BlaBlaBlog

Blogs... They're like journal entries.  They can be used in a variety of ways in a classroom or for personal use.  Most of the blogs I've ever read or heard of are basically someone's journal of what their day was like.  Ranting on what they dislike - raving about what they like - drooling over the food they just ate - giggling about what their kid just did - rhyming riddles regularly.  I don't know.  Blogs are blogs.  They can be about whatever you want them to be about. 

I don't currently ask my students to blog.  However, I do have them "journal" in their Google Apps.  They respond to a prompt that I give them in a Google Document that they have shared with me.  I comment on their response to the prompt, they can comment back, add to the prompt, question me, etc.  It's a little bit like a blog, but more private.  They don't have to worry about the rest of the world (or even their classmates) seeing what they have written.  They get their typing experience, which they need for their online writing state test.  They get a chance to use available technology (hardware and Web 2.0).  Blogging?  Not quite... could this transfer easily into a blogging situation?  Absolutely.  Do I plan to do it for this exact purpose?  Probably not.  I think if I were going to have my kids blog, I would start out slow - blog on books.  I feel that they would feel less vulnerable talking about books.

My blog is about a teacher's woes and wahoos. 
My woe is that school, this year, is not at ALL what I expected or hoped it to be.  My wahoo is that the school year is halfway over.  My woe is that all of my free time is sitting at a computer, planning lessons and grading papers.  My wahoo is that I love the people that I plan my lessons with.  My woe is that my students are draining the life out of me.  My wahoo is that they really make my day pretty interesting (even if I could probably be ok if a couple of them would be absent occasionally) and they make me laugh often.

I don't have a quote of the day to share.  Kids don't say the darndest things.  I teach 5th graders... 1st graders say the darndest [cute] things.  5th graders say the darndest [vulgar] things that make your eyeballs pop out of your face, make your face flush, then turn all white, and make you think.. 'Please take it back - I didn't hear that - you didn't say that - Now I have to send you to the office.  Crap.'

This is my blog post on blogs.

Favorite quotes from 5th graders (6 years ago... see...they say things, but it's more rare):
"Miss C, you look really young today. [Student A]  (Student B smacks Student A) What was that for???"
"You just told her she looks old every other day! [Student B]"