Author Archives: Nicole Cremeens

Oct 15 2018

My Commenting Experience

Posted on by

I signed up to be a volunteer commenter for the Student Blogging Challenge. I know how important comments are to making the Student Blogging Challenge interactive, so I decided that I could spare the time each week to comment on at least 5 students’ blogs. Last week I commented on these 5 great blogs before teaching my students about quality commenting:

Coy’s Blog          Madison’s Blog          Hayden’s Blog          Chloe’s Blog          Jayden’s Blog

As part of this week’s task, I went through what makes a quality comment with my students. I learned a few new tricks to help make my own comments even better. The Student Blogging Challenge Week 1 form had so many responses for our first week’s tasks, that I was asked to comment on 5 extra blogs. I think I definitely improved the quality of my comments after this week’s lesson. I made sure to find something to highlight and praise to start my comment. I found a connection between the author and myself and tried to ask a question that would start a conversation. I also made sure to include a greeting and a closing to make my comments more like a friendly letter. Good comments help to make blogging a more exciting experience.  I look forward to checking back in with these great authors to see their work for the rest of the Student Blogging Challenge. Here are the 5 extra blogs that I commented on for the week 1 tasks after going over the lesson on quality commenting:

Ethan’s Blog          Grayden’s Blog          Brandon’s Blog          Ariya’s Blog          Romy’s Blog

 

So what do you think – did I do a better job of writing quality comments after going through the lesson with my students this week?

 

Be sure to check out some student blogs from the right sidebar before you go! My students would love to see you practice your quality comments on their posts.

Oct 15 2018

Student Blogging Challenge – Week 2

Posted on by

The tasks for week 2 of the Student Blogging Challenge have been posted.

✓ Commenting Guidelines – check ours out here.

 

Our main focus this week will be commenting on other blogs. You can find the list of URLs for the other Student Blogging Challenge participants here. We will be commenting on at least 2 blogs and writing a post about the experience. We can’t wait to get to see what the other participants are up to!

 

Here is the link to the Google Form to submit your Post so that it can be commented on.

Oct 7 2018

Student Blogging Challenge – Week 1

Posted on by

The challenges for the Student Blogging Challenge (Week 1) have been posted.

✓ Task 1 – Last week, most of the students created an avatar to represent themselves as part of the Student Blogging Bootcamp.

Task 2 – This week, Mrs. Cremeens will compile our avatars to create a cool project and post it to our class blog.

Task 3 & 4 – Students will be completing one or both of these tasks and posting to their student blog, so check back to see their work.

Task 5 – All students will be creating an About page for their own student blog. You can see our Class Blog About Page here.

Task 6 – We will practice our commenting skills this week by visiting blogs of other student participants.

Last week we finished up our free-verse poetry unit and students have started posting some of their poems to their student blogs. Check them out using the links in the right > sidebar and offer some feedback. Constructive criticism and praise help us to grow as writers. We can’t make great literature without help.

Click HERE for a collection of websites that allow users to create an avatar that can be uploaded to a edublogs profile.

Oct 1 2018

Warmed

Posted on by

I stumble into the kitchen

on a cold October morning

the frosty air biting

my half-open eyes

 

I shakily measure two scoops

of aromatic coffee grounds

and drop them into the white paper filter

 

I press the button

the machine whirs to life

dispensing a steady flow

of piping-hot caffeine

 

I add a river of sweet creamer

light and dark mix

 

I grab the mug

my fingers trace the lines and ridges

in the ceramic warmed

by the steaming liquid

I breathe in the rich scent

as the mug warms my fingers

I’m careful not to burn my tongue

 

sip by sip

my mind starts to awaken

the foggy cold morning lifts

once I’ve had my coffee

I’m ready for anything

Sep 30 2018

Student Blogging Challenge – Oct 2018

Posted on by

Students in Mrs. Cremeens’s 7th Grade Writing Class will be participating in the Edublogs Student Blogging Challenge beginning October 7th. Each Sunday, students will be given a writing task to complete on their student blog. Students will receive feedback from other students participating in the challenge, as well as a team of approved volunteer commenters consisting of current/prior teachers, administration, and children’s authors. I will be posting the challenge here each week on our class blog, but students can sign up for the weekly email update to see the week’s challenge each Sunday. This is such a wonderful opportunity for students to practice their digital literacy skills and practice writing for an authentic audience. We can’t wait to see what challenges await us!

STUDENTS

Click here to sign your blog up for the challenge.

Click here to sign up for the weekly email update.

Sep 29 2018

September Summary

Posted on by

The 2018-2019 school year is well under way. We have been hard at work learning the ins and outs of the writing workshop. We’ve had quite a few interruptions to our regular schedule (MAP testing, pen pal introductions, and Homecoming – to name a few), but we’re finally wrapping up our 1st unit: free-verse poetry. Students have been working on their free-verse poems since the beginning of the month, so we’re ready to move on to a new genre of writing.

We’ve learned many new procedures this month. We’ve analyzed great poems and will continue to examine author’s craft through poetry as the year continues. We’ve used writing from exemplary authors to generate ideas for our quickwrites. Students write for 3 minutes after reading a excerpt or short piece of literature to spur ideas. We also began Free-Write Fridays, where students get to write about whatever topics and ideas pop into their brains for 5 minutes each Friday.

Our writing notebooks have started to be a true reflection of who we are as writers and people. They are slowly filling up with great ideas, tips, and notes to turn us into great writers of literature. Each student’s notebook is a collection of things they love and want to explore. The notebooks are as unique as all of the students are.

October will bring new genres of writing: memoirs, 2-sentence horror stories, and responding to literature. Stay tuned for great work from our Student Blogs.