One Ning I found that would be really useful to me in my teaching, and for anyone who is inspired by the idea of using technology for educational purposes, is Technology Integration in Education.
Just by browsing around the site I can see that it would be a great resource for me as a teacher who wants to bring technology into the classroom. Right on the main page, there is a discussion about software/programs that I've never heard of, so I am certain that it would expose me to different technologies to use in the classroom that I'm unaware of even existing! The community seems to be developed in a way, too, that everyone is interested in sharing with one another. They tell about how their experience with the technology went, what they chose to do with it, and what they would suggest to other teachers. One post that really struck my attention was "Skype Collaborative Projects." It seems like a great idea-sharing website that could inspire me to try unique things in my classroom that I would not think of otherwise. They also have webinars posted, which I would love to listen in on/watch, a resources page which I know I will need once I start using technology in the classroom, and they also discuss everyday teacher topics like how cell phones fit in to the classroom. All in all it seems like a great community to be a part of!
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Learners or NFL players?
"Experience has long been considered the best teacher of knowledge. Since we cannot experience everything, other people's experiences, and hence other people, become the surrogate for knowledge."
This quote from Karen Stephenson demonstrates one of the major ideas presented in the connectivism theory of education. In case you haven't noticed, our world has changed significantly in the last twenty years, no-make that decade, wait-last year, even in the last day! The rise of technology has completely changed, and is constantly changing, the way we live our lives in every aspect imaginable. As George Siemens makes clear in his article Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age and video The Changing Nature of Knowledge, a major difference in the way we live today deals with the way we learn. It was once believed that each individual learned in isolation, in an entirely internal fashion, or as Siemens describes this outdate theory, "learning is something that happens in the head of an individual." It was up to each and every learner to acquire knowledge on their own. Yes, they may be guided by others, but what they knew was dependent on what they did on their own. So, if experience is the best teacher of knowledge, each of us only know what we learned from our own life experiences. Can you imagine all that we could learn and know if only we were able to learn from others and take from them all they had learned in their own individual experiences?
Stop dreaming! It's a reality! Technology has made this possible.
The connectivism theory suggests that learning occurs external to the learner, as they "form connections with other individuals and other sources of information." This means simply that we learn from one another and from the resources we encounter. As Stephenson stated in the quote that opened this post, other people can serve us as sources of knowledge. They can teach us from what they have experienced and from what they have learned simply by sharing it. And with the advent of technology, especially social networking, we are able to connect with people from all over the world who we otherwise would not have access to, which means we are able to learn "exponentially!" It is these interactions with others that "enable us to stay current" with information and new knowledge, which is crucial in a world where knowledge is more rapidly becoming obsolete. And these interactions that we rely on to learn do not necessarily have to involve "others." We can learn so much from a multitude of resources, such as dictionaries, encyclopedias, blogs, newscasts, and so on, but what is at stake here is "know-where" or "the understanding of where to find knowledge needed." According to Siemens, "our ability to learn what we need for tomorrow is more important than what we learn today." That means if we are able to tap into different sources of information and make connections between different units of information, then we've already won the knowledge battle. We rely and depend upon our connections, interactions and network to learn.
Which brings me to my analogy. Today's learners are not the triathletes that they once were, trying to understand and acquire as much knowledge as they could on their own, exhausting their brains and pushing themselves to the limits, because their mind was the only one they had to rely on. Today's learners are teammates on an NFL team (not the Bills).
If one player tried to go out and play all alone, he would be tackled by an entire team; it's just impossible for one to succeed on his own. There's no way to do it in isolation.
A team, made up of coaches, players, and trainers, succeed when they work together. Our players are the learners. They learn from the coaches, who train and drill them to learn every angle of the field, every play, every strategy. The trainers teach them another aspect about protecting their bodies, ways to work out, and how to treat an injury. The players rely on these two resources to impart their experience upon them so that they can draw on what these others already know. They also learn from one another, on the field, in practice, and in the locker room. Simply by talking about the game or any topic for that matter, they are learning from each other, about others' experiences during the game, after it, in practice, in the off-season: what works, what doesn't, and how to do something better. These resources represent the people that we surround ourselves with and learn from.
There is some individual work as well, such as watching film, working out on your own, and running rep and drill after rep and drill - passing, tackling, what have you. These practices parallel our interactions with resources that we seek out on our own - encyclopedias, blogs, articles, and so on. And it is this individual work that makes the entire team stronger, or as Siemens describes it in The Network is the Learning, it is "when we connect with a new node [that] the competence of an entire network is enhanced." One player can share with another what he noticed on the film he studied, he can offer advice about what he learned in a previous season or tip that a coach had once given him, and they do this socially. We do the same with the information that we are already familiar with - we share it with others. Each player adds something unique to the network that is the team, and each plays an important role. Because really, when it comes to learning, we all have our own individual strengths and areas of interest that we can bring to the table and share with others. Thus, we all play a unique role in the networks that we belong to.
The only difference between the learners and the players is that when learners come together to create their network, they always win the SuperBowl (of knowledge) because that means they are achieving the "continual learning" and "connectivism" that are essential in today's world if we are to stay "current," which Siemens demands.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
I Didn't Know...
Today, I viewed the video "Did You Know?" and now I truly agree that "shift happens."
Some of the things that stood out most to me:
-Computers are soon going to not only exceed the capabilities of the human brain, but eventually the human race! What could this mean for us as humans? Are we going to rely on computers for everything - information, household chores, homework? I think technology making our lives more efficient is a great thing, but when it rules our lives and leaves us dependent upon on it, it might not be so beneficial anymore.
-The facts about the 21-year-olds really struck me. I was just a 21 year-old last month before my birthday. In the 3 years that have passed between the making of this video and last August, how many more hours did my age group accrue in watching TV, talking on the phone, and logging in to the internet? Again, I'm uncomfortable at how much my life revolves around technology! These facts & figures made me want to grab a book and head outdoors to enjoy nature!
-100% of India's 2006 college graduates were fluent in speaking English. When is the U.S. going to wake up? We are one of the few countries that does not educate our students in more than one language from an early age. If only I had started Spanish in 1st or 2nd grade, I might have been fluent by now! I think language is one of the issues that our nation needs to begin focusing more on! Plus, the benefits of a bi-lingual education have shown that students often end up with greater control over both the primary and secondary languages, even more so with the primary than they would if that was the only one they studied (if this is still true from what I learned last fall). Es el tiempo, los Estados Unidos!
-The idea about our students entering career fields that don't even currently exist is both exciting and scary at the same time. How can we as teachers fully prepare our students to be successful in a job field that we know nothing about? I think the questions at the end are valid - what are schools doing to prepare students to be 21st thinkers and workers? This should be a question that all of us, especially as teachers, are asking. What can I do to help my students be better prepared to participate in a world that is growing and evolving exponentially?
-It's really incredible to reflect back on all of the changes that have taken place in my lifetime. I was born in 1988. When I was born, computers were sparse, cell phones were still unheard of in the general population, and the Internet was still just an idea being worked out. My parents had one landline telephone, one television and no computer. Now, today, we each have our own cell phone, our own television, and our own personal computer. This is crazy! The video touched on so many different things that have been created/expanded - eBay, MySpace, the English language, online dating, Google - the list goes on and on. It blows my mind to think that a world existed without these tools or these realities of ours. It's both mind-blowing and exciting at the same time, and I can only imagine all that is to come and what the content of a Did You Know? 5.0 video would include!
from: www.evolutionoftechnology.com
Some of the things that stood out most to me:
-Computers are soon going to not only exceed the capabilities of the human brain, but eventually the human race! What could this mean for us as humans? Are we going to rely on computers for everything - information, household chores, homework? I think technology making our lives more efficient is a great thing, but when it rules our lives and leaves us dependent upon on it, it might not be so beneficial anymore.
-The facts about the 21-year-olds really struck me. I was just a 21 year-old last month before my birthday. In the 3 years that have passed between the making of this video and last August, how many more hours did my age group accrue in watching TV, talking on the phone, and logging in to the internet? Again, I'm uncomfortable at how much my life revolves around technology! These facts & figures made me want to grab a book and head outdoors to enjoy nature!
-100% of India's 2006 college graduates were fluent in speaking English. When is the U.S. going to wake up? We are one of the few countries that does not educate our students in more than one language from an early age. If only I had started Spanish in 1st or 2nd grade, I might have been fluent by now! I think language is one of the issues that our nation needs to begin focusing more on! Plus, the benefits of a bi-lingual education have shown that students often end up with greater control over both the primary and secondary languages, even more so with the primary than they would if that was the only one they studied (if this is still true from what I learned last fall). Es el tiempo, los Estados Unidos!
-The idea about our students entering career fields that don't even currently exist is both exciting and scary at the same time. How can we as teachers fully prepare our students to be successful in a job field that we know nothing about? I think the questions at the end are valid - what are schools doing to prepare students to be 21st thinkers and workers? This should be a question that all of us, especially as teachers, are asking. What can I do to help my students be better prepared to participate in a world that is growing and evolving exponentially?
-It's really incredible to reflect back on all of the changes that have taken place in my lifetime. I was born in 1988. When I was born, computers were sparse, cell phones were still unheard of in the general population, and the Internet was still just an idea being worked out. My parents had one landline telephone, one television and no computer. Now, today, we each have our own cell phone, our own television, and our own personal computer. This is crazy! The video touched on so many different things that have been created/expanded - eBay, MySpace, the English language, online dating, Google - the list goes on and on. It blows my mind to think that a world existed without these tools or these realities of ours. It's both mind-blowing and exciting at the same time, and I can only imagine all that is to come and what the content of a Did You Know? 5.0 video would include!
from: www.evolutionoftechnology.com
Friday, September 10, 2010
Safety First!
My Top 5 Blog Safety Rules/Policies for Students:
1. Each student must submit a parent/guardian signed waiver that permits you to participate in our classroom blog before we begin. This waiver describes the goals/purpose of the blog and specifies the web address for parents&guardians so that they may monitor our class activity.
2. Be respectful of your blogmates. All criticisms should be constructive and you must give all viewpoints and opinions a chance to be heard.
3. All comments will be approved by the teacher before they are published. Use appropriate language at all times or your response will not be ok'd!
4. Keep personal information limited. Only post with your first name and last initial. Do not provide your email address, username or any other personal information in your response. Do the same when responding to your classmates' posts (use only their first names). Tagging a location to your response (FourSquare or any other software) is prohibited. NO personal photographs should be used for your user profile.
5. Do not communicate with someone you do not know. If you suspect that an unknown user is attempting to participate in our class blog, alert me immediately.
Before we begin working on our blog, I would have a class discussion talking about acceptable Internet practices that they already know of, and I would add in any I think are missing. We would also talk about how all of our classroom guidelines would apply (student-generated rules we come up with at the beginning of the school year) on the blog. On the back of the parent waiver, I would have the class-created blog policies (in addition to these 5 I've listed) and have each student sign off that they agree to follow them. I think Richardson makes a great point when he says "the more documentaion and backup you have...the better" (47). Just the same, the more blog safety policies we discuss with our students, the better!
1. Each student must submit a parent/guardian signed waiver that permits you to participate in our classroom blog before we begin. This waiver describes the goals/purpose of the blog and specifies the web address for parents&guardians so that they may monitor our class activity.
2. Be respectful of your blogmates. All criticisms should be constructive and you must give all viewpoints and opinions a chance to be heard.
3. All comments will be approved by the teacher before they are published. Use appropriate language at all times or your response will not be ok'd!
