Lessons learned

I have wanted to create a blog for my students for awhile but I didn't know how to do it. So, this was a perfect opportunity for me. I created a blog with different links so students can go in and read the news, watch tv, listen to radio, play educational games, etc.. I thought it would be a piece of cake to start after creating it. No, it was not.

First, only 2 of my 20 kids have blogged before. They had no idea how to start. When I sent them the invitations, it was a hassle helping them get to the site, and sign up for it. For those who didn't have the google account, it was more hassle. I have kids who are 11 years old, so we could not sign them up for a google account. So I had to contact the parents. I also had to send parents a note telling them about Blog, because I want kids to use the internet at home and blog once per week, and I want their parents to not worried about their kids using blog. Then, the accents! we don't know how to put the accents in. I am still trying to figure it out myself. I guess I can type it and copy and paste. But some computers would not let my students copy and paste. Then starting something new is just tiring.

My only concern letting students using this is I don't know how much they really write or they just use Google Translation. How do I know if students really spend time exploring? But so far, I am having fun.