Our Class Blog

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I enjoy blogging so much, that now I have my 2K class at SERATAS doing it, too. Click on the link, and you can see what they are up to. The more visitors we get, the better, because that encourages them to keep writing, and they can look on the clustermap, and see who around the world has been visiting.

I have been using classblogmeister.com, as it lets me retain control over what is put on their blogs. The administration here would not have it any other way. The site is pretty basic, with not a lot of bells and whistles, but it is good enough for what we want to do. What's also great is you get plenty of input and support, as there is a classblogmeister support community on Yahoo! Groups.

There is only minimal fooling around when we go to the computer room to work. They even wait for me outside their class, looking for me to give them the ok sign so they can run to the computer room and get started. I don't have to say anything. If a computer isn't working, or they can't sign on to the school system, which happens frequently, then I have to play IT guy, and fix the problem. I spend a lot more time doing that than doing any teaching or giving instructions. The students get really disappointed when that happens.

It hasn't been easy, having to deal with things such as week long Internet outages, an antiquated and cranky IT system, and overloaded servers at the Ministry of Education. Because of this, we are not as far along as I would have liked to have been. Right now, the students are working on writing a report on the Ulu Muda Forest Preserve. Once they finish that, I want to get started podcasting.

Since things have been going well with this class, I want to get my other form 2 classes started on blogging. That means going through the whole set up process three more times. At the end of the school year, I hope to do collaborative projects with other classes from around the world. I already have one class in Maryland, USA which is interested, and another in New Zealand. That means I need two more classes so that each class will have a sister class.

If there are any teachers out there who are interested, let me know, and we'll see what we can set up.