Creating RSS Content for Elementary via "+1 Mentor Blogs"?
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This morning blogging before work habit is going to make me late for class one of these days, but you have to strike while the iron’s hot. So real quick:
If we can’t find RSS feeds for elementary students to read–not a foregone conclusion, mind you, as this, and this, and especially this show–it’s always possible to remedy that by simply creating them.
Vygotsky’s “zone of proximal development” might be put to work by having, within one school, each grade level writing blogs, and having students in each grade level subscribe to the blogs of their same-age peers, plus the blogs of the students one grade above them.
That way, first graders are being read by kindergarteners, second graders by first graders, etc, on up the chain. It would be a way of “preteaching” vocabulary and sentence structures one grade level above that of each reader.
Blogging assignments could get more interesting still by having students consciously write for their “-1″ audiences–using pictures, videos, podcasts to provide non-written context clues and input for their younger readers.
Notice, again, how this brings the subject of textbooks back into question, and possibly demotes them yet again.
Thoughts?
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I heard from a third party that you were looking for RSS feed for elementary kiddos. I did the same search and found some options. Visit our blog site and click on news feeds and you’ll see what we are using. I usually check everyday and so far nothing too inappropriate has been fed to us. I feel very strongly that we have to be extra careful in the RSS content becasue we are making the choice to bring that info “in”. Our feeds have a “Blog-it” option which the kids can use to comment on articles. One of my 5th graders is blogging daily on the Word of the Day. I’m looking for Photo of the Day to include. David Warwick at 2 cents worth published an entry on some comments I made about my students’ blogging, you can check it out if interested. Let me know if you find anything else. http://areallydifferentplace.org
[Reply]
nbosch
14 Jan 07 at 5:48 pm
excellent, thank you~
[Reply]
Clay Burell
14 Jan 07 at 6:04 pm
I really love the idea of having cross grade level subscriptions to blogs. Excellent reading and writing integration. As a matter of fact,I have two teachers who are going to be starting blogs this week -brother and sister, 5th gr and 1st gr. We have many instances where older and younger grade levels have served as “book buddies” but blog buddies would be so much better and a good example to use when talking to teachers about the possibilities of blogging. Thanks!
[Reply]
Diane Quirk
15 Jan 07 at 1:09 pm