To blog or not to blog

I really want to set up a classroom blog but am hesitant. Oftentimes when I suggest a project that uses the Internet, I get shut down by someone in a position of "authority" (I use this term loosely) that says, "all students don't have access to a computer, this won't work". I guess you can say my blogging spirit has been crushed.

Now, the spark has been reignited and I'm looking for cool ways to integrate this technology source into my lessons. I think that an online reading log would be interesting, or I could create the blog for my poetry unit and have students post poems that they have written. Whatever I decide, it has to have set purpose.

According to Echlin I setting a purpose for my blog could be any of the following:

• Classroom management: Use a blog to post assignments, handouts, and notices. You can also put up study notes and have students take turns summarizing what happened in school that day.
• Learning journal: Patricia Harder, a seventh-grade teacher at Henley Middle School, in Crozet, Virginia, uses individual or small-group blogs as a place for students to "write reflectively" on what they learned from a particular assignment and how they might do better next time.
• Online notebook: Limiting access to teacher and individual students only, you can use the blog as a way to track students' progress. Harder found using a blog this way particularly helpful when she suspected one of her students had a learning disability. "I went to the committee that evaluates students for learning disabilities and was able to present them with a record of the sentence structure my student had used," she explains.
• Class discussion: Assign blogs to small groups, or set up a single blog for the whole class. You may post entries for discussion, or have individual students and guest bloggers post entries.
• Personal expression: Give students individual blogs for posting whatever they want. This might seem like a recipe for disaster, but Konrad Glogowski, who teaches grades 7-9 at Fern Hill School, in Oakville, Ontario, Canada, and is the creator of the Blog of Proximal Development Web site, found this format to be a huge success. Inspired by an audience of their peers, his students posted poetry, journal entries, and reactions to articles they had read, as well as prolific comments on the blogs of fellow students.

Hopefully, my blog will be up and running soon. *crossing fingers*

Echlin, H. (2007). Digital discussion: take your class to the internet. Edutopia. Retrieved from

http://www.edutopia.org/digital-discussion-take-your-class-to-internet

Setting up the Blogging Lesson

I am using Julie Strugeon's article, Five Don’ts of Classroom Blogging, in planning my lesson on blogging into any classroom. Strugeon gives good suggestions for a successful and collaborative class blogging community. I have covered the following “Don’t Do’s” with my students. I have also posted these tips as a visual instructional plan.

1. Don’t just dive in - I have prepare my students for blogging by reviewing netiquette, blogging procedures, blogging directions. I will model how right before they start blogging their comments for the assignment.

2. Don’t confuse blogging with social networking - This will be an ongoing conversations with my middle school students. I have it clear that they are to give constructive comments and suggestions. I will monitor all their blog comments closely.

3. Don’t leap at the freebees - I have setup a blog with this site but I am also going to try two other sites to see what is visually appealing and easier for my students.

4. Don’t force a sequential style - My blog assignment will keep the class focused on their digital photography assignments. I think they will enjoy giving their comments on their classmates photography work.

5. Don’t leave the blogging to the students - This will be a struggle unless I do it during my planning period or the digital photography class. I want to make sure I am giving feedback, prompting, and praise. However, the comments of their classmates will go along way in enforcing photography principles and improving their images.

I am hoping I will be able to place a link to the blog site on the school website to encourage parents and students outside the class to give constructive comments. I also would like to implement blogging into my 8th grade art classes next semester.

Nailah


Sturgeon, J. (2008). Five Don'ts of Classroom Blogging. T H E Journal, 35(2), 26-30. Retrieved from Education Research Complete database.

I've Got It!

Well, I've decide what my first blog for school will be about. In my 12th grade business class, I use the textbook sparingly, and I want to direct my students to various outside sources. I plan on using the blog to post links, articles, vocabulary, and other comments about the topics that we discuss in class. I think this class will be perfect for the blog because the students will have a real need to visit my site. I may have them find their own articles about various topics, and then post a brief analysis on the blog. We'll see.

All the best,

Ivan

A new found reliance...

