Following last Friday's blogging training, the number of County Durham schools who have set up class blogs has expanded exponentially.
 
Besides Tanfield Lea and Brandon Primary, the following schools have begun their blogging journeys:

Year 5 at Escomb Primary 

Year 5  at Shield Row Primary

Year 1 at East Stanley 

Year 3 at Seaham Trinity
 
Year 6 at Ropery Walk Primary

Year 6 at Burnopfield Primary 

Year 4 at Framwellgate Moor Primary 

Year 1 at Blackhill St Marys 

Cestria Primary

Year 6 at Westlea Primary, Seaham

Harelaw School

Please check out their sites (some used, some waiting to get going) and if you would like to join us in developing children's engagement, please drop us a line!

When I first started a blog (I think after an Inset by Russell Prue about technology in the class) I was amazed that I could even make a website!

After a few months of trial and error and some internet research, I  discovered a whole world of class blogs that I had never envisaged.

I think one of the important benefits of a class blog is developing links with others so the children of County Durham get their collective heads up and see what other children around them world are doing.  (Of course, they are doing this already via XBox Live etc.!)  However, a class blog can also improve writing and boost self-esteem in a way XBox Live surely doesn't!

There are several ways our school has developed links with others around the world:

1.Twitter

I joined Twitter with a sense of trepidation, having never done Facebook, thinking it was for being nosey about celebrities.  I then started following a few educators, although still felt uncomfortable about its role seemingly as a publicising tool.

 I realised though that Twitter could automatically tweet (ie publicise) your blog posts and slowly but surely other classes / teachers would actually be interested.   They follow you, you follow back (only if you're interested) and a potential partner class is found.  

It's the law of the market I suppose (if you overly self-publicise, people will stop following) and if others have similar interests to you, you will gain useful contacts.  After all, some people follow 1000s, so will only click your link if it's of interest to them....

 You can also see what other bloggers are up to (@deputymitchell, @theheadsoffice and @quadblogging are great places to start- see 3 and 4 below).

Twitter also introduced me to Flag Counters and other visitor counting tools.

2. Oddizzi



I have written about using Oddizzi to develop class partners via their class pals system here and here. Apart from being an excellent Geography resource for primaries, initially, it is a quick and efficient easy to send emails from class to class, but some those relationships might develop into taking time to leave comments on each others blogs and even setting up email links, child to child, as it has with Wellford Academy in South Carolina.

Jenny and her incredibly helpful team have allowed our class to develop links with USA, Taiwan (we received a snail mail package at one point) and others.  

I know for a fact our visitor from Nepal on the Flag Counters came via Oddizzi!

These 2 tools definitely added readers to our blog (and some comments), but the next 2 tools allow children to comment on each other's work. 

Next Friday (17th January), some local teachers from around County Durham will be building their own websites on a course at our school. 

I remember my excitement from a couple of years ago when I first set up my class blog.  I looked at others' sites, thought about what would interest and work with my pupils and then gradually developed it, page by page, mistake by mistake.

For those starting out, I've just added a document in the Documents section with some sample text for various different pages of a class blog.  They are fairly standard, but might help some, setting out on the blogging journey. 

Hope they help!

Happy New Year! 

Having thought very little about teaching over the break, and not added any posts to the class blog, imagine how surprised I was to look at the statistics over Christmas week and see that Boxing Day was the day with the most hits!  

Does this mean lots of my pupils (and other teachers) got new devices from Santa?   I would guess so, but it is interesting (and to be honest, very pleasing) that they chose to look at the blog.   

I know I spent some time 'randomly' browsing the web and I know that some of our pupils did too!  

A few left comments and some accessed educational games.  Some just checked their own work by clicking on their name down the sidebar and some past pupils wished us Happy New Year!

That is the power of the blog: a link between the home and school, engaging, a place to learn ('stealth learning' it has been called), share great work (writing but also videos, puppet shows and podcasts) and build self-esteem!  

I look forward to continuing the blogging into 2014 - the next challenge is getting the children building their own sites!