{"id":13961,"date":"2018-09-10T06:41:35","date_gmt":"2018-09-10T11:41:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theedublogger.edublogs.org\/?p=13961"},"modified":"2018-09-10T07:00:58","modified_gmt":"2018-09-10T12:00:58","slug":"student-blogs-middle-high-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theedublogger.com\/student-blogs-middle-high-school\/","title":{"rendered":"Student Blogs In The Middle School And High School Classroom"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"This <\/a><\/div>\n

A few weeks ago, we brought you the story of grade two teacher Becky Versteeg<\/a>. She told us how she sets up student blogs with a new cohort of students.<\/p>\n

Blogging offers many benefits for students from the early years of schooling right up to adult learners.<\/p>\n

This week, we’re looking at how student blogs are used in a middle school and high school classroom.<\/p>\n

Keith McCray explains how he uses blogs with his fifth grade students, while Heather Alexander tells us how blogging is incorporated into her year 9-12 ceramics classes.<\/p>\n

The Middle School Classroom: Keith McCray<\/h3>\n

Keith is a fifth grade teacher in Maryland, USA. We asked him to tell us about the great work he’s doing with student blogs in his classroom.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Keith<\/a>This is my second year incorporating student blogs into my daily lessons to provide the students with a truly authentic audience.<\/p>\n

My students returned to school on September 4th. I cannot wait to begin to build relationships around the world and help my students take steps to become better writers.<\/p>\n

I was so proud of my students last year; their growth was amazing. Students who typically scored a 2 on PARCC standardized test moved up to a 3 and those who typically scored a 3 moved up to 4! I cannot wait to see what this new group of students creates.<\/p>\n

I like to slowly release the students to their own blogs by starting out on our class blog. This way, we can ensure that our blogging standards and commenting standards are met consistently.<\/p>\n

I encourage my students to post any research that they have done, projects that they complete, and I absolutely LOVE the 100 Word Challenge<\/a>! It requires students to be purposeful in their word choice to clearly convey their message.<\/p>\n

In order to help build their audience, I take pictures of students working and post them (with emoji stickers over their faces) to Twitter with the hashtag “#comments4kids”.<\/p>\n

\n

Blogs are back @EasternWCPS<\/a>! Ss practiced commenting today in prep to access their own blogs @edublogs<\/a> and connect \ud83c\udf0ely! Check out their goals at https:\/\/t.co\/i014X8MLbe<\/a> and cheer them on! #comments4kids<\/a> #KidsDeserveIt<\/a> #wcpsmd<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/dJZotVlGKl<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Keith McCray \uf8ff (@KMcCray85) September 6, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n