Those Blogging Beginners!

This morning, Tammy taught a lesson on ideas. She worked with the idea of a funnel. For example, the topic of Canada is too broad for a post, so narrow it down to a particular focus within that broad topic. As part of the lesson, her students identified the focus of their blog. By the end of the lesson, her students were getting excited about blogging.

This afternoon, her students visited the lab. We reviewed the AUP (again), taught them how to access their blogs from home, did a bit more configuring of templates, time zones and profile, and then they started blogging.

Jabiz is still willing to help add a sidebar to all the blogs that has links to all the student blogs to make navigation easier.

Tammy says the permission forms are trickling in. We've told the kids that they may not publish until we have permission from their parents. Some parents had concerns about having their children on the web, and having them exposed to comments from the world at large. However, they've decided to give it a try, always reserving the option to pull their child from the project if they feel it isn't in the child's best interest.

I'm frustrated that they have started blogging but still don't have the rubric in hand. Hopefully I will finish it tomorrow -- more on that later.