Thursday, September 17, 2009
I would like to integrate a blog into my classroom. The purpose of the blog is to have a place where the students can view, comment and reply to others about their content area. I'd like to share some things I have experienced since I began the virtual classes at my school. The students are excited about being able to do their coursework on the computers. I have exhausted myself monitoring each student to stay on track. Some of my students began to drift away from the curriculum and began to navigate to other websites. This has become very annoying. I did a survey with my students about blogging. Like myself they were unfamiliar about how to get started. I mentioned to my students that Facebook, My Space, Twitter are blogs. I want to learn how to use the blog correctly before I assign students to create a blog. I think they would enjoy interacting with others about their content. I also think that it would cut down on students drifting away from their content navigating to other sites. I think it can enhance the lesson because they are reading comments from their peers.
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I see how you might have trouble monitoring the students to stay on track with this also. Have you thought of putting a limit or requirement on the number of times they post and also what the content should contain? I can see some of the students I have had going crazy and doing all kinds of things that were not appropriate. Could you possibly create a rubric for the specific responses that you are interested in? For example when they have to respond about a chapter in a book they read? or what their thoughts are about a lab they worked on?
ReplyDeleteJust a few thoughts.
One program your school may want to invest in since they opt for computer classwork in synchonize eyes. This will allow you to sit at your computer and see what they all have at once or do a random check. If you have this program and it is connected to a Smart board, then the students can see they are being monitored and never know when their computer screen will show up. This has been a great tool at our school.
ReplyDeleteSynchronize Eyes is a great program to invest in! I really like Freda's idea about linking it up to a SmartBoard. Having your students monitor each other is a help to you because if they are typical students, they will enjoy snitching on each other :)
ReplyDeleteHave you thought about what the end products of blog projects will be? I think you should consider exactly what you want your students to do with a blog before exploring whether or not it will useful in the classroom. Just something to consider.
You guys are way too advanced for me! I don't think any of our school districts have this in their computer labs. I would have heard. What a great idea. I have read about it years ago and noticed that in Western Pennsylvania we seem to be way behind in the times with technology. I noticed that when I came back from our Pennsylvania Educational Technology Conference the first year I ever went. The middle and eastern parts of the state were doing great things with their kids and we had little to no representation there. I felt bad.
ReplyDeleteJulie,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that a classroom blog, such as ours, would certainly help keep your "surfing" students on-task. The only problem I forsee is the amount of time needed for monitoring/grading the blog. I'd like to set up a classroom blog also (for beginning class activities) but am concerned about the best way to facilitate grading. If we aren't timely with grading, there is no way to expect appropriate participation. The students will still be surfing.
I do agree that we must use begin to use technology in our classroom to "do different things" as our children our already out there "doing" without our guidance and wisdom.
Stephanie D.
September 20, 2009 10:39 AM
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ReplyDeleteJulie,
ReplyDeleteI am new to the blogging also, I would not want to start without a rubric.(Not just for the students but to help me manage the assignment) I have to sign up for computer lab time so when I am there there is a "no play" policy. If they are off the approved site they loose the privilege and I have textbook work ready to go. This has worked in the past since students see the computer lab as a positive not a negative. I love the Synchronize Eyes software idea! I am going to check it out tomorrow
Julie,
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of the Synchronize eyes program. I was actually thinking before I read the other comments that I would work with six students at a time to work through the art blogging. Although before I had them perform the application of blogging, I was thinking that I would do a small class lesson about how to get started on a blog, but all of the above ideas were very helpful as well Thank you.
Dawn
Julie,
ReplyDeleteI can see where your concerns are about monitoring students blogs. It is a concern that I have as well.
I found it funny when you mentioned to your students about blogging and they seemed unfamiliar. In reality a great majority are so familiar with myspace, facebook and twitter that they probably did not realize that they are blog sites. It's almost as if they are too familiar with the idea of sharing information through these social networks to realize they are blogging.
I bet if you asked students if they know how to update their "status" on facebook they would immediately know what you were talking about!
Paul