#7This weeks comments for kids post was from Mr. McClung's World. The post I read was titled "Irish Punk Rock" and was filed under "Band of The Week". This is an excellent blog to begin with. It is very nice to see class blogs like Mr. McClungs World including the arts. I mean what a great way to teach the whole individual. We humans all love music and the arts in some form and many teachers seem (or have to me) to not include this in their curriculum. I know I love music and really did enjoy the sample of music from the band described in this post. They were called the Dropkick Murphys. Very full and upbeat music coupled with some powerful lyrics. Melodious chaos at it's finest if you ask me. Just another experience I have been allowed to have thanks to networking and blogging by teachers and students. Rock on Mr. McClung's Class!
#8
I visited Mrs. Pike's class in Sydney Australia. Or their class blog anyway! The student I was assigned to was called Sherwin and I only found one post. The post was a game (or widget) I posted the following comment:
"Hello Sherwin. I am a student at the University of South Alabama in Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class. I like that you are able to post games into your blog. I have two sons and they love games. Do you like blogging? I am new to it myself and already I love it. I like how I can share information with people all around the world (like you 
. I hope you are able to get the most out of your blog. Feel free to visit mine anytime! I will be posting about your blog in a post titled C4K (comments for kids) on the last Sunday of April. I hope you will pop over and check it out."#9
I visited Mrs. Yollis' Classroom blog and what I found there was inspiring. It has a simple layout that is easy to understand and follow. The links on the top of the page were very helpful and informative. I found it contrasted Mr. McClung's blog (also a great one) in it's directness. Probably great for young bloggers and parents that might be unfamiliar with the process. The first link I clicked on was Meet Mrs. Yollis. This is link led me to understand a bit more about her. I learned that she is in her 24th year of teaching elementary school, has recently finished a Master's Degree inIntegrating Technology in the Classroom, and she loves to travel. I also got an impression that she is a pretty cool lady.
The next link I clicked on was titled Meet The Bloggers. On this page you get a photo of the class (a very good looking group of young people) and a paragraph about what they love to do. I love this type of introduction. For example: "My name is Pamela, and I love music and playing outside.") You get an instant idea of what someone is really like. This page seems like it is really all about the students. It was the second link I clicked on and the impression I got was that Mrs. Yollis allows the blog to be about the students. I liked that very much. For them to feel an ownership allows them to take pride in their work.
After that I clicked the link titled Video: How to Comment. This was a brief video tutorial about how to leave quality comments. This tutorial was simple, clear, encourages safety, and talks about how to leave quality comments. So far the links have been like guidelines for good internet communication.
The fourth link I explored took me to a page titled Learn HTML code. I must admit to having visited this one before. It is provided in some of our class instructions for EDM310 and I use it all of the time. This is a set of instructions on how to put HTML code into your comments or any online communication for that matter. I would have to say it illustrates the teaching style Mrs. Yollis uses through out her blog. Simple, Articulate, and Thorough. I like her more and more as I explore the blog.
Next I click on the link called Time Zones of Friends. It is a page with the time around the world. I instantly saw how this is relevant in online communication on a global level. This could help when coordinating chats and skyping. She seems to have all her bases covered.
Another page called Learn about California has a short presentation about the state the students live in. This is nice to create a more personal interaction between the students and visitors to the blog. It also might encourage a narrowing down of the questions a visitor from another place may be trying to ask.
The last link at the top of the blog is titled How to Shoot Great Digital Images. I liked this one. It is a short video done by a student that illustrates errors and successes of digital photography and video. This could be great for EDM310 students prior to doing some of our projects. I liked that it appears to be a project that was created for educating others and teaching the student's in that fashion.
My final opinion of Mrs. Yollis can be summarized in a short list:
Intelligent, Patient, Articulate, Courteous, Great Educator, Talented, Kind.
And her class blog: A+
Mrs. Yollis' class blog takes the cake!
#10
My final student blog to visit in April was Adia's Babble Blog. Adia is a student in Mrs. Yollis' class. I read the most recent post she made about her afternoon in girlscouts. They learned about Japanese culture, got to look at some beautiful Japanese dolls, make sushi, and dress up in kimonos. I think that her blog is very nice and her post was written very well. She described her experiences in a very clear and descriptive manner. Her blog is clearly a place for her to express herself and improve her skills in both writing and communicating as well. She leaves questions for her readers to answer about their countries as a conclusion for her post. I think leaving a question encourages good commenting. Probably a technique learned from her teacher.
I commented on her blog post thanking her for her nice letter of thanks to EDM310 students for participating in Comments For Kids and telling her a little about my own time as a girl scout. I really learned more about Japanese Culture from her blog post and found it very interesting.
In all of the student and class blogs I have visited it becomes more clear to me the benefit of this form of writing and sharing of ideas. These are great learning tools!
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