TTT#328 K-6 Blogging & Quadblogging w/ Gail Desler, Gail Poulin, Kevin Hodgson, Margaret Simon, Matt Hardy, Suzie Boss 12.19.12

So you want your K-6 students to blog because you want them to have an audience beyond your classroom. What do you do? Do you set up a blog for each student or for your class, perhaps using http://edublogs.org? Do you join us at http://youthvoices.net or do you join http://kidblog.org ? And there are plenty of other choices.

But here's the rub: How do you get your students' posts out there in the world to get responses from K-6 students like them? How can be build a stronger community of elementary school teachers whose students are blogging together?

We would like to invite you to help us consider some of these questions with the amazing educators on this episode of TTT.

participants on TTT328

Gail DeslerGail PoulinKevin HodgsonMargaret SimonMatt HardyPaul AllisonSuzie Boss, and Tony Iannone

Consider QuadBlogging and other complications around having your own class EduBlog or working in a community like Youth Voices or KidBlog, and the problems and delights of having different ages working together, or not?

Gail Desler and Kevin Hodgson started this conversation in November at NCTE and they would like to see if it might not be possible to get something started with NWP elementary school teachers around some sort of community that gets more and more comments flowing.

Here's Gail's recent email that led us to schedule a TTT around this topic:

I would love to head into the New Year with some shared discussions on creating an elementary community of digital kids/digital writers that would lead into YouthVoices, but would actually be its own community. As I mentioned to both of you at NCTE, I'm spurred on by Suzie Boss's (who will be joining us on TTT) recent Edutopia post: http://www.edutopia.org/blog/quad-blogging-technology-classroom-suzie-boss Just seems like a perfect NWP project - that would be pretty easy to initiate and maintain.

That's not all! On Wednesday, January 9, 2013, we plan a follow-up conversation with many of the same people on this episode. Join us at http://edtechtalk.com/ttt on Wednesday, 1.9.13 at 5PM ET/2PM PT/World Times: http://goo.gl/024pD


Click Read more to see the chat that was happening during this live webcast.


 

 

