Feb 26 2008
“A blog is…”
Download Video: Posted by rachelboyd at TeacherTube.com.
This vodcast is a beautiful short clip which gives us an insight into what some six and seven year old students at Nelson Central School in New Zealand think about weblogs. A number of students answer two questions firstly “what is a blog” and “why do you enjoy having a blog”. I found this blogspot particularly insightful and useful in hearing the voice of young students and their attitudes towards blogs. Their responses can be viewed below.
What is a blog?
“A blog is an internet site which tells something about people.”
“A blog is something that we do writing on for people to look at, it is on the internet.”
“It’s something you can write on and take pictures.”
“It’s a type of internet where you can write stuff and look at classrooms or you could make one at your house with your computer.”
“I think it’s a website you can go and have a look at stuff on like what we’re doing in our classroom.”
“It’s a type of internet site and you can use it at home and at school.” “It’s in the internet where people can do pictures, writing and photos and other people can leave comments so that people can look at it.”
“It’s on the internet and you can send it to anywhere in the world.”
“It’s somewhere you can store all your pictures and photos on the internet.”
Why do you like having a blog?
“You can do lots of cool writing on it and lots of people can visit it on the computer and you can get lots and lots of comments on it.”
“Because we enjoy showing other people what we have learned and it is also cool to put stuff on the internet.” “
Because you can put pictures on it and you can write stories on there.”
“You can look at your stuff that you’re doing and it will be really fun and my parents can look at stuff we’ve been doing in the classroom and we can look at it.”
“Because people can look at us and we might be famous.”
I also visited the students’ class blogspot. This was a wonderful experience as it provided me with a real and tangible learning context of students using weblogs as part of their primary education. This class weblog included class exercises such as descriptive poetry, photos, class videos, camp reflections, class podcasts on global issues and much more.
When I was browsing the blogspot I viewed a number of students’ podcasts done in December last year. This was a class exercise where students recorded a written piece of work entitled “The Lorax Speaks for…” Following this I entered the comments section which corresponded to these blog postings. I was simply amazed at the diversity of comments. This really highlighted to me the great advantage of weblogs in providing students with a global audience with whom they can share their work. Certainly I could anticipate the genuine excitement a student would have knowing that a teacher in New York, Australia or Sweden has viewed their work and left a written response! I have copied some of the comments left for the students at Central School in New Zealand below:
“The Lorax Speaks for… (7)”
3 Comments – WritePostCollapsor(); Show Original Post WriteCommentsCollapsor(); Collapse comments
Jane said… - Sam, Great video! I really enjoyed it. I am a teacher in New York City (can you find it on a map?), and I was looking to examples of student blogs to show some other teachers. They will all see you video this week. Thank you so much. I will check back to see if you and your class to more videos. Best, jane13 January, 2008
tasteach said… - G’day Sam. I am just about to start videoing and blogging with the students in my grade 6/7 class in Tasmania, Australia. How long did it take you to put together your video and what software program did you use?19 January, 2008
- vi1b said…
- Hello!
We are a class in Sweden. Our ages are 7 and 8. We have a blog, but we write in Swedish.07 February, 2008
References
Boyd, R (Producer and Presenter). (2007). 6 & 7 Year Olds and BLOGS! March 3, 2008, from: http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=601b9f31bf04019c8593
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