Trading Traditions

Last night my son started asking questions about what we were doing this Thanksgiving. Texting (of course), "We are hosting this year on Thursday." He asked, "Aren't we going to Aunt Becky's?" I replied, "No, she didn't plan a family dinner this year probably because of grandpa's hip surgery. Why, do you need to see her?". Tommy said,  "It's just been that way for years."  I said, "people grow up, grow old..." .

Child Support vs Visitation

Most single, young parents are aware of the terms "child support" and "visitation", however  there are many misconceptions about how these laws are carried out. 

Lesson 4: Making Comments

I hope you like the classroom blog project this year. I am happy that you have created your own blogs and I can't wait to see how much you will add by the end of the school year.

This activity is about making comments on a blogger's post. The comments you share with each other is the main purpose of blogging; to communicate about the topic and help everyone who reads the blog develop a better understanding.

Easy as ABC

I incorporate many teaching strategies into my lessons. One of my favorite is Writing Alphabet Books, a strategy I found by Janet Allen in More Tools for Teaching Content Literacy. The method is simple to use and students enjoy the creative aspect of producing a book. Writing an alphabet book can help students organize and synthesize the information at the end of any unit. The students can compose the book as a class, in groups, or individually.

Blogging Rules to Follow

Assignment: 
Here you will find a few examples of links about guidelines. Review at least 3 links.

In the comment box below write about the three most important rules you will follow when posting an article on the GRADS Classroom Blog.

Observances

How To Use National Observances in Your Lessons.

There are hundreds of National Observances recognized every year.  Observances can create “teachable moments” or be the focus of any unit in the field of Family and Consumer Sciences.

Classroom Blogging

As a student with reading challenges I know how our reluctant readers feel about content area textbooks. The students have no interest in spending their time pretending to read and understand what we put in front of them. But like me, these same kids will become sponge-like if they can read something that pertains to their own life. Think about all of the pamphlets, booklets, and handouts we provide about prenatal development, legal issues, child birth, and fatherhood. These are the topics that most interest them, these are the topics they seek to understand, these issues are what they absorb and then they want to discuss with their peers. They also want to write about all aspects of this journey into teen parenthood. 
There is an excellent, brand new blog I found, Ignite, Incite, Inspire. The author discusses how blogging will help students with literacy issues. Please read his easy to follow directions on how to create classroom blogs and I know this will "ignite, incite, and inspire" you to begin the blogging journey.
View my Classroom Blog Proposal
View the rubrics, Basis for Scoring a Blog Post

Fatherhood

It's been a little over a decade since I purchased a VCR tape (remember those?) of a 60 Minutes program titled "Delinquents". The segment was about the biggest big brother program in the world involving elephants. Every year I've shown the video in the Child Development classes and now to my teen parents in the GRADS Program. I have yet to find a better way to stress the importance of fathers taking an active role in the lives of their children. The behavior of the adolescent bull elephants is strikingly similar to teen boys without a father figure.  Before viewing the video students complete Word Description of Father

After the video we went back to the Word Descriptions of Father. Students discussed the words that describe the father elephants. 

Then students viewed several pictures of fathers interacting with children (from magazines) and wrote the dialog they imagined the father was having with the children. The speech bubbles were added and posted in the classroom. We discussed why it is important for fathers to take the time to communicate with their children.

Your Prenatal Doctor Visit

Every time you visit your doctor you should blog about the results. Copy and paste the following into a new post and fill in the information.

Date: Weeks of Pregnancy:

My current weight:  I gained: pounds.

Blood Pressure:  Fundal height:

• Blood Sample
• Heartbeat
• Urine Sample

Other Tests:

Questions I wanted to ask:

Comments / Instructions:

Next appointment:

Journaling

Each week you will write a journal entry in your blog. Here is a list of prompts you can choose from. Use the prompt for the blog title and then start your post with the first words of the prompt. You will find this list under Assignments.


