Collaborative in Action

Here is the blog that my colleague began after our conversation.
The first task posed was for each student to find a math story
in their Spring Break vacation.

A fellow colleague came to me today with the idea to bring blogging into our math classes, but wasn't quite sure how to go about structuring it. I suggested that since the students love to share real life connections they have to math we could use this as an avenue to share this "math moments". We will use a class KidBlog where each week we will pose a topic, for example time or money. The students will then have a week to find a time when they used this math skill to solve a real life problem. We've noticed that students can solve the work and do the math, but when asked to explain their thought process they cannot put it into words. So, not only will this exercise boost the students connection of math to the real world, but it will allow them to practice explaining their thinking when problem solving. We are always looking for new ways to get kids problem solving and this is a fantastic avenue for them since it adds a bit of fun with the new age technology while still practicing important skills. With extensive scaffolding and modeling we hope to begin this after spring break. I can't wait to report back about how the student's are enjoying learning the wonderful world of blogging!

Above is the sample post that I modeled to show the class
how they were to use the site.