When looking your class blog statistics, it is always interesting to ponder who your viewers are. Are they:
If we judged this by the comments we receive, the overwhelming majority would be from groups 1, 2 and 4! (Reassuringly, spammers all get filtered out as part of the blog's safety features)
What is interesting to consider is how much our parents use the site (either independently or with their children).
Today, I asked my class and most said they had looked at the blog with parents. Our school are in the process of preparing the Parent questionnaire, which give us harder data on this, but otherwise it is hard to quantify.
Ways we can engage parents to view (and hopefully comment!)
1. Meaningful Posts
When we went on our residential to Howtown, the blog became a meaningful link for parents who were keen to see what their children were up to.
2. Encouragement through Parent-Child Involvement in Blogs
Nevertheless, I also firmly believe parents are looking at the blogs and beginning to develop the confidence / familiarity to comment. This is particularly true lower down in the school, and in fact our Foundation Stage teachers led the way by setting homework to involve the parents (Well done Mrs Geach, Mrs Hunter and all the FS team!)
As a result (and not wanting to miss out on an opportunity), we used Safer Internet Day across the school to encourage parents to comment on the children's learning / understanding of esafety.
- Current pupils and which ones and how often do they visit?
- Former pupils?
- Parents / community members?
- The wider global classroom community?
- Teachers?
- Spammers and the like?
If we judged this by the comments we receive, the overwhelming majority would be from groups 1, 2 and 4! (Reassuringly, spammers all get filtered out as part of the blog's safety features)
What is interesting to consider is how much our parents use the site (either independently or with their children).
Today, I asked my class and most said they had looked at the blog with parents. Our school are in the process of preparing the Parent questionnaire, which give us harder data on this, but otherwise it is hard to quantify.
Ways we can engage parents to view (and hopefully comment!)
1. Meaningful Posts
When we went on our residential to Howtown, the blog became a meaningful link for parents who were keen to see what their children were up to.
2. Encouragement through Parent-Child Involvement in Blogs
Nevertheless, I also firmly believe parents are looking at the blogs and beginning to develop the confidence / familiarity to comment. This is particularly true lower down in the school, and in fact our Foundation Stage teachers led the way by setting homework to involve the parents (Well done Mrs Geach, Mrs Hunter and all the FS team!)
As a result (and not wanting to miss out on an opportunity), we used Safer Internet Day across the school to encourage parents to comment on the children's learning / understanding of esafety.
Parents were commenting and we hope that this pattern will continue. In fact, our Year 4 teacher said that parents had been commenting on other blog posts, such as when the children performed their ukeleles.
After all, boosting self-esteem, supporting home-school links and sharing successes are some of the benefits of blogging.
So set the parents some homework and get them involved!
Sources and Lots More Ideas by Kathleen Morris:
http://primarytech.global2.vic.edu.au/2013/02/09/a_guide_to_involving_parents_in_your_class_blog/ (Fantastic tips on involving parents)
After all, boosting self-esteem, supporting home-school links and sharing successes are some of the benefits of blogging.
So set the parents some homework and get them involved!
Sources and Lots More Ideas by Kathleen Morris:
http://primarytech.global2.vic.edu.au/2013/02/09/a_guide_to_involving_parents_in_your_class_blog/ (Fantastic tips on involving parents)
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