Tony Iannone: I'm testing this out.
20:52Suzie Boss: Me, too--good to meet you, Tony
20:52Gail Desler : Welcom Tony
20:53Tony Iannone: Nice to be here!!! :-)
20:54Paul Allison: Hi all!
20:54Tony Iannone: I'm trying a split screen thing...hangout and chat. So far so good.
21:03Kevin Hodgson: I'm here
21:03Tony Iannone: Hey Kevin!
21:04Kevin Hodgson: I never got my invite into the google chat
21:04karen (@kfasimpaur): Hi, Kevin. There's room in the hangout.
21:06Tony Iannone: Suzie...the article about quadblogging is really good! I talked to my team about it this week...they were very interested.
21:06Aman: Made it. :-)
21:06karen (@kfasimpaur):http://quadblogging.net/
21:06Peggy George: hi everyone
21:07Gail Desler : HI Peggy
21:07Peggy George: so great to see you Gail :-)
21:10Peggy George: I've heard lots about BETT :-) Fantastic conference although I've never been able to attend
21:11karen (@kfasimpaur): Hi, Peggy.
21:11Peggy George: Hi Karen :-)
21:11Tony Iannone: I watched kids use kidblog over the summer at a tech camp...some really interesting stuff when on.
21:11Suzie Boss: HI Peggy!
21:11Suzie Boss: Thanks, Tony--nice to hear
21:12Peggy George: Hi Suzie! So great to see you! Loved your interview with Steve Hargadon back in Oct. :-)
21:12Suzie Boss: Thanks, Peggy!
21:13Peggy George: Karen are you in the hangout?
21:14karen (@kfasimpaur): I'm not tonight. (It's almost full!)
21:14Peggy George: I didn't think I could see you there but one person has no video. :-)
21:14Peggy George: fabulous panel tonight!
21:19Peggy George: Paul's happy to hear she hurt her ankle in dance class??? hmmm....
21:20Peggy George: music is such a wonderful way to express feelings and emotions!
21:22Aman: Getting some great ideas on how to discuss Sandy Hook with students, and how to incorperate writing. My 5th graders have been having conversations on the playground, but none have brought it up in class.
21:22Peggy George: it's great to be hearing from some elementary teachers :-)
21:23Peggy George: these are great ideas!!
21:23Peggy George: @Tony did you just set up a class twitter account with a hashtag? Such a great idea!
21:24Peggy George: Hi Sue Waters :-)
21:24Sue Waters: Hi Peggy :) Had some Sue issues :)
21:24Tony Iannone: just created one...not a hashtag...here's our feed class_mr_i
21:24Peggy George: I noticed :-) Will the real Sue Waters please stand up. :-)
21:24Gail Desler : welcome sue! What time is it in Western Australia?
21:25Sue Waters: 10:24 AM and I think maybe I should have slept in more :)
21:25Peggy George: Thanks Tony! So glad to be able to see that!
21:25karen (@kfasimpaur): Sue, there's room in the hangout if you want to join there.
21:25Sue Waters: LOL @Peggy I had FireFox, Chrome and IE issues and so now running 2 browsers to be in session
21:25Tony Iannone: @Peggy...sure!
21:27Aman: Hi Sue! I feel like I'm in the presence of a celebrity! Heard a lot of great things about you from Gail D.
21:28Sue Waters: Nice to meet you @Aman Definitely not a celebrity and proven today that even a support person can have technical issues at times :)
21:28Aman: I think I had the same tech issues as you, but am glad I can join the conversation on chat.
21:28Gail Desler : Love co-presenting Edublogs with Aman
21:28Peggy George: http://youthvoices.net
21:29Aman: I would love to be able discuss issues like Sandy Hook with other classrooms using Edublogs.
21:30Peggy George: I think it would be very difficult to have a K-12 community. Too large an age/developmental spread.
21:30Sue Waters: @Aman I may get in trouble for saying this but a country like Australia with such tight gun controls find it very frustrating
21:31Peggy George: your perspective is very interesting and valuable @Sue
21:31Aman: I think we can learn a lot from countries around the world.
21:32Sue Waters: This article pretty much summarises Australians thoughts on it -http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/16/opinion/sunday/kristof-do-we-have-the-courage-to-stop-this.html?hp&_r=0
21:33Peggy George: do they all have to be on the same blogging platform to participate in quadblogging like you're describing?
21:33Suzie Boss: Sue, I think many in the US would say the same
21:33Sue Waters: @Suzie yes
21:33Peggy George: thanks Sue
21:33Sue Waters: @Peggy they can be usijng any platform for Quadblogging
21:33karen (@kfasimpaur): Yes....when I have traveled overseas, I'm often asked about guns here in the US. I'm at a loss as to what to say.
21:34Sue Waters: Hi Gail!
21:35Peggy George: Linda Yollis is doing some fantastic quadblogging with her kids-2nd/3rd grade.
21:36Aman: @Gail P, I completely agree. Students want to know who is reading their writing. Building connections with other classes would be an amazing opportunity.
21:36karen (@kfasimpaur): Time is so often a challenge.
21:36Sue Wates: First we asked questions of Skype friends in Honolulu http://voicethread.com/?#u178653.b1390402.i7366282
21:36Sue Waters: @Karen most teachers integrate it within their curriculum so it is part of what they do
21:36Peggy George: I hope that would continue to be the case (many blogging platforms) if this idea goes forward with YouthVoices.
21:37Tony Iannone: jealous that you can use Skype in your district.
21:38Sue Waters: @Peggy there is no issue with using multiple blogging platforms as you can connect in a range of ways
21:39Peggy George: I love what Linda Yollis is doing with Family Blogging Month activities.http://yollisclassblog.blogspot.com/2012_12_01_archive.html
21:39Aman: Amazed at what these Kinders are able to do!
21:39Peggy George: Hi Matt! Great to see you in this conversation! Heard you on Conversations last week. :-)
21:39Matt Hardy: Hi Peggy!
21:41Peggy George: I would love to have you do a presentation on one of our weekly Classroom 2.0 LIVE webinars! Lots of people are interested in KidBlogs. :-)
21:42Sue Waters: @Gail P that is an inteesting point Saw some one tweet last week about a student who was hating blogging but loves creattive writing so I reminded her to give students option of what media they use with blogging i.e. can be more than writing
21:42Matt Hardy: Peggy - Happy to do so. Get in touch with me at [email protected] and we'll set it up.
21:42Peggy George: excellent point @Sue! Choice is so important
21:42Peggy George: I have my email draft already started Matt :-)