This week my computer began to have problems. Over the course of a few days the entire thing crashed and I was convinced I had lost everything. This includes years of pictures, documents and memories which cannot be replaced. After having one of my friends, who is great with computer, look at it, he was able to recover the documents. Going through this has caused me to be more precautious of backing up all my important information in a second way. This has also taught me a lesson which I hope to pass on to my students. This lesson is that we cannot become too reliant on computer, letting them doing everything for us, and forget that they are just that, a computer. Sometimes we put a lot of trust in them without thinking. I hope that this experience I had will impact my students to teach them computer usage and management.

Creating my Class Blog site

I created my blog site for my digital photography class this week. It wasn’t difficult at all. However, I failed to realize I had created two accounts; one from my yahoo account and the other was from my digital photography g-mail email account. I was a bit confused when I saw two profiles listed on the group blog site. So, I am using my personal yahoo account for the group blog site and used my class email account to establish the blog site.

It was fairly easy to upload a photo example and create a layout I thought was appealing for my class. I still have to play with the features available a little more but I like the way it looks so far.

I felt using blogging in my 8^th grade digital photography would be ideal. I created a collaborative group lesson where each group chose a style/field of photography from a list of photography styles to research. In addition to their research they have to create student photo examples of the styles/fields using the tips from their research. Each group will have a blog page to post their research of the field/style of photography along with their student examples. The class has 9 groups with 3 students each so each student will be responsible for posting comments to 8 of the group blog pages. I am hoping it will get them engaged and interested in blogging. I will also review my expectation of their posts and give examples of positive responses.

Getting Close

Well, I'm starting to get some clarity on how I want to proceed with the blog for my class. I will take Nailiah suggestion and make one blog, and then have the students respond to that. I think this will be easier on me and the students.

I'm really interested in using the blog as a tool to communicate with the parents, and also to communicate with my students outside of class. We have exams coming up next week, and I think a blog would have been a great opportunity to give students hyperlinks to some websites that they could use for studying. I would like to direct students to some outside sources with real-world information, and then have them relate that to our class. for example, I could have them read various business news websites, and then relate that to class. In my 12th grade business class, we've just finishing talking about the credit crisis, and the reasons for it. It would be nice to have the students do some independent research, and then report back to the blog what they found.

Anyway, these are just some ideas. Hopefully I can get my blog up and running during the first term.

Till next time...

Blogging: Sounds like an effective means of collaboration, right?

Blogging sounds like an easy solution to getting students to collaboration in the classroom, however there are important considerations that need to be made before implementation. According to Julie Strugeon, in the acticle, Five Don’ts of Classroom Blogging, there are important facts that need to be remembered when planning to implement blogging into any classroom. Strugeon says that to implement a successful and collaborative blogging community, a teacher must predetermine possible troubles that might occur. In thinking ahead, she suggests the following five, “Don’t Do’s.”

1. Don’t just dive in-Make sure to prepare students for blogging. This means setting rules and procedures and modeling how to blog.

2. Don’t confuse blogging with social networking-remind students that blogging in the classroom is not about socializing. The point of blogging is to support one another and provide suggestions.

3. Don’t leap at the freebees-Educators need to be cautious of free blogging websites. These are filled with advertisements and opportunities for students to visit other blogs outside the classroom. Strugeon suggests a site like (http://www.classblogmeister.com/). These allow the creator to set limitations.

4. Don’t force a sequential style-Make sure to give students a focus on topic rather than time. It is important for the instructor to know what they are trying to teach through the use of a blog.

5. Don’t leave the blogging to the students-Become a part of the blogging community. Provide feedback and compliments on students. Strugeon says that it will encourage students, just like verbal classroom feedback does.

By keeping these Don'ts in mind when implementing a classroom blogging community, a teacher can successfully promote collaboration and excitement among students. Strugeon concludes her article with one DO when blogging. She says, “DO recognize what blogging can do for your students. And that is to help them become better writers.”

Brittany

Sturgeon, J. (2008). Five Don'ts of Classroom Blogging. T H E Journal, 35(2), 26-30. Retrieved from Education Research Complete database.