Independent Reading Blogs
Each Francis C. Hammond 3 student is expected to read independently for a minimum of 30 minutes daily outside of class time. We began the year with all students completing weekly independent reading logs and written responses on paper. Near the end of second quarter I decided to introduce blogging as a more engaging and interactive way to respond to literature and we began using Kidblog for independent reading responses.
Kidblog is a blogging platform created by teachers and designed for teachers to create a safe blogging community for students. To get started each student was set up with their own blog as a part of the class Kidblog site. I shared my introductory post, explained the requirements and options for posting blog entries and commenting, and I demonstrated how to create a post and comment on the posts of classmates. Students were given time in class to become familiar with the site and after winter break each student set an independent reading goal for the second part of the school year and posted goals to their individual blogs. Following this introduction and acclimation period, we began third quarter with a bi-weekly blog post requirement. Every two weeks students are expected to log in to Kidblog and create a blog post about their current independent reading selection. Students are encouraged to read each others' posts, make comments, and reply to comments others have posted on their blogs. Several students regularly solicit suggestions from classmates for their next reading selection. Even though students were provided with a lengthy list of possible blog post ideas, most students prefer to summarize their reading. Some examples of student blog posts: |
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