At my school, the first week back is called “WinTerm”. It is a week where all of the students get to take different classes. We have all day and half day classes, and some students even go on trips for the week.
I decided to teach a half day class on blogging. I created a blog for my students on how to blog with daily instructions. It has been such a fun week! My students have done an excellent job – and even ran through everything I wanted to teach them by Wednesday! So Thursday I had them read and comment on each other’s blogs. Today I am going to teach them how to REALLY use Twitter. Teenagers seem to use hashtags pretty randomly or mainly for sarcasm. I also introduced them to Code.org so they could understand the coding behind the blogs.
About mid-week we decided to do a group blog called “Study Songs” where songs and mnemonics are posted to help them study for school topics. We put a form on there so anyone reading the blog could submit their favorite mnemonic. Share it with your students so they can contribute too!
You could do blogging with a middle school class as well, probably beginning in 7th grade. I taught one of my 7th grade students how to blog last year because she had a great idea that needed to be shared! I have included her blog as well.
I was pleasantly surprised at how fast they went through the material I wanted to teach them this week. And I really love reading their blogs! I am learning about fitness, fashion, books I need to read, movies I need to watch, and food! I have included their blogs below so you can also see what students are capable of!
Check out our blogs!
- Sara, Bloglet of Fire, My blog is about books, films, and various parts of nerd culture, and my opinions on everything.
- Emily, Culture Shock, Going from being a senior in Charlotte to a freshman in Chicago and all of the advice gleaned and mistakes made along the way
- Claudia, in a nutshell, My blog is about food allergies
- Kate, The Crunch Chronicles, My blog is about my experiences making healthy recipes, or just recipes I like in general
- Andrea, PEOPLE ARE PEOPLE, equality of races and transgenders
- Ellen , Elle Tells All, My blog is about fashion, beauty, and lifestyle.
- Rose, Everything Is Coming Up Roses, Fashion & Lifestyle.
- Mackenzie, Top Trendz, trending lifestyle blog
- Philip, Life Of A Boy Wonder, Funny short stories about my life and past, life advice. Movie/ Game review.
- Terry, supernchester, Supernatural
- Alex, Basketball All Around, Whats going on throughout the basketball world.
- Hailey, Health and Fitness, celebrity lives but i think it may change
- Myranda, Queen City Style, Lifestyle
- Group, Study Songs, Songs and Mnemonics for school topics.
7th Grade Blog (8th now)
- Leila, Only at Woodlawn, This blog is written by the class of 2019 about all of the wonderful things that ONLY happen at Woodlawn!
I Speak Math 
First of all, that’s so cool that you are finding a productive way for students to blog AND teaching them the real use of a hashtag.
But, I’d like to know more about this WinTerm. Do you not have your regular students during this time? The students that you have, they are with you for half of the day?
Hi Nora, sorry my reply took so long. I do not have regular classes this week. Teachers can pick full or half day sessions. My blogging session was a half day. So I had the mornings to work and taught blogging in the afternoon to all new students. It was so much fun meeting new students and finally teaching something other than math! 🙂
I would love more info on this WinTerm as well!
I love what you did with students during this time! This is great.
Yes! What they said ^^^! Could you share information about the schedule and logistics of WinTerm Week? I think it’s fantastic that you were able to dedicate time to such a relevant topic during the school day. Thanks for sharing!
Hi Cathy,
Sorry it took me so long to reply! Teachers can teach a half or full day session, or even take students in a trip! Teachers write up their session and then a winterm catalogue is created where students can pick what they want to take. I taught a half day session. Students have a morning session, a lunch break, then an afternoon session. It is a nice way to come back after the break!