Well since we are not permitted to blog in our school I surveyed a number of students about their opinions of what types of activities "we" could do for each subject area if they had the opportunity to blog. I got a number of basic answers but I also received a few creative ideas. Ideas such as omitting book reports for English class. Teachers could score students on participation and quality of information included in their blog. One girl added this would be the GREEN way to do it. For sure! Speech classes could debate a topic without feeling the face-to-face pressure of verbally debating in class. In history, students could pick an era and blog back and forth carrying on a conversation as if they were living back in the specified time. Government classes said the could hold a mock trial, assign duties, have 10 jury members and the rest would either be prosecutors or defendants. Jury members could post the questions trying to get all the answers needed to solve the crime. Students had difficulty being creative with science and math activities since there are hardly any opinions in those subjects. It's either right or wrong.
How do you incorporate blogging into your class? If you don't, what would you do? Math teachers... what activities have you done? Does anyone have any negative stories from blogging in school? I would love to hear good and bad or any key suggestions I need before I attempt it.
Thanks, Stephanie
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Great idea! I have been talking to my students a bunch about blogging, but hadn't thought of taking a survey. A couple of students in my Alternative High School English class love reading, but really balk at writing. They have expressed interest in blogging, sure that the feeling of discussing that 'happens' while blogging will take some of the pressure off of writing. I told them that they'd still have to meet standards; they feel that they are more comfortable with blogging, and will be more successful in terms of writing. I can't wait to find out! (Though I know I have a lot of "getting comfortable" with blogging to do - before I get them involved!)
ReplyDeleteThere has been quite a bit of discussion in class regarding science projects and the ability to blog about these experiments in order to see and discuss more possibilities...rather than just reading about them.
It would be great if you could give your students the oppertunity to blog. It is more exciting then writing with a pencil. Plus, seeing that someone has added to your post is probably the most exciting part. lol
ReplyDeleteScience experiments... good call! Students could blog about what they think will take place prior to actually doing the experiment.
I like the idea of having the students in a social studies class where they can have a mock trial. What would be a really neat addition to this would be to link up with another school and the two teachers could work together to create a "crime" that the students have to solve. The teachers could give Internet site links where the students would be required to research clues to help them solve the case. The students could post the information that they found so that both classes to read and look through the clues and they could post questions to each other to compare their own discoveries. After solving the crime they could then research similar crimes and trials on the Internet so that they could extend their knowledge of the court process and the investigation process.
ReplyDeleteStephanie, First off-you are doing a great job encouraging conversation on your blog! Look into a site called Moodle- talk about green! It is an online classroom where students can retrieve and submit work, it includes a blog area which can be teacher monitored and be kept in the confines of school and home (password protected) this might be a way to get around the problem of blocked sites. Some of our high school teachers use it and their classrooms have become virtually paper free!(unfortunately I teach fifth grade and my students just can't type well enough for it to be time effective!)
ReplyDeleteI really like the idea of debating for speech class in a blog format. This would be great for low ability students and shy students. It would give them the opportunity and extra time to think about they were going to say and type it. It would certainly take the pressure off the face to face debate.
ReplyDeleteI like your idea of having students blog for a debate for a history class. I'm also considering having students blog for writing assignments. They seem to connect to writing when they can use technology to complete their work, such as typing papers or creating Power Points. When I asked my students for their feedback about creating a classroom blog, they got excited about this idea. I'm still trying to figure out how teachers can protect the privacy of students and make this safe. Is there a way to keep the blog within the classroom?
ReplyDeleteStephanie,
ReplyDeleteOne idea for blogging in Math would be if you had an interactive web site where students went for practice or applications of the concepts you teach, students could react to how beneficial they were or were not regarding mastery of the concepts. You could then modify your site to better serve the students. I taught one-quarter of my biology class through a moodle site this year. The class was completed almost entirely on-line through the web. While I often asked students to complete 3 of 8 tutorials in a certain area or respond to 2 of 5 articles covering a concept, I soon discovered students thought some were awesome and some not so great. Blogging about the links may direct students to more worthy sites and provide a critical review from the students. I have provided a link to a resource I used on a genetic unit so you might get a better idea of what I am referring to. http://www.brookings.k12.sd.us/biology/Genetics.htm
I have a resource page on my school website for math assistance (interactive software, tutorials, etc.) and am thinking of having students’ blog on what is helpful and what is not. This might be a great way to increase their awareness of these types of resources, increase their internet skills, and improve my resources.