One hurdle I thought I could help get over when it came to blogging was first grade typing skills. They are slow, they are just learning to read and write independently. We teach them a systematic order for the alphabet and they look at a jumbled keyboard. To top that there are additional distractions on the keyboard (and to be honest in the classroom). So I thought I'd address this hurdle by adding laptops to my Work on Writing station during our Daily 5 round. Brilliant! Students were engaged, writers were publishing, students were becoming familiar with the keyboard and a few experimented with the size, font, and color (surprise, surprise). I even appointed a Tech Helper to assist students in need while I was working with a small group. We were ready for our first post...or not.
Last Thursday, I decided we were going to log in to KidBlog, change our passwords, and possibly change our avatar. WAY TOO MANY OBJECTIVES. Start with LOG IN. period.
I had kidproofed the process. I had already registered all of them with their usernames, given everyone our common password, and even created a sample kid blog to ensure that what I was doing set up correctly in kid version. When it was time for the lesson I had the smartboard slides set up with step by step directions to log in using a code so they didn't have to type the long url to access our site. Of course, not so much. Technology is messy, learning is messy and I am learning right in front of them!
Word of Advice:
1. If you set up your students yourself, do not bother with the code. For those that make it all the way through, they end up creating another account.
Take the time for them to type in the long url and then bookmark it.
2. Some students will log on quickly, others will not, have those students help.
3. Stress the importance of Log Out.
4. Let them play with the site. See what they can and can not do. Take notes so you know what the next lesson could be or what you need to fix in the settings.