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Taking a look at how easy blogging is I would love to start using it in the classroom. I thought that this would be a great opportunity for me and my colleagues to create a blog to exchange lesson plans and ideas on certain issues. This would be a great way to discuss a lesson with someone in a different state that may have some new interesting ideas. We plan as a team in my school but it is always good to get new ideas!
Since I teach third grade many of them are limited at home on what they can and cannot use. So having them complete homework or assignments online through a blog may not work very well. If I taught high school or maybe even middle and think this would be a great opportunity for students to discuss issues and comment on each other’s work. For my classroom with the limited internet access that my students use I would have to use the blogs in my classroom. My class has to complete a research project on a subject that the whole class will vote on. Last year my students researched Egypt. I would use the blog as a place for students to share what information they found while researching. For my classroom blog I would have the students submit post based on the research that they found. I would have students pick a certain topic to research on Egypt so that everyone is participating. One student would be the expert on the food, one person the expert on the education ect. This would allow them to complete a group assignment but still independently doing their own work.
I never really thought about blogging before but it is a great way for educators to get students actively participating. If you have any ideas on how I could incorporate blogging more into my classroom please feel free to share your ideas. I am always looking for new ideas!
SWilliams,
ReplyDeleteI teach 3rd grade as well. One challenge that you might come across is first teaching students how to utilize the internet for research purposes. Unless you have already taught them (or have prior experience), the students will need to know about different search engines, about how to manuever through links, and how to best obtain information via key words. With this knowledge, transfering their information onto a blog won't be such a task. I know that I would have to teach my students these things since many of them only get computer exposure at school.
I agree that blogging is a lot easier than I thought it would be. Once it is set up and the guidelines are set for the students, it is very user-friendly, espcially with the RSS Feeds!
ReplyDeleteI'm hoping that I could get blogging started this year, but I may hold off until the start of next school year and build a routine.
I also like the idea of sharing ideas with colleagues through blogging. The special education teachers are always trying to get together to discuss different types of strategies we can use with our children to assist them in learning. We always have such a hard time meeting during the school day. A blog would be a great idea because staff members can post when they have time.
ReplyDeleteUsing a blog to organize research is a great idea. It is nice how the students can become "experts" on one topic and then post that information on the blog. Do you think that the students would be able to understand the different topics other than the one they research? How are the groups teaching the other information?
I also agree with Cristina that lessons on search engines and how to find information on the internet is something that the students would have to learn. Would you have the sites bookmarked?
I could even use your strategy into my Technology class with 9-12th graders. Most of the hands-on projects that I do throughout the year incorporate a lot of research before they set foot into the shop. It would be nice to collaborate all of their ideas on a certain topic before they build their prototype.
ReplyDeleteI agree that technology in the home is a downfall when it comes to blogging. It would be a great way for teachers to communicate with friends or former students about any issues that may arise. I also think it is neat to have a way to share lesson plans because new ideas can always improve student learning. I like your idea of blogging based on your topics you are teaching. How neat would it be for your students to actually talk to someone who has been to Egypt? My 5th graders would truly enjoy this experience!
ReplyDeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteIf you are studying a country, divide your students up into teams and have each team provide geographical, clothing, food,resources, art and music, etc. to research and post to the blog. The online community can contribute and clarify as well.
I still need convincing that blogging is necessary to communicate about a project for students who are in the same class when they could just discuss it in class face to face. I'm a skeptic because I'm new to it so don't let my comment sway you either way. I think it might be more informative however if your class blogged with students from the country you decide to research. Then the students would receive information first hand.
ReplyDeleteThank you to for all the feedback. In my school the classrooms are required to complete what is called a multicultural project. This is where each class needs to research a country and present it to the entire school. Another great thing about my school is that we are required to teach a technology lesson once a year. My students just finished up their technology lesson which was on animal habitats. I gave my students a power point which had various websites that would give them all the information they would need to complete their project. This allowed them to focus more so on finding the information rather than searching for a good website. A downfall with my school is that time is so limited that in order to complete our multicultural project we need to allow the students to do most of the project on their own. So in order to complete this project I would have to allow students to complete their research on their free time or when they have completed their required work. My idea was to allot students a day in which they could use my two computers in my class. This allows the students to have a set time and are not all arguing over who uses the computer. Although I would love my students to sit and discuss what they are learning and what they have discovered about their topic there is just no time to go into depth with it. My school is all about scores based on our testing and so we are pretty much teaching reading and math that go along with the state testing 24/7. My principal loves for us to do so many interesting projects but there is hardly any time for them so we try to slide them in as much as possible.
ReplyDeleteSWilliams,
ReplyDeleteI completely understand your "crunch" for academic time and the pressure to teach to the test. My school is the same way. We are so stressed upon to teach to those standards that they will be tested on. My hope is that through blogging, they will create those critical skills needed to analyze, summarize, synthesize, and so on. I'm new to this blogging stuff, so I'll have to see for myself if blogging does enhance learning in all the positive ways that all our resources claim.
Finding a way to use a blog in an elementary classroom is something I really hope to accomplish too. I like the idea of using a blog to communicate with other teachers though. I've worked on committees where we have used email groups, but a blog would be more efficient.
ReplyDeleteI think time is always the limitation for anything we try to accomplish, especially in an elementary classroom. more so just for the teacher directed aspect of it all. Especially at my grade (2nd), we spend most of the year working on becoming independent learners even without thinking of using technology. I believe though, if you are committed to something, you will find a way to get it done - teachers always do!
You have a great asset which is determination.Despite some of the odds you are facing, you are willing to teach your students this new tool.I like some of the earlier suggestions about the steps to take when carrying out the blogging project.Due to the age of your students, it may take more time and effort to get them going but the longest journey starts with that crucial first step.
ReplyDeleteWilliam,
ReplyDeleteI could only imagine how tough it would be to teach under such timely conditions. I am a Technology Teacher and am not required to take a state exam at the end of my semesters. It is always fun to come up with new projects and hands-on material for my curriculum. I believe this is where they get the visual aspect of what they learn in Math and Science. The projects that I do in my classes portray real world applications. Since I have the luxury of one computer to one person, has given blogging a good shot at success in my classroom. I may use it for reflection of projects to see what I can change to make the project better for next year.