These are just a few:               Printer Friendly


Prompts for all students

1. Write a brief personal history.
2. The things I feel good about right now are…
3. The things I am worried about right now are…
4. The best thing I’ve done lately is…
5. I wish I hadn’t…
6. When I grow up I want to be…
7. The most important things I can do for my physical health is…
8. My best friend is… because…
9. Some of the things I need to deal with in the coming weeks are
10.  If my friend was in an abusive relationship I would…

Lesson 1 A New Beginning

Student assignment:
I like my job - a lot! It feels like a new beginning each year as we return to school. This is the 25th New Beginning for me and I am thrilled to have received news that my Classroom Blog proposal was approved! This is something I discussed with the seniors last spring and thought about all summer. 
Until we get everything set up at each school to create individual blogs I will use my GRADS Classroom Blog to introduce  this project. So the first thing I'd like you to do is open the Proposal, read it over, visit any of my other links and then make a comment here on this post about the following question:


What part of the Blog Project are you looking forward to?

Think Outside the Books

This proposal will outline the use of blogging in the GRADS Program.

1. Teacher Qualifications - I have received training on Google Products during the summer of 2010 and 2011. I created several blogs and manage 2 websites. I am familiar with the procedure of designing blogs, using Picasa photo storage, Google Docs, YouTube, Google Maps, Gmail, and Google Calendar. 
2. GRADS Blog content - The GRADS students will be required to create a blog in the fall during first semester or as soon as a new student enrolls in the program once a gmail address has been issued. To create a paperless classroom many of the current assignments would take place on the blog.

1. Pregnancy Calendar - Blog about appointment results. Keep track of appointment using Google Calendar
2. Journaling - Prompts will be assigned and student responses will be posted.
3. Website Summary - students will search for reliable information and create links to their own site and comment on the subject.
4. Child Development Milestones
5. Photos - learn how to store on Picasa and load onto blog. Students will be required to obtain several photos, ie., baby sitting up, holding a toy, standing, feeding self, etc.
6. The new Course of Study curriculum will be implemented using Google Docs to distribute worksheets, forms, tests, presentations through the blogs. Assignments can also be directed to students at home on bed rest or maternity leave.

3. Blogging considerations -  These sites introduce educators to using blogs in the classroom.. Covers blogging considerations, assessing student’s blogs, privacy and security issues. My blogging instruction will include many of these ideas and will be covered before a blog is created.  I will be the co-author of each student’s blog and will have control of the blog account settings and material/comments posted, which I can delete immediately. The blogs will be listed as private, only to be viewed by up to 10 approved people, which can include administrators and staff as well as family and friends. The general public will not have access to the blog sites.

http://blogagogy.wordpress.com/   
http://theedublogger.com/tag/blogging-guidelines/
http://theedublogger.com/2010/01/11/week-2-set-up-your-blogging-rules-and-guidelines/
http://teenlearning.csla.net/blogging-guidelines-for-students/

4. The beginning lessons will be as follows:

1. Introduce the blog project, discuss the guidelines, show examples of blogs.
2. Create blog account, select settings, choose template and design.
3. Log into email account, check message from teacher, post a blog, add gadgets in margins, add tabs.
4. Log into account, go to dashboard to locate stats, edit posts, locate links to add to blog.
5. Create Picasa Photo storage account. Upload photos if available. Show procedure for placing photos on blog.
6. Create a Google Calendar (sync if student had phone capabilities) (First lesson this year was Time Management and Google Calendar is a method students should be aware of)
7. Students will also check my GRADS blog and make comments to my posts, surveys, etc.

Blogging as a teaching tool

As I put away my posters and clean off my desk I am thinking about how to use blogging in the GRADS class this fall.  I have some experience using blogspot on a personal level but would like to create daily dialogue with my students. I don't get to see them everyday and would like that daily contact. I think they would like to have a place to share with each other and learn from peers.  I could be a facilitator and direct them to other sites to read and leave comments or they can write journal entries on the GRADS blog. I'm looking forward to this new learning tool.