For our final blogging lesson I have a list of some of the many things we covered this year in English. Have a look at the list and pick out one or two things you remember and write about your memories. You will have a chance to keep blogging next year. If you want to keep you blog going please let your readers know to keep coming back. Of course you may want to blog from home in the holidays and there is nothing to stop you. BUT if you are going to give up your blog it may be good to let your readers know that you will not be updating any more. Of course you can always start another blog if you change your mind. Here is the list of some of the learnings we had in (and out of) class this year:
- What do we know about the 1960’s
- Reading Bye Beautiful
- Snippet poems
- Wide reading throughout the year
- The roles of women now and before the 1970’s
- Attitudes to women
- Learning about how characters are portrayed
- Making noun posters
- Creative writing
- Personal writing
- Writing essays
- Text response essay on Bye Beautiful
- Peer conferencing
- Learning to blog throughout the year
- Writing blog entries, making links, uploading photos
- Advertising
- Visual literacy – symbols
- Watch and study Pay it Forward
- AIMs test
- Punctuation conventions
- Picture story books
- Planning time in exams
- learning about (or more about) hyperlinking
- Impromptu speaking
- Oral presentations
- Questions on what reading is good for
- Start working on Independent novel
- Oxford debate
- Persuasive writing
- Adverbs
- Origins of words
- Reading a short story
- Writing a short story
- Writing haiku
- Writing a family story
- More on punctuation
- Block words
- What is parody?
- Nouns and sentences
- What do we know about grammar?
- Active and passive verbs
- Learning about Literature Circles Roles
- Read All summer in a day by Ray Bradbury
- Starting global collaboration in blogging
- Choosing Literature Circles novels
- Planning and running Literature Circles meetings
- Looking at the issue of relative poverty through articles in S-Press
- Learning about VoiceThread (?)
- More about grammar
- Do group oral preparation for Literature Circles
- Revise for exam – parts of speech, agreement between verbs and nouns/pronouns
- Revise for exam – persuasive writing
- Group oral presentations
You may already be aware that our class blog can be read by a global audience! In fact, our blog contains links to the blogs of other year nine English classes from other countries under the heading of ‘global collaboration’. What does global collaboration mean to you? Why do you think it is important? In your blog post today you could explore this concept further. Consider what you might learn through writing for a global audience, as well as through reading the blogs of other members of the global online community. What interests you about this process? Christian Long wrote that ‘Collaboration ain’t about holding hands. It’s about going cool places fast.’ So what can you gain from this process of global collaboration? Friends and ‘cool places’ are only a ‘click’ away. So why not take the time this week to read the blogs of some of the students from Spain, or
Germany, or wherever your interest takes you. You could even write them a comment if you like.
Recently in class we have been discussing issues in the media that concern us, and sharing our views and opinions in the form of persuasive writing. Today your blog post could explore this further. Think about what concerns you most about the world? Which current issues in the media do you feel it is most important for people to consider? What do you have to celebrate? Your blog post today could be an opportunity to share your concerns and cares, or to celebrate something you feel should be celebrated, in relation to your personal, local or global worlds.
You have good ideas about reading and good ideas about writing as well, but what about blogging?
What do you understand by blogging? Does blogging help you understand? What does it help you understand? Have a look at the student bloggers writing in English in Spain. Read three or four of the student entries and leave some comments if you like. Remember to include the web address (URL) of your blog so they can get back to you. Then write a blog post reflecting on these three ideas:
- What is your favorite or the most interesting thing you like about blogging?
- Does blogging help you learn more writing and language?
- What is the worst problem you have in blogging?
Writing is one of the most important skills you can develop. Like reading, writing is an essential skill. But there’s lots of different ways of writing. When you want to communicate to your friends by text message it is appropriate to use txtspk with all the abbreviations that you’re used to. When you are writing formally for assessment it is important that you use standard English and all the conventions of punctuation that you have learnt since primary school. It is important not to get mixed up.
This term, our focus will be on communicating well with all our different audiences, communicating by writing (and reading) and also using our voices. There will be chances for you to speak to a whole class and also in small groups as we start Literature Circles.
What I would like you to write about this lesson is anything that has interested you over the last fortnight. Make sure you use language appropriate to your global audience and use at least two hyperlinks to what it is you are discussing. Moderate your comments and maybe add some comments in return.
Did you know that if you maintain a blog that represents the best of your words, the most considered of your opinions, the really thought-out posts, and great representations of your abilities, then it would be great to put your website on your resume to demonstrate why you would be an asset to the organisation you want to go to for work experience. Don’t forget to check your spelling and that you have shown integrity with regard to copyright.
On another matter, a great site that I found thanks to Mrs Sanders’ blog is Teachers on Ice by Amy Rogers who is going to live in Antartica in November 2007. She says “Welcome to my Antarctic blog site. In November 2007 I will be one of four teachers carrying out an epic scientific expedition to Antarctica. We’ll be camping in Antarctica”. Have a look at her site
As you know blogging is not just about learning. Blogging is also for fun. You can add images to your website using copyright free images from these sites. You can read and comment on the blogs of your friends and wider commenity. You can share jokes and funny stories. You can link to sites that you are interested in to show others what you like. Which bands do you love? Link to them. What games on the internet do you like? Make a link to these sites. Don’t forget to get up with your blog in the holidays. You might check your blog every few days as the people reading your blogs in the US and Canada, as well as other countres will still be at school and reading and possibly commenting.
If you have not received as many comments as you would like, ask yourself, have you left comments on other students’ blogs, in other countries? Have you made sure you have filled in the URL space in the comment form so that otther readers can find you through your comments? Blog for fun!
Today’s blog entry is something in the way of an experiment. Can you describe your room, or your backyard or anywhere you know well, using specific nouns that help paint a picture for your readers? Then write a family story or about an incident in your family that features vivid verbs that brings your writing to life. Try it and see what happens. When you feel you have achieved an effect in your writing publish it and go comment on other writing. Try to comment on some of the blogs from Mrs Crowe’s class in New Zealand.
Then next lesson, remember to bring a photo of you as a very young child or some one in your parents’ generation as a young child.
This morning I would like you to go read this blog from another country. There are some very interesting features on this blog including a post about students at our school. There are also videos and mp3 files of student speeches. Have a look around, browse, click on some links, read and make comments. Then write a post about the experience of reading the things on this blog. What did you think? What was most interesting to you? What did you learn that you didn’t know before? And if that is not quite what you want to reflect on, write about whatever is on your mind right now that you want to tell our global audience. Try to include at least one hyperlink inyour post. Remember there is a moratorium on the word “bored”. If you are not sure what this means check out the meaning at dictionary.com Can’t wait to read what you write.
There are some new year nines blogging. Wouldn’t it be great to visit some of their blogs and welcome them with a comment or two. As you know there’s nothing quite like recieving a comment to give you the feeling that your writing matters, and that your opinions matter. Read their introductory posts and respond to what they say. Make sure you leave a link to your blog by filling in the URL so they can click on your blog and reply to you. Another way that bloggers reply to their commenters is by leaving a comment to you on their own blog so go back to the posts you have commeted to see if they or someone else has added to the conversation. Maybe you can add some of them to the blogroll on your site as well to encourage them to write more if you are interested in the same sorts of things.
