In reading the Research Report this week, I'm expanding on my idea to use blogging as a learning log/journal. One of the great guidelines that it gave was to have students write about 5-10 minutes a day and discuss what they learned that day. Great idea! PA is moving to a new assessment policy for teachers where data is the main drive to their ultimate classification as a teacher. Using a blog/learning log is a great way to provide data for the learning that is occurring inside of a classroom setting.
I have always been very interested in using blogging as a classroom tool for discussion as well. The chart that is included in the same reading shows that blogging can foster discussion more than discussion boards or chats. It is a great way for students that are not comfortable sharing their mind and views in front of an entire class to still be involved in a discussion of their thoughts.
I struggle with the idea of teaching with blogs (at least at the high school level). Where I teach, we have students from many different socioeconomic statuses. Therefore, it is very difficult to ensure that each student has access to computers and the Internet on a daily basis. In our school, teachers the give online assignments to be completed often need to give long-lasting deadlines in order to make sure that all students have the opportunity to complete the assignment. By the time the deadline for the first set of "blog learning" is completed, the teacher will already be on to the next topic (if not more).
Alicen, have you considered organizing lab times outside of school hours. A set period of time when the students know that you will be available, and that some of their colleagues may be around too, might be a way to provide access to those that don't have it (as well as encourage those that do have access, but may need a bit more support) to take advantage of the opportunity. I know when I was a K-12 teacher (back in the late 1990s and early 2000s), I used to do this twice a week and also host a historical movie of the week - all afterschools. It got to be a bit of a community that built up, with a group of regulars and them the one-off folks too.
ReplyDeleteYou could also have a class blog where students make comments on the blog while in class. This way you can monitor it. Also, you could have students respond to prompts from the class blog. Just an idea.
ReplyDeleteIn my proposal this week I actually wrote a section detailing the advantages of blogs giving timid students a "voice" in the class. I was pretty proud of that idea, and I'm happy to see I wasn't the only one that saw blogs for that potential. A teacher I work with however, brought up an interesting flip side to that concept. I'll paraphrase here but he explained if my goal is to build the confidence of that student to be comfortable around other students and learn that having a voice is okay, shouldn't I be mindful of whether or not an online voice will truly help. The alternative could be it gives them another comfort zone that is no closer to having them "speak up" in class. My response was it can't hurt to try right? It can't hurt to use the blog as a stepping stone towards that confidence. It was a good conversation but did give me an alternative view point. Since you've seen its benefits as I have, I just thought I'd share that story. Enjoy your weekend!
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