Welcome Families !

Friends and  families — please read and respond just as our students do.  Let us introduce you to the facts:

Who:

This blog is for Ms. Edwards’s Writing Class

We practice our 21st Century skills to:

Consider  Create  Connect  Collaborate.

 

Where:

The Home Page and Blog

 Home Page Google Sites for Writing Class

The Teacher Blog
The Eagles Write Class Blog for Grade 8

Eagles Write Kidblogs for Grades 6 7 8

What: The Purpose

Eagles Blog
Have you noticed the world has changed?
Or the changes in reading and writing?

• We are Wandering Wordsmiths; Emerging Experts.
• What else could we write? How else could we say it better?
• Our Blogs: a place to enhance written discourse and media citizenship among students.

Teaching and learning are social activities; today’s kids are connected in ways that no adult over twenty-five could have imagined just five years ago. Students today enjoy the connectedness of social networking; it is part of their very being. Our goal is to bring instruction into that cloud to teach the content required in ways that inspire online responsibility and ethics in this new, very public world.

What: A  Definition: What is a blog?

A log is like a journal, a place to express your ideas. A web-log is a journal on the world wide web (www), the Internet.  A blog is short for “web-log.” It’s purpose is to share ideas with others to add to an ongoing conversation about topics of interest to the “blogger.” Others then comment on that blog so they can add more to the conversation.

Why: So Why blog?

In this changed world, our students will be expected to participate online in responsible ways. Education now includes guiding students in this new read-write web. That’s right, the “internet” is now not only readable, it’s writable.

Our students learn to navigate safely and responsibly through the web by participating in blogs and wikis on topics of interest to them. They research and consider others’ ideas, create their own ideas on blogs, connect to others in comments, and collaborate to clarify and extend the conversation about their topics.

Through these connections, students apply their research and social skills to clearly write their ideas, converse with others in positive and supportive ways, and continue the conversation that adds knowledge and solutions to issues that concern them.

They create an online identity of which they can be proud citizens of this changed world.

How: How Can Families Participate?

Will You join us?

• Read

The Teacher Blog
The Eagles Write Class Blog for Grade 8

Eagles Write Kidblogs for Grades 6 7 8

 

• Subscribe

In the right column, just enter your email address in the “Subscribe” area. You will receive an email when changes occur.

• Read the blog’s pages for more information

• Comment

Comments continue the conversation. We love them!  Just click “Comments” under the title of the blog post or at the end of the blog post. Please only use your first name.

Note to students:

Remember: A blog comment is your footprint… a path back to you… prepare your path wisely.

• View Categories

Look for your student’s name in the sidebar of this or our Kidblog blogs.

 

How will I introduce and welcome families?

First, my students will follow what they need to do to begin blogging. Expected homework is to share what they do, including the internet safety guidelines they follow.

Second, once students begin their own blogging, I will ask them to learn and explain the purpose and participation in their own words.

Third, I’ll share the handouts (see below) with families at parent conferences and as a homework task. I’ve always wanted to have an “Open House”  in our writing classroom, such that students prepare presentations to share with families any time they visit. We could schedule special “Open House Days” as well. Our regular lessons and projects would continue as the students of the attending families simply take them to their desk or computer and share the presentation of our work to them. This helps families and their schedules.

So, students:

What are you learning? What will you share? Did you share our blog with your families yet? Let’s start our welcome to families to share our learning in writing class.

And families, What do you want to know and see? We look forward to learning your ideas as you read about ours.

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The family handout: