Blogging in the Classroom
Summary
For this assignment, I watched "Blogging in the Classroom: Purpose, Planning, and Perseverance" by Erica Beaton and Beth Rogers. The presenters represented both elementary and secondary schools, as well as a variety of subjects.Rogers focused on the purpose, benefits, and uses of blogging in the classroom. She began by discussing the "Triple E Framework": when creating a blog with your students, you should think about how you are going to use it to engage your students, enhance their learning, and extend their knowledge. Blogs allow your students to become excited about their learning and move from being passive to active learners. They allow activities to be more sophisticated, as students experiment with different fonts, sizes, and styles. Blogs also give every student the chance to demonstrate his or her understanding, and to make connections between school and their everyday lives.
Blogs are a beneficial part of the classroom. They build a classroom community, as students are able to connect and collaborate with one another. Blogs allow teachers to see the strengths and weaknesses of all students in the classroom. Teachers can monitor student work to see how they grow over the course of the school year, and can also see the individual areas where students need assistance.
Students can use blogs in every subject area in school. They can use it as a portfolio to post their best assignments and demonstrate growth. Students can write book recommendations to share with others, and can leave feedback on each others' posts. While working on a project, students can document their progress, ask for assistance and suggestions, and reflect upon their learning.
Personal Reflections
Blogging is something that I never even considered for my classroom. I've seen blogs by teachers posting lesson plans and teaching tips, but never before as a way for students to post their work. It is definitely something that would take a lot of time to set up at the beginning of the year, but would become easier with time. I would have to spend more time modeling and monitoring as we set up the blogs and could give more freedom as the year goes on.It is important to remember that the blog belongs to the students. Rogers stated that it is ok for the students to make mistakes, and to keep in mind that this is the students' work. Before starting, I would have to think of the purpose of the blogs - would it be a portfolio of only their best work, or would it be a way to show growth throughout the year? To figure this out, I'll need to think of what is best for my students, and think about all of the benefits of creating a blog and the ways I could use it in my room.
My Classroom
"Blogging in the Classroom" offered many ways that to incorporate blogs into my classroom. Blogs in the classroom could be used to:- Monitor IEP writing goals throughout the year
- Leave positive feedback and suggestions on assignments that are easily accessible for students throughout the year
- Keep track of progress on projects - students can post their progress, ask for suggestions, and reflect on their final product
- Talk through thinking - why students answered a certain way, especially when solving math problems
- Post from the perspective of another person or character to learn more about point-of-view and character traits
- Allow students to view and post on each others' blogs to gain new ideas and incorporate new skills into their own learning
- Make book recommendations
You have really useful suggestions for how blogs could be used. I especially like the idea of blogs for book recommendations, because students could respond to each other. In the spirit of that idea, I'll make a book suggestion for you: Fish in a Tree by Lynda Mullaly Hunt would make a good read-aloud in your classroom, especially if you teach students with dyslexia.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the suggestion! I'll look into it - I'm always looking for new books :)
DeleteLike you, Jackie, I have not considered using blogging in my classroom until I began taking classes through The Writing Project. I agree that its uses would have to be thought out prior to implementation. I don't want to use a blog just to say I do - I really want what students write to be meaningful and impactful. Your ideas and suggestions for classroom use were excellent. I like point-of-view postings, and also book recommendations. Lots of good info! Thanks.
ReplyDeleteJackie--Really enjoyed your post. I'd love to try my freshman and sophomore English students at blogging. I'm sure it would engage them, as well as enhance their writing and their learning (love the "Triple E" framework idea). I do have some questions, though. I guess the biggest is the privacy issue. My building principal once told me when I asked him if a student could use Weebly to make a web page for Jay Gatsby, he said "no" because it is sending information out into the "digital ether." We are currently using Edmodo to have class discussions, but that is extremely private. I'm wondering what his feelings on using blogs would be. In addition, I have my students do writer's notebooks outside of class, five pages per week. The one component that blogs do not have that writer's notebooks do is the ability to revise in the way that they have become used to (we use different colored pens and highlighters to show changes in writing). They do get to share their notebooks with each other when we use material within them as drafts for bigger pieces of writing, but a blog would definitely be more accessible. I'm seriously conflicted--the blogs seem like a really cool idea that students could relate to because we are meeting them in their natural element, yet I really like the idea of *paper* writer's notebooks. You've definitely given me something to think about!
ReplyDeleteThanks Jackie- I plan to check this conference out and see how it could apply for the younger students I work with in my K-3 setting. It would appear through your suggested use of blogs that we could replicate them. Hopefully, I can convince a few teachers to try it out.
ReplyDeleteVera