The third lab day

The laptop lab is back in my classroom, and I am so much happier with the arrangement. First of all, I left the desks as they have been all week - separate round tables for 4, 5 or 6 kids. Since I have to test today, we reviewed the character notes kids have been keeping in portfolios for the first 10 minutes of class, and currently my 3rd block class is testing, using notes they've taken. They will finish in 20 to 30 minutes and have the rest of the class to blog. It went pretty well in the 2nd block class. I have discovered that Ann in 2nd block doesn't understand how to get on the blog - somehow she slipped through my fingers, and she had told me that she didn't like to blog and that her computer at home wouldn't let her get on. She looked perturbed when she saw the computers when she came in today. She asked if she could write out by hand whatever we were doing online. Truth is, she had set up her own blog instead of getting on ours and she didn't understand how to set up her own account on our blog. Orange Crush helped her get set up. I asked her why it was so easy for her (Orange), and she said - I don't know because I have never blogged before! Now Ann's happy and who knows - she may blog now. Spirit Runner came into class this hour and told me how happy she was that it was a laptop day. She said they were her very best days at school. Then she patted her computer and said, "This is my door to the outside world. When I get home, this is the only way I can get out of the house. Are we going to keep doing this even after this class is over? I need this and I hope you'll keep it going." So there's one for people who wonder what good the blog is for. Socially, it makes her feel connected to others. Nice.