Using a blog in my everyday life is probably a good idea. I agree with the readings that in order for me, as a teacher, to have my students use blogs, I need to understand them as well. I don’t know much about them and have never used one in my day-to-day life. It seems the only way to understand how they operate and the advantages they bring is to use them myself. It is possible that since students use websites like blogs and myspaces for fun outside of school, using them in school will peak their interest. Students might be more excited about a blogging assignment than a formal paper. I think I would use a blog as a means of journal writing for my students. I would like to have then respond to short thought provoking questions that I give them in class on a daily (or maybe weekly) basis. I think this would be fun for the students because not only could you express your own thoughts on your blog but you could respond to others in the class as well. However, I am unsure of how the students would like others being able to read their writing. I think some students would love it, but I’m afraid that other students would feel like they couldn’t express their honest opinions because they know others in the class are reading their blogs.
I see blogs as enhancing means of communication with others. They provide a useful way to share ideas with other students outside of class. I would like to learn a lot from this class. I know very little about technology that is available online or how to use that technology to enhance activities and learning in the classroom. I would like this class to show me all of the tools out there that could potentially help me as a teacher. In terms of specifically using a blog, I hope that with the experience I am gaining from using it in this course it will help me discover the benefits to my own writing. Maybe my writing will be different on the web than it is in a formal paper. I’m excited to find out!
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ReplyDeleteI love your idea of using student blogs for short reflections. I think especially in a literature class, reflections of themes, characters and symbols is a good way for 1) students to warm up and get their minds rolling for class and 2) for them to keep track of their developing thoughts throughout the course of a book or class.
ReplyDeleteYou mentioned uncertainly about students possibly being uncomfortable with sharing some personal reflections. I agree. Sometimes students may be too shy or lack the confidence it takes for others to read and potentially judge your thoughts -- it's especially tough in adolescents! Not that I am an expert on blogs in any way, shape for form, but I do know that there are some blogging services that allow teachers to have a lot of control over student blogs. In fact, with these programs, students save their posts as "drafts" and they will not be published on the blog for the everyone to see until the teacher reads it, give it the "ok" and publishes it. The teacher can also decide which posts are private (only the student and teacher can see it) and which are public. This might me a good option to try if you wanted to incorporate blogging in your classroom.
Like you, this stuff is all new to me! I hope blogging and other types of collaborative technological communications become second nature to us so we don't feel way behind our students in this area!!