Creating and posting a quality blog comment

Provide multiple opportunities for learners to connect with Cybersmart vocabulary in meaningful contexts

Seat learners in a circle and take turns to share a greeting.

How many different greetings can we share without repeating?

Enable learners to make connections with exisiting knowledge about greetings. How we greet people we know and people for the first time?

Are greetings displayed in the classroom? e.g. printable cards available

Display examples of blog comments on exisiting blogs that include a greeting, introduction and something positive (Select in response to your learners)

Read the comments and ask learners “what do you notice about the posts?” Compare and contrast ideas with a buddy

During conversations introduce and/or highlight vocabulary that is positive and kind and reflects our commenting criteria.

Share links to selected blogs on the learning site

Create sets of printable cards which include a selection of vocabulary that learners can harness to practise creating quality comments e.g.

Use printable cards to practise creating comments collaboratively, mix and match, reading aloud.

Encourage learners to contribute additional sentence starters and vocabulary.

Identify a selection of blog posts with quality comments from either class, individual or cluster blogs for your learners to explore.

Select posts that resonate with your learners e.g. school/community themes, high interest topics

Select comments which demonstrate our blog commenting criteria

Explain Everything:

  • Learners practise writing a comment on the first slide with the existing screenshot

  • Write comment - greeting, introduce themselves, say something positive about the post.

  • Encourage learners to reference the the original post to support vocabulary/spelling in their blog comment.

  • Model using the iPad, how to switch between Apps i.e. minimising EE and switiching to browser to reference Slide Deck

For remaining slides learners access a blog and select a post. Click the post title so the post displays under blog heading.

Take screenshot of the post including the blog header and insert in slide. This enables learners to reference key information about the blogger and the post from the screenshot while they are crafting their comment.

Focus on comments being relevant (about something in the post)

Learners continue to use Explain Everything to practise writing comments and adding new slides to the Explain Everything project

If learners have their own blog and blogger profile connected to their Google account they are able to comment on blogs using their device.

Identify opportunities to select quality examples created by learners and model posting to the actual blog via the Apple TV

Identify time to co-construct success criteria for writing a quality blog comment with your learners.

For navigation purposes some examples above have been organised and shared using individual Google Slide decks. Typically on a learning site, slides would be curated in a single deck. Each week new learning is located on the first slide so current learning displays when the published slide deck is clicked. A feature of Slides is the ability to generate a URL that publishes the slide deck to the web and displays in full screen on the iPad rather than embedding the slide deck. How to set up a Slide Deck