Thursday, June 19, 2008
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
In the News
Using Classroom Blogging to Build Connections
Often times my classroom feels like a car repair shop. Students come in the room with problems or questions, we work together to fix them, and then they speed away to their next class. Despite my consistent planning and preparation, I frequently need to scrap lesson plans in order to assist students in solving their immediate issue at hand. I have to admit, this continually changing environment is part of what I love about working in special education, but it can also be quite frustrating. In my search for something to help establish a unifying, coherent connection, from student to student, as well as from day to day, I began to consider the use of blogging.
The concept of blogging is one that is becoming more relevant to education. Many conversations regarding educational blogging surround the belief that schools are supposed to prepare students for life. As I examine more research, I am rapidly coming to the conclusion that blogging plays a dual role in supporting our students' futures. First, a large portion of both professional and personal life involves working with other people. Publishing in a blog format allows the opportunity for collaboration and interaction. Additionally, many aspects of life are becoming increasingly tied to technology. Regardless of a person's line of work, at some point during the day, they will need to utilize technology.
In his 5/6/08 blogpost, Darren Draper discusses that students and teachers from elementary schools to doctorate programs are beginning to blog. He also discusses the concepts of blog etiquette and responsibility for students. I believe that this is another important reason to begin blogging. How are children expected to learn Web 2.0 safety, if we do not instruct them in the use of Web 2.0 tools? There are a plentiful number of various Web 2.0 tools that can be incorporated into classrooms and used to increase student technology awareness. However, I agree with Richardson when he mentions in his text Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms, that blogs are "the most important, and the most reasonable place to begin your [technology] travels" (Richardson 58). Blogging provides teachers with the opportunity to begin small, and grow, as they and their class learn more about blogging.
As I have mentioned, I have found that Will Richarson’s blog and text provide a large amount of information regarding blogging in the classroom. I enjoy reading what he has to say because he logically breaks the broad concept of "blogging" into somewhat sequential steps. As a teacher that is beginning to blog, and has plans to blog with her class, chapter three of his text provides an excellent reference point. The large amount of classroom blogs available for access on the web, proves that teachers are utilizing this technology in their classrooms. Only time will tell if classroom blogs in the early stages will be able to be used to establish connections between student peers, and connections to educational concepts.
I plan to use blogging in my classroom in order to better facilitate a trusting classroom climate, and provide a continual processing opportunity for my students. I will do this through the following steps:
1.) Effective Internet Miner - This course has introduced me to blogger.com, and while I have explored blogs on edublogger.com, I feel that blogger.com provides a good location for my classroom blog. I also think that it will be fairly simple to introduce my students to blogger.com. In my district all teachers are required to have "eboards" on which assignments and other information is posted. I will post a link to my classroom blog on my eboard so that all of my students can access the blog.
2.) Integrator - The use of a classroom blog will greatly enhance the experience of students in my classroom. I believe that the learning support classroom needs to be a trusting and comfortable environment for students. I teach many children that are embarrassed to participate in classes. I feel that blogging will provide an alternate form of class participation that will benefit my students. I also teach a large number of students that need additional time to process new concepts, procedures, and themes. Providing a blog in which students can pose questions and thoughts regarding what they have learned in school, after the school day is over, offers a fantastic opportunity for clarification and learning.
3.) Policy Advisor - Currently my district is implementing a 1:1 student laptop program for the 2008-2009 school year. As a result of this program, our district AUD is being revised. I plan to provide this as an initial reference for my students as they research policies regarding blogging. I would like to assign my students the task of creating, with my assistance, a set of blogging etiquette rules for our classroom. I currently involve my students in creating classroom rules, so I feel that it is natural for them to actively take part in creating our responsible blogging guidelines. Once these are created, I will continually monitor the blog in order to lead discussions about post content and what is appropriate.
4.) Producer - I feel that once we establish our blog, our blogging responsibilities and etiquette expectations, and blogging procedures, we will be able to successfully begin. At this point I feel that I will begin using the blog as a place for students to ask and answer questions, while citing resources. As an introduction to online publishing, I want to have "Discussion Questions of the Week." My students love to talk, and I feel that discussion questions, on topics of student interest, will help to create the connection between talking and writing. Progressing from the response stage, I would like to begin to have students post their writing samples. My intention in student publishing is to allow for peer editing. We often discuss written response techniques and content in my classroom, and I think that the blog will provide background knowledge so that students are prepared for classroom discussions. Also, eventually this will provide a great way for parents to view student work.
