There are several instructional strategies that fit well when using blogs in the classroom. At the beginning, you must be a sage on the stage, but you get to switch to a guide on the side. The sage will explain the components of creating a blog, the use of it in your specific class and the requirements for your class. You can integrate other technologies into it, teaching students how to adapt to changes in the curriculum. Teachers must model for students how to write properly for a blog. Just because the assignment is done online doesn’t mean that students can use computer and cell phone lingo, a common misconception. Teachers must teach students that proper writing can be done on the Internet and teach students proper netiquette. Just as a teacher must model the proper way to behave and discuss in class, she must do the same for Internet postings. With blogs, teachers can post videos/voice comments that students must listen to/watch and respond.
With the use of blogs, you do lose some strategies that are important to a classroom. It is difficult for formative and summative assessment to take place. Also, immediate feedback is a little more difficult. A teacher must read each post and the comments posted for each student. Assessment of understanding is difficult to determine, so teachers must be ready to adapt and discuss the difficulties students have with the material. Teachers will need to respond via the Internet because you cannot have students use the resource and not use it yourself. With blogs, you also lose the implementation of formal writing. Students can write using complete sentences, but the form and flow of an essay are not prevalent.
I will use blogs in my classroom in many ways. Since I teach English, I can have students discuss a text that we have read. I can have them bring in outside sources, which they can link to in their blogs, and fully analyze the question presented. Students can then respond to each other, forming an out of class group discussion. Another way I would utilize blogs would be as a continuation of a class discussion. If students are unable to speak up during class, they can make their points online. Blogs also provide a great forum for group work because students can hold discussions online.
I like the idea of using a blog for those students who may not feel comfortable talking in front of the class. It provides a great opportunity for those students to still be heard without the pressure of public speaking. Great Idea!
ReplyDeleteI think it is important that you mentioned using proper netiquette because I have found that same misconception in my classroom where students feel that writing as they write a text message is proper for discussing scientific or mathematical concepts. They state that their discussions should be informal, but I point out that while they are informal, they are published ideas shared with members of our classroom community and should be written using appropriate grammatical conventions. Using any new instructional strategy can have its drawbacks, but instilling the "little things" can guide students to achieve success through proper use of the medium.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of discussing a text. I feel blogs would be a great way for students to present their analysis of poem or other piece of writing. I teach 7th grade English as well as science and the students had a lot of fun sharing their analysis of Frost's "The Road Not Taken." I think they would have gotten more out of it if they would have used blogs. It would allow the shy students to let their voice be heard.
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