Wednesday 28 March 2012

Learning how to blog

'Blogging Readiness'
Was I excited the first time? Well, of course I was. Was I a little anxious or afraid? Oh, yes, I was extremely nervous!!

6 weeks ago I created this blog, wrote the first post and started this adventure without knowing what to expect. The thing is, I’m not a professional writer or a famous education expert. Even though I truly believe everyone has a story to tell, I didn’t know if the blogging community would welcome me or not. Just in case, I told my friends and closest colleagues about my new place online and kept my fingers crossed. Were they going to love it or simply hate it?? I only hoped for the best.


Well, after reaching the first 1,000 hits and getting plenty of comments (most of them on facebook) from people I admire, I must say everything has been simply GREAT!! I’ve been able to talk about a wide range of topics, reflect on books I’ve read or videos I’ve seen, and I have met wonderful teachers and bloggers from ALL OVER THE WORLD! What else can a humble EFL teacher from Argentina expect? I wish all educators had a place where they could share their thoughts and interact with others.


As I said, I’m pretty sure all people can benefit from having a place to express themselves so, after much thinking, I decided to encourage my students to have a class blog! Most of them are really interested in the project and some are only too eager to participate, but what’s the plan? Well, all secondary school teachers-at least here, in Argentina- have plenty of groups or classes and this year I have 8, which means about 240 students!! I can’t possibly have 1 blog per class or make so many students share a single blog! Well, this is what I believe I'll be able to do:


Most of my students go to EES Nº 572. Unfortunately, at school we don’t have internet access or a good computer lab. Only a few of the children have laptops and internet at home, so I’ll be in charge of setting up and administrating 3 class blogs (one for 3 groups of 8th graders, another one shared by 2 groups of 9th graders and the last one for 10th and 11th year students). I will be publishing their work (texts, videos, posters, etc) and they will be able to leave comments and interact with other students (this will probably be the first time they use English for a real purpose!)


I have another group at Escuela J.J Urquiza. These are mostly 17-year-old students who can access the internet (both at home and at school) and I’m planning to create another blog for them, but this time students will be able to participate as authors. I’m not pretty sure what we’ll do, but I know teenagers are always creative!


So, what do you think about my plan? Do you have a class blog? Are there any tips and tricks you could share with me?

4 comments:

  1. Hi Ana,
    really liked the blog. I'm brazilian and I'm currently living in Córdoba, Argentina. I'm also an English teacher, but right now I only teach through skype. I have worked in many schools in Brazil and in the last one we created a blog with a group of 7th and 8th graders. They posted the activities and the projects done in class along with pictures, they became obsessed with registring every moment. The parents loved it too because they could know what their kids were doing. I have a blog too, it's been an exciting experience.
    http://skypeclassesluisa.blogspot.com.br

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    1. Hi Luisa,
      Thanks for visiting my blog and for sharing your experience!I've checked yours and it's really great (I loved the business meeting video!).

      Having a blog can be a lot of fun and I hope my students (and their parents) can understand what a fantastic learning experience this can be. I'll be uploading the links to the class blogs very soon.

      Let's keep in touch!

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  2. Wow, that's great that you have so many hits on your blog already! Thanks for including our blog on your blog list! We appreciate it. :) Happy blogging!

    jee young

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    1. Thanks for your support, Jee! I love "two apples a day". You do have amazing ideas.
      Let's keep in touch!

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