Blogging with students

My co-teacher and I are excited to start our class of 6th grade boy readers on the path of blogging. I never realized how much work this would be! I don't know how classroom teachers have the time to get the technology set up amid all the other priorities that they have vying for their time!

I gave the boys a tech survey and so far 11 of 19 boys have returned them. Of the 11, only 7 of them have an email address. As I wait for the rest of the surveys to be returned, I am wondering what my next step will be. On the survey, I am asking for permission to post student work online, but now am wondering if I can extend that permission to setting up email addresses for those students who don't have them.

On the bright side, the boys got a chance to see some blogs today and what they might be able to accomplish with them. They created a name for our class blog: Mohawk Boys Read! and have started brainstorming what picture they want me to take of them to use for the header. I've sent out log-ins for the 7 boys who already have email, so I am interested to see if they do anything with it tonight.

In the meantime, I'll continue to read all the tutorials on edublogs. Sue Waters's The Edublogger has been extremely helpful, and I'd recommend it to any blogger with questions!

Welcome to My Blog

I am not sure how to start this off! Let's begin with why--why did I create a blog? Well, I recently created a Twitter account. In the few short months that I have been tweeting, I have learned tremendous amounts about all of the different ways to use the web, both personally and professionally. My job title is Literacy Coach and my goal is to advance the professional development of my staff. Technology is changing the way we do so many things and I would like to be able to help my staff navigate that change. But I would feel lost in helping them navigate uncharted waters, so here I am--charting a course.

I am starting with a Blog, but who knows where it will go from there. In fact, if you have recommendations about where it should go, I'd love to hear them!

I'd also love input on personal vs. professional blogs. Do I merge the two parts of my life into one blog? I work in a middle school but I also live with a soon-to-be 7th grader and a soon-to-be 4th grader. And the stories I could tell about my husband! Part of me feels like maybe there should be two blogs. But another part argues that I am only one person and I'm not even sure how I'll be able to keep up with one blog, let alone two! I would like to actually LIVE some experiences to write about! In yet another facet of my life, I am an adjunct instructor in a middle level master's program. One of the major tenets I preach about teaching at the middle level is that we need to have integrated curriculum; a blending of the boundaries between the subject areas. To then chop up my life into little separate parts seems hypocritical.

That's where I'll leave it for today. I have a lot to learn and guidance would be good!