A call for help went out. A Year 7/8 looking for that final class to make a Quad blog. For those not in the know, Quadblogging is when a group of 4 classes visit a spotlight class’s blog each week. You can find out more about the international version here and the New Zealand version here.
This is my third attempt at quadblogging. After two non-starts, I was a bit apprehensive about Quadblogging Aotearoa but figured what they heck give it a go.
This time around my class has been very fortunate to have been paired up with some awesome class blogs which has made all the difference in our experience. Based on previous experience here are some tips for those new to Quadblogging.
Set aside time in the day for blogging
In my experience, you need to set aside time for blogging in class. I tend to let the kids have 10-15 minutes at the start of literacy to look at posts and previous comments before making their own quality comment. It is important that kids understand what a quality comment looks like. Make sure you showcase comments before letting the kids loose.
Updates, keep em coming
If your blog is the one being showcased, it is important to have at least one new post a day. There’s nothing more frustrating for classes to put time aside for blogging only to find that there isn’t any new content for the kids to comment on.
Showcase your class/school
Got something unique or different about your school or classroom? Showcase it! My students were fascinated about a girls-only school and also the number of Macs in the class. A case of what is mundane for you might be really interesting for kids in a different school.
Lots of photos and videos
My students are highly visual learners. They love being able to look into other schools and classrooms and see what’s going on. What makes blogging such an effective medium is that you can have those images right by text. ‘What’s photopeach?’ one remarked today.
You can never have enough comments
While my students enjoy reading other student’s work, what my kids really love is people commenting on their work. Audience and authenticity gives kids will drive kids to produce far higher quality writing then any other inducement I know of.
Teaching the Teacher 
Couldn’t agree more. This is my third attempt at Quadblogging and the other two timeswith one exception the Quad went absolutley no-where, with essentially one way traffic from our page out to the other pages and nothing coming back in (well we did get a burst from one class but it wasn’t sustainable) so its been really refreshing so far to have motivated and interesting class pages (and a good mix too) to work with and to bounce off and looking forward to the connection continuing and strengthening.
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I’m really looking forward to my students visiting your class blog. My kids loved seeing someone else playing Ki-o-Rahi as we played it last year. Hopefully this might be something that we can keep developing.
Stephanie
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Thanks for your post today, and the introduction for me to NZ’s own quadblogging.
I, like you had tried quadblogging before without much success, so am excited to see NZ’s version. Now I am only hoping that there are some other late comers like me who want to start soon, or in term 3. I think it is just the motivation to get my class blogging more consistently.
Good luck with your quad, I hope it is all going well.
Cheers.
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Thanks for your great post, Stephanie. We are loving it too. Great to make connections with other classes. Am very inspired by your blogs.
Bridget
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Better late than never! It is great to be a part of the group. Our biggest time slot for commenting is on a Friday so we are often a little later than the others but we will get there 🙂
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