21:42Matt Hardy: Embed those VoiceThreads into Kidblog and create a portfolio starting in Kindergarten.
21:43Peggy George: saved your email address from the Conversations session :-)
21:43Peggy George: love the idea of a shared inquiry theme!
21:44Gail Desler : Matt and Sue - love that both KidBlogs and Edublogs are not blocked by most districts
21:44Suzie Boss: Kevin, love your thinking about shared inquiry
21:44Sue Waters: Yes it is good!
21:44Matt Hardy: And we love Sue Waters!
21:44Tony Iannone: @Matt...I'm looking at how blogs are enabling and constraining as a part of my doctoral work.
21:45Gail Desler : Ye!s, we do love Sue Waters
21:45Sue Waters: Looking forward to catching up again @Matt at ISTE2013
21:45Matt Hardy: Tony - would love to chat more about that!
21:45Matt Hardy: Yes indeed, @Sue!
21:45Sue Waters: @Matt what song will you sing in 2013?
21:46Matt Hardy: You'll have to wait and see/hear :)
21:47Peggy George: Tony-that sounds like a fantastic topic for your doctoral work!
21:47Sue Waters: @Matt wonder if I can organise more Aussies for our song next year?
21:48Peggy George: looping classes are great for extending blogging beyond one year! don't have to wait to see if next year's teacher will carry on :-)
21:48Suzie Boss: Nice use of Today's Meet--sounds like good formative assessment, too
21:48Peggy George: I agree Suzie!!!
21:50Peggy George: As a former principal I would have been thrilled to do a teacher observation of a teacher using TodaysMeet!
21:50Tony Iannone: @Matt...I'd love to chat with you some other time!
21:50Tony Iannone: Here's my [email protected]
21:50Sue Wates: kidblog is a very easy platform and interface
21:50Sue Waters: LOL that wasn;t written by me :)
21:51Peggy George: hahahaha
21:51Tony Iannone: @Peggy...thanks! Actually going to start my data collection in about a month!! Very excited!
21:51Gail Desler : Kids generating content - a huge plus for blogging
21:51Suzie Boss: Maybe some different goals here: publishing vs learning together
21:52Peggy George: Fantastic Tony! I would be very interested in reading it once you get it finished. Hope you'll publish it online somewhere. :-)
21:52Tony Iannone: @Matt...not sure if you saw this at the beginning...I did some pilot work at a tech camp this summer...watched kids work with kidblog. It was very interesting to see what they did with it!
21:52Peggy George: a silent star...
21:53Gail Poulin: test
21:53Peggy George: what are you testing @Gail P? :-)
21:54Sue Waters: Maybe how @Matt wrote what Sue Wates said :)
21:54Peggy George: LOL
21:54Gail Poulin: I was chatting as Sue Wates!!?
21:55Sue Waters: You were chattting as me other name @Gail P :)
21:55Peggy George: you're hacking the system @Gail :-) clever!
21:55Sue Waters: @Gail P that is so funny
21:55Gail Poulin: that's how I roll
21:56Tony Iannone: @Matt...I could see how the theme would lend itself to participants getting to know each other through what Kevin just said, "...a shared interest."
21:56Suzie Boss: connected inquiry--interesting way to think about this
21:57Peggy George: I really agree with Paul about the public/private
21:58Sue Waters: FYI a lot of our users use both Edublogs and Edmodo
21:58Sue Waters: as they do Edublogs and Kidblog
21:58Sue Waters: each are used for different purposes
21:59Matt Hardy: Spot on, @Sue
22:00Peggy George: @Sue-I wish you would get on the mic and talk about how that happens - using both Edublogs and Edmodo
22:00Sue Waters: they are probably doing the same with KidBlog
22:00Sue Waters: but basically used for different purposes
22:01Sue Waters: Here is a good explanation of whyhttp://www.classroomchronicles.net/2012/07/29/edublogs-or-edmodo/
22:01Gail Desler : Sue & Peggy - I'm pretty sure we'll be continuing this conversation
22:02Peggy George: thanks Sue. I'll read that but I'd still love to hear you discuss it. Maybe in a followup conversation?? :-)
22:02Aman: Some great resources and articles being posted. Thanks @Sue
22:02Gail Desler : I think it's important that students' online writing does not disappear at the end of a school year
22:02Peggy George: sounds like someone is multitasking and getting their dishes done :-)
22:03Sue Waters: I think is would be good to get someone like Henrietta Miller to discuss the differing reasons
22:03Sue Waters: You can quadblog from any platform
22:03Peggy George: Henrietta Miller would be awesome
22:04Sue Waters: I think Webbly is probably the more challenge from memory as teachers forget to set up the blogging compentent
22:04Peggy George: not sure what you mean? Easy to set up a blog on Weebly
22:04Sue Waters: @Peggy I remember in the student challenge we have an issue with one platform
22:05Sue Waters: where the teachers set it up as a web site but haven't enabled the blog aspect
22:05Peggy George: can't they add the blog after they create their website?
22:05Suzie Boss: Seems like audience and purpose are the two big questions
22:06Peggy George: I would love to see this conversation continue!!!
22:06Tony Iannone: who the kids imagine their audience is...is very important.
22:06Suzie Boss: Yes, try/test/iterate!
22:07Peggy George: love the way you said that @Tony. "kids imagine their audience" it really does involve imagination :-)
22:07Suzie Boss: great conversation!
22:07Suzie Boss: Look forward to seeing where this goes
22:07Aman: Thank you all! Can't wait the hear more.
22:07Peggy George: me too Suzie!!!
22:07Tony Iannone: ...taps into what I was mentioning earlier...could be enabling...could be constraining. For example...if I know my teacher is reading...I may write in a way that is different than if it's jsut my friends.
22:07karen (@kfasimpaur): Thanks all! Happy holidays.
22:07Sue Waters: The main thing you need to consider is the success of any relies on the teacher
22:08Peggy George: there are many primary teachers we could invite to join this conversation! Can't wait!
22:08Tony Iannone: That was very cool!! Thanks for letting me be a part of it!!!!
22:09Peggy George: thank you all for sharing!!!
22:09Gail Desler : Very true Sue
22:09Sue Waters: Thanks all and have a great holiday session!
22:09Peggy George: good night all!
22:09Gail Desler : I'm looking forward to continuing this conversation in the New Year. Night all
22:10Cassandra Shannon: Thank you for this very cool topic of bloging
22:11Cassandra Shannon: I would love to hear more about the students learning to understand shakesphere