4. Keep personal information limited. Only post with your first name and last initial. Do not provide your email address, username or any other personal information in your response. Do the same when responding to your classmates' posts (use only their first names). Tagging a location to your response (FourSquare or any other software) is prohibited. NO personal photographs should be used for your user profile.
5. Do not communicate with someone you do not know. If you suspect that an unknown user is attempting to participate in our class blog, alert me immediately.
Before we begin working on our blog, I would have a class discussion talking about acceptable Internet practices that they already know of, and I would add in any I think are missing. We would also talk about how all of our classroom guidelines would apply (student-generated rules we come up with at the beginning of the school year) on the blog. On the back of the parent waiver, I would have the class-created blog policies (in addition to these 5 I've listed) and have each student sign off that they agree to follow them. I think Richardson makes a great point when he says "the more documentaion and backup you have...the better" (47). Just the same, the more blog safety policies we discuss with our students, the better!
These Are a Few of My Favorite Things (about using blogs in the classroom)
1. Creating a forum for (extended) classroom discussion
One of the greatest tools teachers have at their disposal is their students' thoughts, perspectives, experiences and voices. Unfortunately, in a 40 minute class session, it's difficult to take full advantage of what our students have to offer; most times it seems that once the conversation picks up, it's time to start wrapping it up. Additionally, not all students feel confident to speak up and participate in classroom discussions. The blog can help us solve both of these issues! We can post an interesting question or opinion (or more than one!) that was raised at a certain point in class and have students continue responding to those, or post a brand-new topic or question related to our current or upcoming classroom material to have students think about and discuss with their classmates. I have been a major believer in the benefits of using a discussion-based approach in the classroom, because in this manner, students work together to create their own understanding and meaning. The best part of discussing online (versus the classroom) is that students often will feel more comfortable contributing. While some students may simply be shy (and the computer screen might take that away just a bit), it seems that quite often students are somewhat fearful of speaking up in class just in case they say something wrong, or even worse, something that their classmates consider "stupid." When responding with the Internet at their fingertips, they can check their facts using different resources (to ensure that they are correct) and reread their response before posting to make sure it is exactly what they're saying. I love using the blog as another place to allow students to participate! During my experience using the blog, I found that the prompts have to be as far away from directions as possible (one placement required me to be VERY specific and construct my posts like a worksheet) so as to maintain the blog-esque feel. I also decided not to require my students to respond to one another, but found that once they became comfortable with the format and more excited about reading others' posts, they did it entirely on their own! If discussion is the goal, it's important to keep our prompts and set up as conversational as possible. I think if we can do this, students will be much more encouraged to get the conversation going!
2. Giving students opportunities to complete personally meaningful pre-learning exercises
This was not something I did in my blogs, but something that came to me while I was reading. One way I like to make the self-to-text connection for my students when we're reading or learning about any given topic is to have them do some sort of journaling activity that requires them to think about an experience or feeling or idea that we might come across. However, this is not always possible simply due to time constraints or how appropriate a "journal response" is. I would love to use the blog to get students think about certain upcoming ideas or units. Sometimes I could post a writing prompt a few days before the class day we will discuss to get students sharing personal experiences. Other times, I could post a picture and have them write about what they see or feel or think the picture describes. What I thought would be most exciting and effective to use would be simply giving students a topic, word, or idea, and have them browse the Internet (using teacher-suggested links, or ones they find on their own) to learn what they want about the subject. For example, if we are a 10th grade English class, and students are encountering Shakespeare for the 2nd, 3rd time, instead of spending time on learning about/researching Shakespeare in class, students could spend some time learning what they want to know about him on their own. I would ask each student to post a certain number of interesting or surprising facts about the Bard that they did not know before. This would be a great way to compile a good deal of information on the topic, and also help avoid reteaching information to students. One issue I see pop up from unit to unit is the fact that all of our students have a great deal of difference when it comes to prior knowledge. This would be a great way to allow EVERYONE to learn something new. In all of these cases, students will have an opportunity to explore our classroom material, topics and ideas on their own before we encounter them in class.
