Forming a Forum

I’ve been really excited to run a online forum in my class. I’ve wanted to do it far longer than I’ve even been student teaching. Finally, the day came!

I first sent home a permission slip enlightening parents in the way of the online forum. I included information about the purpose of the forum, the rules that students must abide by (zero-tolerance), and the privacy that each student will be guaranteed. Each student was to take the permission slip home, have their parent sign that they are allowed to participate, and then sign it themselves, stating that they understood the terms of use and the zero-tolerance stance against misconduct. Most students brought them back the next day (as asked)!

The following day (gave students two days to complete the permission slip – enough time to get it done without providing enough time for them to forget about it), the class visited the library computer lab together. In the computer area each student was provided a step-by-step guide for setting up their account on MrsURen.com and beginning their blog. The majority walked through this step-by-step guide easily. When they came to the blogging portion of the forum, the students were given the following instructions:

Tell us about a the best book you have ever read!
Before you write about your book, think about these questions: What did you like about the book? What were the characters like? Where did you first hear about this book? What were the main events? When did you read it? (do not answer these questions as list, please write a paragraph about your book)

Some of their responses are great (and some are not really great). Some of them wrote really great reviews about their books and gained interest from other students. Because I get an email every time someone posts something and then need to approve it, I noticed that students were even getting online during Spring Break to write in the forum!

I felt successful when I saw that students we actually having fun writing and actually engaging in conversation with one another… about BOOKS!