogs.org

EduBlogs is the most well established, experienced, and (as far as I know) utilized educational blogging platform in the world. They are currently celebrating their tenth birthday, and in the blogging world that's quite ancient! Sue Waters (@suewaters) has been a HUGE help to countless educators in the past decade as many have taken their first steps into the world of educational and class blogging, and the larger community around EduBlogs is SO beneficial. EduBlogs does offer a free option for teachers, but I strongly recommend their "Pro" account ($40 per year) for class blogs because of the student management features it includes. EduBlogs, like KidBlog, is based on WordPress. Like KidBlog and WriteAbout, EduBlogs also offers pricing and management solutions for entire schools, districts and colleges. CampusPress is their educational enterprise solution. This 2.5 minute video provides a good overview of EduBlogs and why their platform is fantastic for class blogs.

EasyBlog.org

EasyBlog.org is not actually available yet, but is expected to go live in September 2015. I mentioned it previously when reviewing Blogger, because the Easy Blogger & Easy Blogger Jr apps work with it. EasyBlog.org is a homespun web host which will work with their apps but not require teachers to setup a separate Blogger site or YouTube account. The first 1000 teachers to sign up can get a "free class starter kit," and I definitely think this is worth checking out if you teach PreK or primary age children. This 108 second video provides a good overview. I'll be eager to hear how teachers this year like using the EasyBlog platform instead of the Blogger / YouTube / Easy Blogger Jr. app combination. If you use it, please let me know with a comment or twitter reply to @wfryer.

WordPress.com

WordPress is an open source blogging platform and content management system. You can download WordPress software from WordPress.org to run on your own hosting account or server computer, but you can also register for a free website on WordPress.com that you don't have to update or maintain with security patches. I use self-hosted WordPress on over thirty different websites now, and I absolutely love it. The technical learning curve for using WordPress can be higher than some of the other blogging options I've highlighted in this post, however, and WordPress.com is not specifically geared toward teacher or student blogging. That is why customized WordPress versions, like KidBlog and EduBlogs, are preferable for classroom blogs.

Still, like Blogger.com, WordPress.com is available FREE. That four letter word which begins with "F" may be the reason some teachers choose these options over the others I've highlighted in this post. A variety of paid upgrades / extra features are available for WordPress.com, but are not necessarily required to use the site as a class blog.

Conclusions

I hope this overview of these six different blogging platforms has been helpful. I'd love to know if it helped you decide which website you'll use with your students in the weeks and months to come!

I also want to encourage you to check out the "2015-16 Student News Challenge" from Storychasers. If you are willing to help your students share AT LEAST ONE POST PER WEEK of class or school news, Storychasers will mail you a free digital backpack including a digital camera, digital audio recorder, and USB headset with microphone. You just need to record a short video and submit a Google Form, which is explained on this post on Storychasers.org. We need to help our students develop traditional as well as digital literacy skills, and regularly writing on a classroom blog is a fantastic way to do both!

Good luck to you this school year as you engage in more digital learning and digital publishing with your students! Remember: Every idea can get better with feedback! Our students all need interactive, moderated spaces to share their ideas with others!
Full Disclosure: The author is not affiliated with any of the companies which own or maintain the blogging platforms described in this post, other than being a Google Certified Teacher.
This post was originally shared on "Moving at the Speed of Creativity," the professional blog of Dr. Wesley Fryer. Follow Wes on Twitter @wfryer.

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Tips for Choosing a Classroom Blog - Wesley Fryer - Medium

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Every classroom needs a moderated, online space where students can share their ideas with others and receive feedback. While blogging has "been around" and used in classrooms all over the world for more than ten years now, classroom blogs are still rare in many schools and communities.

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Elementary School Science Lesson: Magnets

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Elementary School Science Lesson: Magnets

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Video: Using journals to promote deep thinking in science

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Discussion and Supporting Materials

Thought starters

1. How does journaling support independent student learning during the experiment?

2. What is the role of storytelling in the learning experience?

3. What do you think Mr. Rutherford means by "teach from the heart"?

Teachers

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Beginning first with the idea of very large and small magnets (the Earth and a water molecule), students explore the idea of magnetism and look specifically at creating a magnet that can be turned on or off.Storytelling supports student engagement and motivates learning as students begin to ask their own questions about magnetism.

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Writing to Learn is a great teaching strategy that helps encourage deep understanding of concepts with students. Here are some thoughts on how teachers can use Writing to Learn with their own lessons.

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Modeling Close Reading for Future Teachers: ELA Videos and Webinars | Edutopia

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Modeling Close Reading for Future Teachers: ELA Videos and Webinars | Edutopia

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A library of videos and resources that support Close Reading, a strategy which includes annotation, a form of 'writing to learn'

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This is a set of cartoon drawings that explain the different organizations and institutions involved in developing the CCSS. The CCSS were not developed by the federal government. This video shows you who did.

This eight-minute video provides an opportunity for teacher educators to hear from the two individuals who are most responsible for the CCSS -- David Coleman and Sue Pimentel. The video does not provide a lot of help in understanding the CCSS, just some background about what the original authors intended to do with the standards.

Close Reading

In this three-minute video, Dr. Fisher explains what close reading is. The video does not show an example of close reading, but Dr. Fisher does an excellent job of explaining the approach and describing what it might look like in a classroom.

This is another three-minute video explaining what teachers and students do during a close read. When the teacher models close reading, she notices that students aren't understanding, and changes her approach by helping them search the text to provide support for their ideas.

In this 15-minute video of a fourth grade teacher doing a close read with her students, the teacher does an excellent job of leading a discussion of the difficult text. Her questions draw out important information about the text itself, as well as information that will lead students to write a compare/contrast essay about the two selections they read.