3. Helping students make connections between our material and popular culture, current issues and their world
I think one of the best ways to engage students in whatever it is we are learning in class is by making the material relevant to their world. One easy way to do this is to make connections between our big ideas or different lessons to popular culture and current issues. Once we get to know our students, we are more in tune with their interests and hobbies. We can use what we know of them to choose an athlete, controversial figure, recent news story, or even music to post a link to read about or embed in our post (in the case of music-divshare.com is a free website to upload Mp3s to if you're interested). I would ask my students to read up on a news story, think about a recent event, ponder over the journey of an athlete, or listen to a song (picked out of 5 from very different genres) and then make a connection/comparison to what we learned in class. For example, before we began reading Macbeth in my 11th grade class last year, we discussed ambition in class, and their blog assignment for that week was to choose a song (ex: Drake, "Successful" or John Lennon "Imagine") and respond to how the topic of ambition was presented in that song, and whether or not they thought it was realistic and if it lined up with their ideas on ambition or their own ambition. Or, towards the end of the Macbeth unit, we discussed people who "cheated" their way to the "top" like the Heene (Balloon Boy) family or the White House Crashers, to name a few. The responses on the blogs were excellent and the conversation spilled over into our classroom, where students wanted to continue talking about those cases of ambition gone wrong and comparing them to King Macbeth.
-Standards (from the Richardson text, pp. 41-42)
#1-Students reading a wide range of print and non-print texts &
#2-Students read a wide range of literature to build an understanding of human experience: The blogs give teachers a space to expose their students to so many more texts (mostly non-print) than they ever could in the classroom and give students additional links and avenues to learn more, if they are interested in furthering their understanding to acquire new information, to respond to, and to learn more about the "human experience."
#4- Students adjust their use of spoken or written language to communicate effectively &
#6-Students apply knowledge of language structure, language conventions, media techniques, figurative language, and genre to create, critique, and discuss print and non-print text:
The blog requires or allows for a different type of language to communicate effectively than a classroom discussion or research paper would, which means that students will have to adjust their usage! And, as many of the posts for an English classroom might involve, students will definitely be critiquing and discussing texts on my blog, and can do so in creative and figurative ways! Each of their responses or different activities will definitely be their own creation, which they will have to use language effectively for.
#7-Students conduct research on issues and interests
#8-Students use a variety of technological & informational resources:
The blog lends itself to having students explore different websites to do their own research on a topic we might discuss, and they will certainly be using a variety of technological and informational resources to do so, along with many other tasks they will complete, as we will use different programs, websites, and educational tools available online.
#11-Students participate as knowledgeable, reflective, creative and critical members of a variety of literacy communities
#12-Students use spoken, written, and visual language to accomplish their own purposes:
Our social interaction via the blog will certainly allow students to become members of our very own classroom community, and possibly others if that's the direction the blog takes! Hopefully students will find their own motivations and purposes behind completing each blog task along the way, whether it be to learn, to enjoy the experience of being online or a member of our community, and to exchange information.
A few thoughts on my own blog experiences
I am lucky enough to have had the opportunity to use blogs at both of my student teaching placements, which allowed me a great deal of experience. I already mentioned a few things I found to be successful (ways to use the blog) and some things that I learned. I also found that the settings of a blog are crucial to their success. In one placement, my students from all 5 classes posted on the same forum, which was also public. I heard students discussing each others' responses before and after class, students being critical of others' posts (I can't believe that's all he had to say! That topic was awesome!) and students getting really into their posts, which I think was a result of knowing that so many others would see it. My blog at the other school was password protected (only students could see it) and separated by class period. A lot less students posted, and there was a significant amount of enthusiasm lost. I think another big factor was the grading of the blog. At my first placement, grading was more flexible, so I discussed with my students that their blogs would be a certain point value at the end of our unit, but did not grade them week by week, but gave feedback during class because the blogs were referenced so often and became an organic part of our class. My other placement required me to give immediate feedback and grade on a rubric the day after each post was due. The end goal of these blogs were not discussion and discovery, but instead, getting the grade. Our blog died once the rubric was passed back. This was also the placement where my setup modeled a worksheet (as per my requirements from ct). Students only stuck to the directions and did what they thought they had to do to get an A. Just a few things I experienced that I thought were worth mentioning here!
