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Social Media Plan

Drexel University
EDUC611
Ryan Burks
11/15/2015

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Social Media Plan: Kidblog

Learning Objective:
Students will get opportunities to work on their writing and typing skills each week with their
blog post. Students will learn from one another through the process of collaboration and
commenting on their peers posts. This year long activity will create a wonderful writing
portfolio for each student that can be used to reflect on writing improvements and learning
throughout the year. Students will use higher order thinking skills to answer questions posed by
the teacher, or use creativity and imagination during the weeks where they have the option to free
write. Students will get introduced to blogging in a safe environment where they can experiment
with new technology and social media.
The Plan:
I will be introducing my junior high Language Arts students to the wonderful world of blogging
during the upcoming school year. I have set up an account with Kidblog, and all of my students
will be required to set up an account as well. Each class has its own page and the students will be
assigned to the appropriate groups when they register using a class code. Each student will then
have their own blog site that will be located under the classroom page. Each student will have
complete control of their own page as long as they follow the guidelines of the AUP.
Every week I will post a question or a topic for the students to write about. The students will be
required to write a 500-750 word blog post by Friday afternoon of each week. Students will be
graded on completion, content, and spelling/grammar. I will then require students to visit two of
their classmates blogs and comment on them by the following Tuesday. Students will be given a
participation score for commenting on the blog posts by the Tuesday deadline.
Most of the time, students will be required to answer a higher order thinking question that I have
posted, but some weeks the students will be given free reign over the content of their post.
Parents will have the opportunity to set up an account where they can view their childs blog if
they choose. Parents will also be required to agree to and sign an AUP.
Assessment:
The main objective of this activity is for students to get extra writing and typing practice
throughout the school year, but students will be assessed on content and spelling/grammar. In
order to ensure that each student is visiting the posts of their peers, they will be given
participation points for accomplishing this task in a timely manner. The comments need to be
productive and add value to the classroom. I will use a rubric to assess students original blog
post each week. Rubric is below.

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Completion

Content

SpellingGrammar

1 point
Blog post
completed
but over a
week late
Content is
inappropriate
and fails to
answer the
question

2 points
Blog post
completed by
Thursday
afternoon.
Student doesnt
stay on topic and
content is hard to
follow/understan
d

3 points
Blog post
completed
by Tuesday
afternoon
Student fails
to answer
the question
and content
isnt
consistent.

10 or more
SpellingGrammar
mistakes

6-9
SpellingGrammar
mistakes

4-5
SpellingGrammar
mistakes

4 points
Blog post
completed
by Monday
morning
Most of the
content is
appropriate
and the
student
attempts to
answer the
question.
2-3
SpellingGrammar
mistakes

5 points
Blog post
completed by
Friday
afternoon
Content is
appropriate.
Student stays
on topic and
answers the
question.

0-1
SpellingGrammar
mistakes

How will this enhance the learning experience?

One of the best ways for a student to become a better writer is for the student to practice their
writing. Practice makes perfect. This plan will not only give students a chance to practice their
writing skills, but also will allow them the opportunity to practice their typing skills. Students
will be given the opportunity to read other students work and can comment and give their peers
constructive feedback. Most of the time a student writes a paper, the teacher is the only person
who gets to read the paper, but this will allow the students to share their work with the class. This
activity will be done outside of class time, which will allow more time for instruction inside of
the classroom. Students will become better writers and better readers by participating in this
yearlong activity.
Technology as an Online Collaborative Tool
This plan was designed as a way to create an online collaboration using new technology within
the classroom. While each student is in charge of their own blog, this will be shared with the
entire class. Each week students will visit the blogs of their peers and will leave comments and
reflections after they have read what was written. Students will have the opportunity to learn
from one another and can share their thoughts and ideas each week. It is hard to incorporate
collaboration into a Language Arts classroom most of the time, but this activity will create
collaboration online. Students will get to interact with each other online and build relationships
with them through their blog posts and comments.
Why is this important?

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Language Arts classrooms focus on reading and writing, and students can always continue to
improve these skills. This activity gives students the chance to practice these skills while also
sharing their ideas with their peers. Students will be given questions to answer or topics to write
about that will challenge them to use higher order thinking skills in their blog post. Most of the
time, the questions will coincide to what we are learning about in class, and students can show
their knowledge and deeper understanding of the content in their writing. It is also important that
students read and reflect on the writing and ideas of their peers. This activity will encourage
students to share ideas and continue discussions in the comment section of the blog. I will
closely monitor these discussions, but its important that students take more control of their
learning and work together to think deeper.
What research supports my plan?
While I wasnt able to find much research done on introducing blogging in classroom, I was able
to find many articles describing the benefits of blogs. Rini Sinha states, Blogs can prove to be a
global learning community and communication centre which can grow to facilitate student
learning for 21st century (Sinha). Having a classroom blog page allows each class to become
their own community of learning where students learn from each other and with each other. Mrs.
Kathleen Morris uses blogs in her classroom and states, Blogging is an excellent way to learn
about being a responsible member of an online community (Morris). It is important to teach our
students about the dangers of social media, and this activity is a great introduction to blogging in
a safe and controlled environment. Mrs. Morris continues, Reluctant writers wanted to write for
a purpose and students were using blogs to purposefully communicate and converse with others
(Morris). Many times students are afraid or shy about expressing their thoughts and ideas inside
of a classroom, but they feel more comfortable posting their thoughts online.

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References
Morris, K. (2013, March 8). Primary Tech. Retrieved November 30, 2015, from
http://primarytech.global2.vic.edu.au/2013/03/08/the-benefits-of-educational-blogging/
Sinha, R. (2013, May 16). Blogging in Classroom: Steps and Benefits. Retrieved November 30,
2015, from http://edtechreview.in/trends-insights/insights/333-steps-benefits-blogging-ineducation