Monday, November 9, 2009

Using Blogs in the Classroom

I actually want to incorporate blogs in my classroom due to the fact that it will encourage reading and reviewing of peer work. I find in my school, students often write things without rereading to make sure it makes sense. I wonder if having it posted to the internet would encourage the students to make sure their words are understood.

As a math teacher, I would love to incorporate blogs as a ticket out, or as a reflective homework assignment. We are always encouraging students to write out their thoughts even in such a number-based subject area. I think this will help students' connect the skills we learn to our school's themes each semester. Currently our school is focusing on "Global Awareness." What better way to understand this concept than to have them on the "world wide web" experiencing people around them and diverse and divergent thinking.

10 comments:

  1. Good evening. Love Bert! I think we are going to spend a bit of time trying to decide how to best utilize what we are learning in the classroom. Some of us are more savvy than others. With all of us teaching different subjects, we will be on our own to adapt. I do enjoy reading about how others are using this new knowledge and how we share ideas so naturally.

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  2. I am not sure that it will help them with their writing. Students today write in text language. I think that if you take a grammar grade on their post it may help them take it more seriously.

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  3. I am not sure that this will help your students with their writing skills. Students today write everything in text language. I think that if you take a grammar grade on their post it may help them take writing more seriously.

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  4. I would hope students would proofread their work before posting it on a blog. However, I think it may not cut down on mistakes. I like your idea as using a blog to complete a reflective homework assignment. Your blog looks great.

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  5. You look like an expert in the field of blogging.... It looks like you have completed all the assignments while I am still trying to figure everything out.... Way to go! Everything looks great.... I think I know who to come to when I have questions.. Take Care,
    Leann Bowman

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  6. I hadn't thought about writing in math....but what a great way to involve students that normally would be unsure of their abilities. I think students would be more likely to share in a blog because of their insecurities face to face. What a great way to get students to participate!

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  7. I too would like to see my students experiencing global awareness by making connections through the web. Issuing homework is not an option for me due to the poverty of my district. I have four computers in my classroom, three that are currently working. When I complete this course, I intend to make my computer assignments more relevant to my students. I will connect them to each other on a wiki and I will research student Skype connections to schools in the culture we are studying.

    Right now my students are researching the culture, selecting three ideas for a project. Some are selecting the computer as their choice. Each student will get one month, (8 classes) on the computer, minimum. They are quickly becoming bored with the sites they can use and I hope a more personal connection will get them more involved. Kids are social beings.

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  8. My question continues to be this: how can we grade our students on things like blogging when not all of them have computer/internet access? I LOVE the idea... but what do we do for the kids who can't get online? In the past, I used on online forum as an extra credit assignment... but I even felt that wasn't right. Until the day comes when every single person has internet access, I can't expect my students to all participate in such technology.

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  9. Unfortunately I feel the time where everyone has internet access will never come. I don't have internet access at home either. I go to libraries or internet cafe's to do my assignments here. There are public resources that students can use. And what a better way to show that these public domains are important to society, than having students use them? At the very least I believe it is okay for students to have extra credit on the computers.

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  10. This relative lack of resources is a problem for some, though not many, of my students. I also wonder how to best implement some of my ideas if some of the kids are not going to be able to work at home. We have one computer lab with 30 machines and a student body of 700. Any ideas?

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