The use of blogs could be very beneficial to the communication between students and teachers in a classroom. In my high school math classes (geometry, algebra 2 and algebra 3), blogs could be difficult to integrate into use. One of the main purposes of the blog could be as a form of class communication. The blog is a way to “communicate information about the class and to archive course materials” (Richardson, 2010, p. 21). Students will be able to view all assignments and also can add comments if they have questions about the assignment. Students would also be able to post some assignments to the blog for other students to view (Richardson, 2010, p. 22). Students will be responsible to view a number of other students’ assignments and check their work and suggest what needs to be corrected. Correcting other students work is beneficial and helpful in understanding the material. Parents would also be able to view their children’s work to see the effort they are putting into the assignments. Another advantage of using blogs would be for class discussions. Students who are having difficulty with the material could post questions that other students could answer for them.
The blog would be a great way for the community to get into the classroom. Those in the community would be able to view the blog and also comment. Students and others could benefit from the communication back and forth with each other. Many people in the community argue that schools are not doing what they should to prepare the students for the future. This would enable them to “see” what is going on in the classrooms. Also, students would be more careful in their work when they know that others are viewing their work besides the teacher.
The use of blogs would greatly enhance the lessons. Students would be given the chance to have class discussions that usually do not get enough time during class time. This would also be an advantage for students who are too shy to participate in class. Also, students would be able to “bounce” ideas off of each other. Many times, students can explain topics in a way that other students can understand them easier.
The more I write about using blogs in the classroom, the more motivated I am to start using them. Many students do not put their best effort into their work. If they know that others, including parents and other adults, are viewing it, this might encourage them to work harder in class.
Resources
Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms (3rd ed.).
Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
Hello April, I enjoyed reading your post and I think you are off to a great start. Using your blog for class discussion is a great way for students to help each other with difficult curriculum.
ReplyDeleteOver the years of teaching I have discovered that some students solve thing differently. Not necessarily incorrectly, just not in the "normal way". Rather than dismiss their way of thinking, I find it fascinating to have them teach their method to me. If the practice is sound then we share it with the class. Utilizing Wikis will make this new information available to everyone and may help other students who are struggling with a similar problem.
It will be important to monitor for misinformation as well in order to prevent students from posting erroneous information. I believe teachers will have to really teach students how to the Wikis correctly. Not as a social network, but as an educational learning community.
I look forward to revisiting your blog to see how you are progressing.
Best of luck,
Robert Packwood
I think that the use of technology in class for math is a great idea. I also like the way that you have things laid out as to how students will use the blogs, and how they will correct other student work. I wonder how this will work for math. Is there specific software maybe that can be used, or added to a wikispace that students can access to help edit other work? Having high school students probably makes it easier to create these blogs and assign work. I would assign a blog manager to help monitor blog postings. By assigning roles to students who may be more proficient in math they can help assure the accuracy of these corrections that they are having to make. I really like the way you have things organized for the classroom blogs. I can't wait to hear how it develops.
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