One of the greatest tools teachers have at their disposal is their students' thoughts, perspectives, experiences and voices. Unfortunately, in a 40 minute class session, it's difficult to take full advantage of what our students have to offer; most times it seems that once the conversation picks up, it's time to start wrapping it up. Additionally, not all students feel confident to speak up and participate in classroom discussions. The blog can help us solve both of these issues! We can post an interesting question or opinion (or more than one!) that was raised at a certain point in class and have students continue responding to those, or post a brand-new topic or question related to our current or upcoming classroom material to have students think about and discuss with their classmates. I have been a major believer in the benefits of using a discussion-based approach in the classroom, because in this manner, students work together to create their own understanding and meaning. The best part of discussing online (versus the classroom) is that students often will feel more comfortable contributing. While some students may simply be shy (and the computer screen might take that away just a bit), it seems that quite often students are somewhat fearful of speaking up in class just in case they say something wrong, or even worse, something that their classmates consider "stupid." When responding with the Internet at their fingertips, they can check their facts using different resources (to ensure that they are correct) and reread their response before posting to make sure it is exactly what they're saying. I love using the blog as another place to allow students to participate! During my experience using the blog, I found that the prompts have to be as far away from directions as possible (one placement required me to be VERY specific and construct my posts like a worksheet) so as to maintain the blog-esque feel. I also decided not to require my students to respond to one another, but found that once they became comfortable with the format and more excited about reading others' posts, they did it entirely on their own! If discussion is the goal, it's important to keep our prompts and set up as conversational as possible. I think if we can do this, students will be much more encouraged to get the conversation going!
2. Giving students opportunities to complete personally meaningful pre-learning exercises
This was not something I did in my blogs, but something that came to me while I was reading. One way I like to make the self-to-text connection for my students when we're reading or learning about any given topic is to have them do some sort of journaling activity that requires them to think about an experience or feeling or idea that we might come across. However, this is not always possible simply due to time constraints or how appropriate a "journal response" is. I would love to use the blog to get students think about certain upcoming ideas or units. Sometimes I could post a writing prompt a few days before the class day we will discuss to get students sharing personal experiences. Other times, I could post a picture and have them write about what they see or feel or think the picture describes. What I thought would be most exciting and effective to use would be simply giving students a topic, word, or idea, and have them browse the Internet (using teacher-suggested links, or ones they find on their own) to learn what they want about the subject. For example, if we are a 10th grade English class, and students are encountering Shakespeare for the 2nd, 3rd time, instead of spending time on learning about/researching Shakespeare in class, students could spend some time learning what they want to know about him on their own. I would ask each student to post a certain number of interesting or surprising facts about the Bard that they did not know before. This would be a great way to compile a good deal of information on the topic, and also help avoid reteaching information to students. One issue I see pop up from unit to unit is the fact that all of our students have a great deal of difference when it comes to prior knowledge. This would be a great way to allow EVERYONE to learn something new. In all of these cases, students will have an opportunity to explore our classroom material, topics and ideas on their own before we encounter them in class.
