Five Don’ts of Classroom Blogging-by Julie Sturgeon
This article lists five common pitfalls teachers encounter when attempting to use blogging as part of their curriculum. First, don’t just “dive in”. Teachers are advised to have students sign off on a code of conduct for blogging. Students who violate the rules should lose their internet privileges. Requiring adult permission is also advised. Students need guidelines before being allowed to use an educational blog.
Second, don’t confuse blogging with “social networking”. A genuine educational blog is about students helping each other with class work, not about socializing. Students are required to include questions related to the subject in their blog, and to comment on other students questions.
Third, don’t leap at freebies. Some blog sites are free, but also include advertisements that are outside the educator’s control. These free sites do not offer the structure a school needs. Class Blogmeister is recommended because it is easy to use but gives the teacher a lot of control.
Fourth, don’t force a sequential style. Structure entries by topic rather than time to help readers make more sense of the blog and find information quicker.
Finally, don’t leave the blogging to the students. The teacher needs to structure how the student uses a blog and responds to others blogs.
Educational blogging can be beneficial. Blogging helps students become better writers. Participating in blogging can increase communication and literacy.
QUESTION 1
Why can’t teachers just have students create their own blog on one of the free sites?
On free blogging sites, students are exposed to third-party advertising that the teacher has no control over. Also, student postings and comments are available to anyone using the blogging site. Free sites do not offer the structure a school needs, or protection for students. Postings cannot be approved by a teacher first.
QUESTION 2
What are the benefits to using blogging with students?
Blogging can help students become better writers. Blogging is a creative and fun way to engage students in writing and to aid in transitioning from paragraphs to essays. Blogging offers a multimedia experience where students can work with images, video and music. Students may perform better when they know their peers will be reviewing their work.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Journal 2
Speaking Math-Using Chat in the Multicultural Classroom
By Janet Graham and Ted Hodgson
In this article, the authors describe how chat rooms and discussion forums were used to supplement traditional math classes at Osbourn High School, a multi-ethnic school in suburban Washington, DC. Chat rooms allowed students to conduct short real-time discussions while forums allowed discussions to happen at different times over the duration of an assignment. Both online discussions focused on specific math vocabulary. The goal was to encourage students to use math vocabulary to co-construct meaning. Each chat had an initial prompt and the teacher monitored discussions for content. Based on chats and responses, the teacher could then tailor lessons to clarify meaning and design follow-up activities. A benefit to electronic communication is that non-native speakers have time to plan their response. Chat times were structured into the school day so students without home computers were able to participate. The instructor was able to place students into small chat groups of 4-5 members. Also, whole-group forums in which students were not assigned to a specific discussion group were very effective. The authors found that the use of electronic communication positively affected student learning.
QUESTION 1
Does participating in electronic discussion tools improve academic performance?
Students who used chat rooms and discussion forums exhibited significant improvement in their use and recognition of math vocabulary compared to students in traditional classrooms.
QUESTION 2
How does online communication help non-native speaking students?
Electronic communication allows non-native speakers time to plan out their responses and use others’ responses as grammatical templates. Students in whole group forums were able to discuss information with other students who shared their same language or culture.
By Janet Graham and Ted Hodgson
In this article, the authors describe how chat rooms and discussion forums were used to supplement traditional math classes at Osbourn High School, a multi-ethnic school in suburban Washington, DC. Chat rooms allowed students to conduct short real-time discussions while forums allowed discussions to happen at different times over the duration of an assignment. Both online discussions focused on specific math vocabulary. The goal was to encourage students to use math vocabulary to co-construct meaning. Each chat had an initial prompt and the teacher monitored discussions for content. Based on chats and responses, the teacher could then tailor lessons to clarify meaning and design follow-up activities. A benefit to electronic communication is that non-native speakers have time to plan their response. Chat times were structured into the school day so students without home computers were able to participate. The instructor was able to place students into small chat groups of 4-5 members. Also, whole-group forums in which students were not assigned to a specific discussion group were very effective. The authors found that the use of electronic communication positively affected student learning.
QUESTION 1
Does participating in electronic discussion tools improve academic performance?
Students who used chat rooms and discussion forums exhibited significant improvement in their use and recognition of math vocabulary compared to students in traditional classrooms.
QUESTION 2
How does online communication help non-native speaking students?
Electronic communication allows non-native speakers time to plan out their responses and use others’ responses as grammatical templates. Students in whole group forums were able to discuss information with other students who shared their same language or culture.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Journal 1
Social Networking for the K-12 Set by Jim Klein
This article describes how the Saugus Union School District developed and implemented social networking technologies for teachers and students. Goals for the new program included providing an easy to use, technology-rich environment for the creation and sharing of content; establishing technology-driven workgroups for communication with staff and community; providing opportunities to discuss social, ethical, and legal issues and the creation of effective learning environments. Only SUSD employees and students can create content on the community sites. Individual members can choose to share content with the general public, site members only, small groups, or just themselves. Comments are monitored by various access controls. Student comments are reviewed and approved before being posted. SUSD has over 350 users on the Teacher Community site. The site is used for newsletters, announcements, file sharing, lesson planning, lesson presentation sharing, videos, pod casting and creating communities of interest. The Student Community site has over 450 students online. Students post pod casts and creative writing projects, participate in group projects, share curriculum knowledge and review lessons. One of the key benefits of SUSD’s social networking is improved communication and a sense of community. Teachers can keep parents and students informed and collaborate with each other, and students can share work with one another, parents and teachers, in a safe environment.
QUESTION 1
How can social networking benefit me as a teacher?
Social networking can provide an easy way for me to communicate with parents and students. I could use a classroom blog to deliver updates, homework assignments and curriculum content.
QUESTION 2
What would be some potential drawbacks to using social networking in my class?
Although students would have a safe environment to post comments to me or one another, I think it would be very time consuming to review and approve student posts, and to reply to each comment posted by parents and students. Also, I would still be generating paper bulletins/updates for families that did not have regular computer access at home.
This article describes how the Saugus Union School District developed and implemented social networking technologies for teachers and students. Goals for the new program included providing an easy to use, technology-rich environment for the creation and sharing of content; establishing technology-driven workgroups for communication with staff and community; providing opportunities to discuss social, ethical, and legal issues and the creation of effective learning environments. Only SUSD employees and students can create content on the community sites. Individual members can choose to share content with the general public, site members only, small groups, or just themselves. Comments are monitored by various access controls. Student comments are reviewed and approved before being posted. SUSD has over 350 users on the Teacher Community site. The site is used for newsletters, announcements, file sharing, lesson planning, lesson presentation sharing, videos, pod casting and creating communities of interest. The Student Community site has over 450 students online. Students post pod casts and creative writing projects, participate in group projects, share curriculum knowledge and review lessons. One of the key benefits of SUSD’s social networking is improved communication and a sense of community. Teachers can keep parents and students informed and collaborate with each other, and students can share work with one another, parents and teachers, in a safe environment.
QUESTION 1
How can social networking benefit me as a teacher?
Social networking can provide an easy way for me to communicate with parents and students. I could use a classroom blog to deliver updates, homework assignments and curriculum content.
QUESTION 2
What would be some potential drawbacks to using social networking in my class?
Although students would have a safe environment to post comments to me or one another, I think it would be very time consuming to review and approve student posts, and to reply to each comment posted by parents and students. Also, I would still be generating paper bulletins/updates for families that did not have regular computer access at home.
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