Hopefully I can implement my plan next year!
References:
Draper, Darren, “EduBlogger Etiquette – Student Blogging.” [Weblog entry]
Drape’s Takes. 5/6/2008.
(http://drapestakes.blogspot.com/2008/05/edublogger-etiquette-student-blogging.html)
Richardson, Will. Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms. Thousand Oaks: Corwin P, 2006.
Richardson, Will. Retrieved 6-7-08 from
http://supportblogging.com/Links+to+School+Bloggers
"Top 100 Education Blogs." Online Education Database. 10 June 2008 . http://oedbd.org/library/features/top-100-education-blogs
Upton, Al, “Hello world – we’re back!” [Weblog entry] the miniLegends 08
(http://minilegends.edublogs.org/)
Upton, Al, “The title says whose blog this is.” [Weblog entry] Al Upton. 5/7/2008.
(http://alupton.edublogs.org/)
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Response Blog #3
Maybe it is because I am participating in a technology course or because I spend so much time working with kids and computers during the day, but whatever the reason, it feels as though the “read/write web” is slowly infiltrating every aspect of daily life!
This year, my district decided to place a major focus on incorporating technology into the classroom. As a result of this focus, every scheduled in-service day this year has been spent exploring possible applications of our “technology initiative.” I began the school year excited about the opportunity to work with other teachers to create lessons that incorporate Web 2.0 practices. Unfortunately, we have received little guidance or instruction in the various possible resources that we could incorporate, and I feel as though the lesson that I helped create remains very “1.0.”
I have learned more tangible applications of Web 2.0 in the past 5 weeks of my graduate technology course than I have in the past 9 months of working on my district’s technology project. Had my district provided the teachers with the Will Richardson resources that we are using in class, I feel that this year would have been much more productive! Seriously, all they had to do was direct us to his resources wiki. I feel that our technology project can serve as proof that some scaffolding and/or modeling needs to be provided when new technology is expected to be used.
Next September my district is planning on implementing a one-to-one student laptop initiative in the high schools. I am trying to work with other teacher to spread the ideas that I am currently exploring. It is my hope that the laptop initiative succeeds, and I think that if the district provides a little more guidance, it will.
Aside from the “read/write web” playing a large role in my daily work, professional development, and my educational endeavors; it is now beginning to infiltrate my free time. As I sat in my car and listened to General Hospital on my drive home for work, I heard one of the characters discussing how she was creating a blog. Yes, blogging has now entered the realm of the serial drama. Who knows where Web 2.0 will pop up next? I haven’t dreamed about it yet, but at this rate, I am sure it will happen soon!
This year, my district decided to place a major focus on incorporating technology into the classroom. As a result of this focus, every scheduled in-service day this year has been spent exploring possible applications of our “technology initiative.” I began the school year excited about the opportunity to work with other teachers to create lessons that incorporate Web 2.0 practices. Unfortunately, we have received little guidance or instruction in the various possible resources that we could incorporate, and I feel as though the lesson that I helped create remains very “1.0.”
I have learned more tangible applications of Web 2.0 in the past 5 weeks of my graduate technology course than I have in the past 9 months of working on my district’s technology project. Had my district provided the teachers with the Will Richardson resources that we are using in class, I feel that this year would have been much more productive! Seriously, all they had to do was direct us to his resources wiki. I feel that our technology project can serve as proof that some scaffolding and/or modeling needs to be provided when new technology is expected to be used.
Next September my district is planning on implementing a one-to-one student laptop initiative in the high schools. I am trying to work with other teacher to spread the ideas that I am currently exploring. It is my hope that the laptop initiative succeeds, and I think that if the district provides a little more guidance, it will.
Aside from the “read/write web” playing a large role in my daily work, professional development, and my educational endeavors; it is now beginning to infiltrate my free time. As I sat in my car and listened to General Hospital on my drive home for work, I heard one of the characters discussing how she was creating a blog. Yes, blogging has now entered the realm of the serial drama. Who knows where Web 2.0 will pop up next? I haven’t dreamed about it yet, but at this rate, I am sure it will happen soon!
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