3. Helping students make connections between our material and popular culture, current issues and their world
I think one of the best ways to engage students in whatever it is we are learning in class is by making the material relevant to their world. One easy way to do this is to make connections between our big ideas or different lessons to popular culture and current issues. Once we get to know our students, we are more in tune with their interests and hobbies. We can use what we know of them to choose an athlete, controversial figure, recent news story, or even music to post a link to read about or embed in our post (in the case of music-divshare.com is a free website to upload Mp3s to if you're interested). I would ask my students to read up on a news story, think about a recent event, ponder over the journey of an athlete, or listen to a song (picked out of 5 from very different genres) and then make a connection/comparison to what we learned in class. For example, before we began reading Macbeth in my 11th grade class last year, we discussed ambition in class, and their blog assignment for that week was to choose a song (ex: Drake, "Successful" or John Lennon "Imagine") and respond to how the topic of ambition was presented in that song, and whether or not they thought it was realistic and if it lined up with their ideas on ambition or their own ambition. Or, towards the end of the Macbeth unit, we discussed people who "cheated" their way to the "top" like the Heene (Balloon Boy) family or the White House Crashers, to name a few. The responses on the blogs were excellent and the conversation spilled over into our classroom, where students wanted to continue talking about those cases of ambition gone wrong and comparing them to King Macbeth.
-Standards (from the Richardson text, pp. 41-42)
#1-Students reading a wide range of print and non-print texts &
#2-Students read a wide range of literature to build an understanding of human experience: The blogs give teachers a space to expose their students to so many more texts (mostly non-print) than they ever could in the classroom and give students additional links and avenues to learn more, if they are interested in furthering their understanding to acquire new information, to respond to, and to learn more about the "human experience."
#4- Students adjust their use of spoken or written language to communicate effectively &
#6-Students apply knowledge of language structure, language conventions, media techniques, figurative language, and genre to create, critique, and discuss print and non-print text:
The blog requires or allows for a different type of language to communicate effectively than a classroom discussion or research paper would, which means that students will have to adjust their usage! And, as many of the posts for an English classroom might involve, students will definitely be critiquing and discussing texts on my blog, and can do so in creative and figurative ways! Each of their responses or different activities will definitely be their own creation, which they will have to use language effectively for.
#7-Students conduct research on issues and interests
#8-Students use a variety of technological & informational resources:
The blog lends itself to having students explore different websites to do their own research on a topic we might discuss, and they will certainly be using a variety of technological and informational resources to do so, along with many other tasks they will complete, as we will use different programs, websites, and educational tools available online.
#11-Students participate as knowledgeable, reflective, creative and critical members of a variety of literacy communities
#12-Students use spoken, written, and visual language to accomplish their own purposes:
Our social interaction via the blog will certainly allow students to become members of our very own classroom community, and possibly others if that's the direction the blog takes! Hopefully students will find their own motivations and purposes behind completing each blog task along the way, whether it be to learn, to enjoy the experience of being online or a member of our community, and to exchange information.
A few thoughts on my own blog experiences
I am lucky enough to have had the opportunity to use blogs at both of my student teaching placements, which allowed me a great deal of experience. I already mentioned a few things I found to be successful (ways to use the blog) and some things that I learned. I also found that the settings of a blog are crucial to their success. In one placement, my students from all 5 classes posted on the same forum, which was also public. I heard students discussing each others' responses before and after class, students being critical of others' posts (I can't believe that's all he had to say! That topic was awesome!) and students getting really into their posts, which I think was a result of knowing that so many others would see it. My blog at the other school was password protected (only students could see it) and separated by class period. A lot less students posted, and there was a significant amount of enthusiasm lost. I think another big factor was the grading of the blog. At my first placement, grading was more flexible, so I discussed with my students that their blogs would be a certain point value at the end of our unit, but did not grade them week by week, but gave feedback during class because the blogs were referenced so often and became an organic part of our class. My other placement required me to give immediate feedback and grade on a rubric the day after each post was due. The end goal of these blogs were not discussion and discovery, but instead, getting the grade. Our blog died once the rubric was passed back. This was also the placement where my setup modeled a worksheet (as per my requirements from ct). Students only stuck to the directions and did what they thought they had to do to get an A. Just a few things I experienced that I thought were worth mentioning here!
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