I am new to blogging and before this week was a little unsure about the usefulness of blogging in the classroom. I have used wikispaces with my students and have found that it is a powerful tool for collaboration, communication, and organization. While I have used wikispaces, I didn’t understand the difference between wikis and blogs. According to the Memphis Public Library a blog is a flow of information while a wiki is a place to stock information or to use an educational analogy “a blog replaces the bulletin board” and a wiki “replaces the binder-manuals”. Now that I have a better understanding of how blogs are organized and how the differ from wikispaces, I am excited to explore them with my 7th grade students.
This year I would like to set up a classroom blog with the primary goal of increasing communication with parents. Currently I send home a weekly newsletter where I provide an overview of the schedule for the upcoming week and communicate important events/activities happening within the classroom and/or school. Within this newsletter there is also a place for students to write to their parents about what has happened in school that week. While I would still provide hardcopies of this newsletter to students, I could also publish important information on our classroom blog. While access to technology is limited within our school, I do have 3 computers in my classroom for students to use. Each week 2-3 students could be responsible for participating in this blog. Students would know at the beginning of the week that they will be responsible for collecting information/evidence (pictures, videos) of what is happening that week. At the end of the week students would then post a summary of important events/activities. I would set up the blog so that all comments would be moderated. This would allow me the opportunity to collect feedback from parents and answer questions in a timely manner.
I would also like to create a classroom blog in which students are responsible for responding to discussion questions based on literature read within the classroom. Each year my students participate in literature circles where they are responsible for sharing ideas and new understandings with a small group. While the ability to discuss critical content is important for students to master, it is often difficult for me to facilitate multiple groups. It would be interesting to incorporate technology within these lessons by having 2-3 groups discussing the novel face to face while 2-3 groups participate in online discussions. During each novel, groups typically meet 4-5 times so therefore each group would have the opportunity to participate in 2 face to face discussions and 2 online discussions. This would allow me to better facilitate discussions and to quickly identify individual misconceptions based upon blog responses.
I teach in a school with a diverse population. Writing is a skill that many of my lower level learners struggle with and I often find it difficult to adequately assess what they know due to their individual writing abilities. While some blog entries would require students to respond in writing, blog entries could also contain pictures, podcasts, and videos to demonstrate understanding.
Memphis Public Library
Article: What is the difference between a blog and a wiki?
I like your blog idea to promote parent communication, I always say the more communication with parents the better. When I am reading these ideas I picture myself incorporating them into my classroom practices. When considering this parent communication blog I had one concern. Each year I seem to have one parent that is very involved and can at times be over the top with concerns, I think as teachers we all have had this type of parent at some point. This parent posting their comments freely on the blog can generate great discussions or ask good questions, however it could also create some issues when misunderstandings come about, and then leave confusion for other parents. This being closely moderated would help prevent this, but could be difficult to do. What are your thoughts?
ReplyDeleteThe literature circle idea was brilliant. I have the same trouble getting to meet with all of my groups and this is such an excellent way to keep them on track and check for comprehension. Just a few questions, would these blog entries be submitted by the group or individually? Would they be responding to a question you posted and to each other’s responses? To make sure the students are thinking of their original answers on their own and not just copying other group’s response certain requirements would need to be set, such as cited work, direct quotations from their readings and new ideas that were not mentioned in previous posts.
Lisa Gonzalez
I really like the idea of creating the blog for parent communication. The whole time I was thinking about how to incorporate a blog into the classroom to increase their communication, I never really thought about it being able to increase parent communication. When I initially read about parent communication, I thought about how some parents can be. Though it is nice to have something in writing, just like with emails, writing does not express tone and attitude. Therefore, it is important to keep things to a minimum. Use the blog for a homework update or simple questions and answer. If there is anything that involves a specific student, a phone call would probably be best.
ReplyDeleteYou mentioned you wanted to also create a classroom blog. I was wondering if this would be a separate blog or how you would incorporate that. I would imaging they would have to be separate blogs. Like Lisa expressed, I also talked about the need for students to use original responses. This is something that would have to be discussed in class. When using technology there are much more rules and expectations the students need to be aware of.
-Jason Gunderman
Hey Katie, I too really enjoy reading your idea about using your blog to communicate with parents. My thought is to use it for communicating primarily with my current and former students. I'd like to have others share ideas too, but I am a little worried about parent involvement with posts. Both Lisa and Jason were thinking about the same issues. Maybe on our Wiki we should create a proactive form to reduce the likelihood of such problems, should they occur. We could title it something like the Parent Blog Information, Instruction, Use, and Agreement Sheet.
ReplyDeleteDuring my school's last WASC visit, the team identified our school's main "area for improvement" to be with parent communication, especially with the parents of our Second Language Learners. This idea of yours could really helps us in this area, but not only will all of our staff need training, but so will our families. This is really a great idea for "going green" too! At our "Back to School Night" we could have a short presentation about the use of our blog sites and then have our parents sign up for that method of receiving information rather than by hard copy.
Fred Aspan-Martin
Thank you all for commenting on my latest posting. You all have excellent questions and ideas for how to incorporate blogging into the classroom. In terms of using a blog for parent communication I think I would definitely filter the comments and only post those that would apply to the larger group. I agree that there are some parents who have a tendency to be overly involved and without some moderation my see this as a personal platform for them to discuss issues that may not be relevant to the larger audience.
ReplyDeleteFor the literature circle I would have students post individual responses to questions I generated then pose two questions they had that will be answered by their peers.
Thanks again for your comments, you have definitely given me some things to think about!
Hi Katie!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed you article, especially the quick difference between wikis and blogs. Sometimes I get really intimidated until a good analogy is given, and then I feel like the vilage idiot. I like your intent to use the blog as a sort of bulletin board for the parents as opposed to using a weekly newsletter. I have tried to do that, and if I offer a hint, it would be to start off slowly, keeping in mind that many households do not have Internet access. I wound up doing both for a period of time, and after half of the school year, I sent a paper home that the parent needed to request paper copies of what was available on the website. It was an eye-opening experience to find so many households either without Internet, or perhaps too lazy to get on the computer and read. It is smart of you to look into the future and recognize that you would still have to provide the paper newsletter.
Thanks for the ideas, and best of luck with the initial set-up.
Todd Deschaine