Teacher Blog Ideas

There are several ways for a teacher to use a blog. In this post, I'm going to talk about four of them.

First, you could use a blog as a daily log. Each day you can write about what you did in your class. In this you could include any reading assignments or homework assignments. This is a great way for your students and parents to stay informed about what is going on everyday in your class. The downside to this is that you have to post everyday. This can become overwhelming, especially if you are teaching 3-4 different classes.

To see some examples of Daily Logs from this blog, click HERE.

Second, you could use a blog as a discussion board by having students comment on your posts. You could post discussion questions, pictures, or reading selections. Students could then comment on them.

To see some examples of Student Responses from this blog, click HERE.
To see some other blogs that use Student Responses, click HERE or HERE.

Third, you could use a blog to post about your subject. For example, a reading teacher could write book reviews, a science teacher could write about current science discovers, a French teacher could write (in French) about current events in France, or an English teacher could write about the rules of punctuation.

To see some a reading teacher's blog, click HERE.
To see a Spanish teacher's blog, click HERE.
To see a science teacher's blog, click HERE.
To see a history teacher's blog, click HERE.

Fourth, you could use a blog for student writing. We are always talking to our students about publishing their writing, why not make a team blog where they can? All they need is a gmail account and you can invite them to be a member on your blog. If you don't want to have a team blog, you could have them email their writing to you and you can copy and paste it into a post and publish it for them.

To see a blog featuring student writing, click HERE.

Book Review: Whirligig

This week I read Whirligig by Paul Fleischman. I loved the message of this book. To me, the theme is summed up perfectly on page 70. Fleischman wrote, “The effects of an act traveled far beyond one’s knowledge. Everything we did – good, bad, and indifferent – sent a wave rolling out of sight. He wondered what his own accounting, generations later, would look like.” I tell my students this same message weekly. I ask them, “How are you going to contribute to your community? Are your contributions going to make your community a better place or a worse place?” A lot of the time my students reply, “I don’t do anything. I don’t make contributions.” I try to explain to them that all actions, or inaction, shape the world we live in. I think this book will help them see that.

Book Review: Road to Damietta

I just finished the adolescent book, The Road to Damietta by Scott O'Dell. First of all, I don't think this is a good example of adolescent lit. I think most teenagers lack the background knowledge (13th Century, city-states of Italy, Catholicism, the Crusades, etc). and interest for this book. Honestly, I had a hard time getting through the first 200 pages (although the last 100 pages were very good - I read them in one sitting).

I originally bought the book because I saw it was a historical fiction novel about St. Francis of Assisi. I love St. Francis - he's one of my favorite saints. Unfortunately, his character is not as prominent as the narrator, a selfish young noblewoman named Ricca. I did not like or connect with her character, at all. Throughout the book, Ricca believes she is in love with St. Francis. She follows his life as he changes from a fun-loving, merchant's son into a devoutly religious man.

Although she has few actual interactions with him, her family disapproves of her obsession. As punishment, her father requires her to work as a copyist in the family's library/archive. Much of the first 200 pages describes her work making copies and illuminating those copies. After realizing that the work has done little to diminish Ricca's "love" for St. Francis, her father sends her to a nunnery in Venice.

After spending quite some time in Venice (the book doesn't give a definite time, but I assumed it was 1-2 years), Ricca learns that St. Francis is set to sail to Egypt with the Crusaders. She decides to follow him there, offering to translate for him. This was the best section of the book (the final 100 pages). It gave an excellent description of the Crusade, the city of Damietta, and the sultan, Malik-al-Kamil. I've been looking for a good book on the Crusades for the past 2 years, and had yet to find one. Although I choose to read this book to learn more about the life of St. Francis, I enjoyed it because of the portrayal of the 5th Crusade.

Despite not being a huge fan of this book, I still very much enjoyed the lessons learned from the life of St. Francis, including his prayer:

Lord, make me an instrument of Thy Peace,
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
And where there is sorrow, joy.

Extra Credit Response: Saguaro Cactus

The Saguaro Cactus plays a significant part in the novel, Stargirl. For extra credit, write a poem about the Saguaro Cactus and publish it here in the comment section.

Stargirl Student Response #2

This is the 2nd Student Response for Stargirl. It is due on Wednesday, April 1, 2009 by 3:30 pm. To respond, click on "Comments." Type your comment, then leave your name and class period. Publish your comment using the "Anonymous" button.

In the beginning, Hillari Kimble is the only person who openly dislikes Stargirl, but then others begin to feel the same way as Hillari. Do you think that groups of people need a leader, like Hillari Kimble, to turn opinions against another person?

Stargirl Student Response #1

This is the 1st Student Response for Stargirl. It is due on Thursday, March 26, 2009 by 3:30 pm. To respond, click on "Comments." Type your comment, then leave your name and class period. Publish your comment using the "Anonymous" button.

Do you, as a reader, like Stargirl? If you were a student at Mica High, would you reach out to her like Dori Dilson, or reject her like Hillari Kimble. Why?

Friday, November 14

Silent Reading Day!! Today students silent read and filled out a page in their Meta-Cognition Journals. These journals will be due at the end of the quarter.

The homework assignment, "American Plague Assignment," was also collected.