Mod 2: Joining the Blogosphere
It has been more than three years since I taught under the Common Core. Syncing back up has been a concern of mine as I rejoin the NYS K-12 TESOL gig. Not only am I jumping back into the Common Core, I am also jumping into early elementary, something I've not done full time before. Kindergarten and first grade are a bit intimidating but I am looking forward to the challenge. One of the things I have always wanted to do with young learners is to blog and Tweet.
Blogging has many benefits. In my opinion, having younger students blog gives them ownership over their learning, something they may not generally have at their level when so much is decided for them. Mrs.Davison is a Kindergarten teacher who is blogging and tweeting with her class. She has some neat ideas about how to use blogs in the classroom. She uses part of her blog to track where visitors are signing on from and has met curriculum goals like geography with her blog. Integrating and using technology as a tool rather than as "grounded technology integration" or simply using technology for the sake of using technology is the purpose of having technology in the classroom.
How would I use blogging in the K-3 classroom? There are two things I would like to try. First I would like to attempt to integrate blogging into a KWL chart, something I already use regularly in my instruction. Instead of having an anchor chart on the wall, students could have their own blog pages to share and track each others learning. They can comment on each others and add things to their own KWL chart. Perhaps they might even find answers to their questions on the web and share that information on their blog or link the website containing the answer to their question.
Performance Indicator - ESL.E.PK-1.1.1.7: Students present information clearly in oral and graphic forms.
Secondly I would like to use a blog to have students share their learning with the wider world/community. Every week a different student would create a blog entry to summarize their learning for the week. Students could choose photos from class, videos, and of course English to explain/showcase what we did in class this week. This could have further extensions into sharing culture with the wider school community, such as posts about family life in the USA, where they come from and why they are here, language exchange etc. The writing would meet the standard indicated below.
Performance Indicator - ESL.E.PK-1.1.1.11:Students express and develop ideas and understanding, using some elements of the "writing process."
While their are many advantages to using a blog in the classroom, I still have concerns. Blogging with students, especially younger students, can pose lots of challenges. Two of my concerns: Are blogs overused in the language classroom? and How do we maintain the authenticity without overusing/over-relying on blogs?
It has been more than three years since I taught under the Common Core. Syncing back up has been a concern of mine as I rejoin the NYS K-12 TESOL gig. Not only am I jumping back into the Common Core, I am also jumping into early elementary, something I've not done full time before. Kindergarten and first grade are a bit intimidating but I am looking forward to the challenge. One of the things I have always wanted to do with young learners is to blog and Tweet.
Blogging has many benefits. In my opinion, having younger students blog gives them ownership over their learning, something they may not generally have at their level when so much is decided for them. Mrs.Davison is a Kindergarten teacher who is blogging and tweeting with her class. She has some neat ideas about how to use blogs in the classroom. She uses part of her blog to track where visitors are signing on from and has met curriculum goals like geography with her blog. Integrating and using technology as a tool rather than as "grounded technology integration" or simply using technology for the sake of using technology is the purpose of having technology in the classroom.
How would I use blogging in the K-3 classroom? There are two things I would like to try. First I would like to attempt to integrate blogging into a KWL chart, something I already use regularly in my instruction. Instead of having an anchor chart on the wall, students could have their own blog pages to share and track each others learning. They can comment on each others and add things to their own KWL chart. Perhaps they might even find answers to their questions on the web and share that information on their blog or link the website containing the answer to their question.
Performance Indicator - ESL.E.PK-1.1.1.7: Students present information clearly in oral and graphic forms.
Secondly I would like to use a blog to have students share their learning with the wider world/community. Every week a different student would create a blog entry to summarize their learning for the week. Students could choose photos from class, videos, and of course English to explain/showcase what we did in class this week. This could have further extensions into sharing culture with the wider school community, such as posts about family life in the USA, where they come from and why they are here, language exchange etc. The writing would meet the standard indicated below.
Performance Indicator - ESL.E.PK-1.1.1.11:Students express and develop ideas and understanding, using some elements of the "writing process."
While their are many advantages to using a blog in the classroom, I still have concerns. Blogging with students, especially younger students, can pose lots of challenges. Two of my concerns: Are blogs overused in the language classroom? and How do we maintain the authenticity without overusing/over-relying on blogs?
One thing to think about as you begin to use blogs is how to teach students how to blog. A nice thing is that many of the in-house systems such as Edmodo or Schoology that school districts are using now contain a blogging feature which are very user-friendly and would allow you to easily show your students how to blog.
ReplyDeleteHow would you go about maintaining authenticity without overusing blogs?
I love how you stated that you would have students share their learning with the wider world/community. I think this is the big picture of the Internet. It can connect to a vast amount of people all around the world. Using this idea and bringing it into the classroom and not only improve student learning, but also allows them to grow more as individuals.
ReplyDeleteMeg, I love how honest you are in your blog posts. I am a Kindergarten teacher and it is a totally different world in our classrooms. But it does not mean that our students cannot use technology! I love the idea of doing a KWL chart in blog form. I am never a fan of them because they are so overused but by doing it in blog form, you engage your students in a completely different way. I have a classroom Instagram account that I allow my students to help me maintain. It's a great way to stay in contact with my parents. (A lot of my parents are very young so I chose this because most of them use it.) Your idea about students being a part of a world wide community is spot on. My students were "penpals" with a soldier in Afghanistan last year. We emailed him and Skyped him once! It was a small task that we did once a month, but it was a great way to teach letter writing skills using technology. I look forward to reading more from you!
ReplyDeleteI am really impressed by all the ways you are able to incorporate technology into your classroom already and not only for your students but also for their parents. You gave me a really good idea about creating a “penpals” activity for my Latin students so thank you!
DeleteUsing a blog for a KWL chart is genius - especially because you are working with such a young group! I also work with kindergartners and I find that the paper and pencil KWL charts are just too much for the youngsters. Their letter formation is not developmentally ready to squish all their words into such a tiny graphic organizer! With your implementation they will be able to say more and get more out of the activity. I love it!
ReplyDeleteHaving a weekly blog summary of what was learned intrigues me as well. I have been really contemplating adding that into my curriculum. Honesty, I think students would enjoy reflecting on other students' weekly posts. It is truly a good way for students to work on creating their own voice in their writing. Not to mention that there is a concern for their quality of writing, as everyone will be reading it! Also, what a great idea to share student culture within the blog!
ReplyDeleteI can’t agree more on the notion that blogging is a great way to share their learning as well as cultures with other communities. Students’ writing could be the most authentic depiction of culture if we really want to have deeper understanding of other cultures. It is this personal and down-to-earth writing of students that can provide us with the insights that no other travel guides that can possibly provide. Such authenticity, as far as I am concerned, can largely attribute to the fact that “everyone can create and every word matters.”
ReplyDelete