This is a ten-minute video of a teacher doing a close read of a text in a whole-classroom setting. She stresses the importance of annotating a text. Students work on their own, read and reread the text, work in small groups, etc. As the teacher goes around the room, she observes that the kids really don't understand the main idea of the selection. She then scaffolds a bit with the whole group and has students go back and reread.

This 16-minute video shows a tenth grade instructor teaching close reading of a section from Frankel's Man's Search for Meaning. She has a whole group of students who periodically break into groups of four to discuss questions.

This 17-minute video is an actual small-group lesson (seven students) by a second grade teacher. The teacher is reading aloud from Bats at the Ballgame and helps students understand the story. The lesson is nicely interactive and shows the students' prior knowledge and understanding of words in the story.

This is a four-minute close reading from Dr. Seuss' Oh, The Places You'll Go, showing the kind of annotation strategies used to do a close read of the text, highlighting words, phrases and ideas worthy of further explanation/discussion.

This two-minute video shows students how to annotate -- highlighting, marking up the pages and putting notes in the margin. It's a good introductory video to give middle and high school students a heads-up on annotation skills.

Text Complexity

This 14-minute video explains text complexity well. It would be an excellent instructional video for pre- and in-service teachers as they begin to understand issues related to text complexity. It provides the what but not so much the why.

Dr. Elfrieda (Freddy) Hiebert gave this 53-minute webinar on text complexity and vocabulary. She presents theory, research and practice about vocabulary and text complexity and shares how ideas about these issues relate to English-language learners. The lengthy video should be required viewing for pre- and in-service teachers.

This 45-minute webinar presents a thorough discussion of text complexity and text difficulty. David Liben discusses a study conducted to compare the different measures of text difficulty and the results of those studies -- vocabulary and syntax are the most important components of text complexity. He ends the webinar explaining the amount of complex texts on which students at the different grades should read and spend time. This is a good overview of issues related to text complexity and a reasonable way to approach it within classrooms.

Informational Texts

This nine-minute video explains at a very basic level the difference between fiction and informational texts -- a good resource for beginning preservice teachers and upper elementary and secondary students who do not understand the difference between fiction and informational in terms of what students need to do.

In this eight-minute video, a primary grade teacher presents a lesson showing students the differences between fiction and nonfiction texts. The video is useful for preservice teachers in that this lesson shows teachers how to teach the difference.

This is a 46-minute PowerPoint webinar by Nell Duke about informational texts. Duke presents an excellent blend of theory, research and practice. Preservice and in-service teachers will learn how informational texts are embedded in the CCSS. Duke explains the potential uses and values of informational text for students, and also describes pitfalls that may occur. This webinar does not present practical applications for teachers.

Please share your favorite resources in the comments section below.
This is the second of three parts. In part one, I described how I use videos to reinforce the practice of close reading for preservice teachers. Part three will feature what I've found to be exceptional professional websites for reading teachers.

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Modeling Close Reading for Future Teachers: ELA Videos and Webinars

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This is a set of cartoon drawings that explain the different organizations and institutions involved in developing the CCSS. The CCSS were not developed by the federal government. This video shows you who did. This eight-minute video provides an opportunity for teacher educators to hear from the two individuals who are most responsible for the CCSS -- David Coleman and Sue Pimentel.

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www.ttms.org/PDFs/06 Writing Across the Curriculum v001 (Full).pdf

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www.ttms.org/PDFs/06 Writing Across the Curriculum v001 (Full).pdf

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Formative Assessment and a Dash of Metacognition — Medium

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Formative Assessment and a Dash of Metacognition — Medium

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How to use promote metacognitive strategies using Pear Deck

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We all know Formative Assessments offer a great way to get quick checks of student learning without waiting for a big test. When done well with the right tools, they can help us adapt quickly to student needs or quickly identify a common misconception.

What's more challenging is getting to those higher-order thinking skills. " A great deal of research in the past several decades has identified metacognition as key to deep learning and flexible use of knowledge and skills" ( Schoenbach, Greenleaf, Murphy). So how can we, in a similar way, pepper our lessons with meta cognitive activities?

After your check for understanding, ask a follow-up that prompts students to reflect on how they answered, make comparisons between their thinking and their peers thinking, or to consider what is confusing to them about the question.

For example, first present your formative assessment. In this case, I want to see if my students can understand some of the basic vocabulary we've just studied.

Next, ask students to think about how they answered. "How did you know what to do with your dot?" Or "What was confusing about this sentence that threw you off?"
Here's Another Example:
"What was a primary cause of the Civil War?"

1. The moral issue of slavery

2. The conflict between the federal government and states rights

3. Abraham Lincoln winning the election

Once your students answer, you can quickly get a sense of the nuance of their understanding. Now you can have a discussion to iron out any misconceptions and hear different arguments. End by having students sum up what they learned in the discussion:

"How did your reasoning differ from your peers?" Or "All three of the causes listed are all connected. Which connections are clear to you and which are confusing?"

You likely won't have enough time to ask this kind of follow-up question after every temperature check. I recommend trying one or two per lesson. By asking students to take a step back and reflect on their own learning, you'll help them anchor new concepts so they stick.

Need More?

Download our Formative Assessment Deck.

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Formative Assessment and a Dash of Metacognition - Pear Deck - Medium

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We all know Formative Assessments offer a great way to get quick checks of student learning without waiting for a big test. When done well with the right tools, they can help us adapt quickly to student needs or quickly identify a common misconception. What's more challenging is getting to those higher-order thinking skills.