I have not read, contributed to or spent much time on blogs before this class. But in the last few weeks I’m coming around to how they could fit in my life and particularly in my teaching. I especially like the idea in the GALE article about using a blog as the channel for assigning and receiving homework. Beyond the fact that a blog is a natural “online journal,” its ability to share with others lets students see others’ work which enables cooperative learning. Students could even ask each other questions and comment on work. I have benefited from everyone else’s posts in this class so I can see this working well in my own class.
Beyond a blog, I think one of the hallmarks of web 2.0 in general is the social or community aspect of the internet. As such, collaborative learning is a natural teaching strategy to use with blogs in the classroom. Oftentimes if there is a class blog, it’s likely written by the teacher. If I had 3rd grade students or older, I’d have them helping to contribute to that blog, either in the form of a weekly reflection or update by one student each week.
Certain instructional strategies do not lend themselves naturally for using blogs, although I think most could. For example, a didactic (sage on stage) type of teaching strategy seems contradictory to the nature of blogs. It’s not that it could not be used—a teacher could be imparting content to their class while they blog their notes. But, it’s using blogs for its own sake, without any added value to instruction and learning. The teacher is merely asking for student response in blog (vs. paper) format. Incorporating blogs into a lesson that’s inherently didactic in its teaching approach is like having a Porsche on a road where the speed limit is 20 mph—overkill. It misses the point of a blog, which is to enable group sharing.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I completely agree and I like your metaphor! I have gone back and forth this year with whether or not I want to have my students blog about our school days. I thought about making it one of our classroom jobs (each lasts about two weeks before we switch) and having that student make a post at the end of the day about what we did. I thought the parents and students would love it! This would simply be informative but it would give each student a chance to learn about blogging and its reflective nature.
ReplyDeleteI agree. I don't want to add blogging to the classroom just to blog. I want to find a GREAT learning experience to use it with to make sure we are not blogging for bloggins sake. I want to blog with my students for educations sake.
ReplyDeleteI agree with a lot of what you said. The concept of blogging fits very well with the way that I see myself functioning as a teacher. I just need to find practical ways to incorporate their use. I think that reflective learning is one of the best ways to internalize and make sense out of the content.
ReplyDeleteI also see blogging as an online journal, but it's important, in general, to remember that they are still not private (even if privacy settings are in place). I have several paper journals, and I don't think that blogging will ever replace the intimate nature of those journals.