I'm still working on learning how to best use my blog and wiki. My students and I tried it out last week during guided reading. Some of them are eager to dive in, while I'm more hesitant since I feel like I don't know if what I'm doing is "right." For example, when the students use the blog, they can't respond to any one particular person; their post just appears next in line after whatever was last posted. So, if student X wanted to comment on student Y's response which happened to be the first post, they won't link together and the students will need to reread all the posts. I could have them try something like we do with our discussions where we post our name first and who we are replying to. At least then they could look for their name and eliminate the need to read all the other posts repeatedly.
Since I only began blogging with two groups of students one day last week, I don't feel I'm ready to set new NETS-T learning goals just yet. I still need to introduce the blog/wiki to two more guided reading groups and teach them how to write though provoking questions and responses. Right now all they are writing is a basic sentence that doesn't allow for others to provide feedback or ask questions. Once I introduce the tool to my other groups, they need a few weeks to practice this new tool before we branch out into other areas.
As I was teaching science today, I thought using the blog would be a good way for the kids to blog outside of school. Since we are currently learning about rocks and the rock cycle, students could take pictures of different rocks they see in and around our town and then post them to the blog with a description. I think it would motivate the students to do some work outside of school that gets them engaged in the content.
I've learned that our Moodle blog/wiki site allows individuals to post video, audio, photos as well as text and links. I can't wait to try out these features as my students become more adept with this Web 2.0 tool!
It sounds like you are making great progress. That is wonderful that your district is able to use you to experiment with their Moodle site. I can understand how it might take some time to train your students on how to blog more than one sentence responses- especially if they are new to this technology. Having them put names on their posts sounds like a good way to help them keep track of who they are communicating with. It sounds like you have some good ideas of ways to implement the use of the blog once your students become more familiar with it.
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