Reflection on the Blogging Unit
Reflection Question: Incorporating reflective writing into curriculum can help students develop an awareness of metacognition. What value is there in having students blog on a regular basis? How can you have students develop a blog to be used as an electronic portfolio?
There would be tremendous value in having students blog on a regular basis. Our readings for this week in Tech 1 have emphasized how blogging, since it is publicly posted and potentially readable by anyone on the web, makes each piece of student writing authentic and potentially useful to the entire blogging community. What an opportunity for students to feel they are making a real impact on others in their immediate school community and in the world!
Writing portfolios have been in vogue in school for over two decades with good reason. Collecting student writing and asking them to reflect on their progress and growth over a period of time is a natural extension of the writing process. With Web 2.0 making this possible in digital form just opens up new and thrilling possibilities for each student's portfolio work. Assignments to brainstorm, compose, organize, research, outline, give feedback, revise, revise again and publish are all easily executed and supervised in a classroom blog form.
Typical writing projects on the blogs may include: an introductory post where the student introduces herself to me and the class, including her interests, family, pets, places she's lived, hopes, dreams, plans, activities, clubs, sports, favorite music, media, etc. (Giving students the option to reply to the teacher in a private email could be an option for those who want privacy.) Another post can include a reflection on what kind of student each child believes herself to be, her academic goals for the year and how she plans to achieve them and what helps/supports her as a students and what gets in the way or hinders her learning. These two assignments can give the teacher a wealth of information, not only about the students as people, but as writers. I have used these kinds of assignments to diagnose what are the most common errors students are making (run-on sentences, fragments are usual freshman mistakes) and what I need to address over the course of the year.
Asking students to comment on each other's work can teach the class the valuable skills of constructive and diplomatic criticism (with much modeling before we start and much supervision as we go on!) and also build a supportive community.
Having blogged for over ten years, I can tell you there is nothing like the thrill of having a post syndicated or linked to from a major site (I know "to from" is a weird combination of prepositions, but that's the weird Web 2.0 language that we find ourselves using!) or getting a comment from an author you admire or seeing in your comments that something you have written has moved or inspired other people. I would love to share my excitement for blogging with my students!
In response to the assignments this week, I have started two new blogs in addition to this one for our Tech 1 assignments and reflections: one to document and store ideas for activities and assignments such as the Niles North Freshmen English teachers have used in their classrooms, the other to research a potential site (Edublogs) that I may use for students to create a classroom blog roll. My first priority is finding a platform that maximizes the safety and supervision of the students and minimizes exposure to distracting commercialism - I believe Edublogs accomplishes both of these goals.
There would be tremendous value in having students blog on a regular basis. Our readings for this week in Tech 1 have emphasized how blogging, since it is publicly posted and potentially readable by anyone on the web, makes each piece of student writing authentic and potentially useful to the entire blogging community. What an opportunity for students to feel they are making a real impact on others in their immediate school community and in the world!
Writing portfolios have been in vogue in school for over two decades with good reason. Collecting student writing and asking them to reflect on their progress and growth over a period of time is a natural extension of the writing process. With Web 2.0 making this possible in digital form just opens up new and thrilling possibilities for each student's portfolio work. Assignments to brainstorm, compose, organize, research, outline, give feedback, revise, revise again and publish are all easily executed and supervised in a classroom blog form.
Typical writing projects on the blogs may include: an introductory post where the student introduces herself to me and the class, including her interests, family, pets, places she's lived, hopes, dreams, plans, activities, clubs, sports, favorite music, media, etc. (Giving students the option to reply to the teacher in a private email could be an option for those who want privacy.) Another post can include a reflection on what kind of student each child believes herself to be, her academic goals for the year and how she plans to achieve them and what helps/supports her as a students and what gets in the way or hinders her learning. These two assignments can give the teacher a wealth of information, not only about the students as people, but as writers. I have used these kinds of assignments to diagnose what are the most common errors students are making (run-on sentences, fragments are usual freshman mistakes) and what I need to address over the course of the year.
Asking students to comment on each other's work can teach the class the valuable skills of constructive and diplomatic criticism (with much modeling before we start and much supervision as we go on!) and also build a supportive community.
Having blogged for over ten years, I can tell you there is nothing like the thrill of having a post syndicated or linked to from a major site (I know "to from" is a weird combination of prepositions, but that's the weird Web 2.0 language that we find ourselves using!) or getting a comment from an author you admire or seeing in your comments that something you have written has moved or inspired other people. I would love to share my excitement for blogging with my students!
In response to the assignments this week, I have started two new blogs in addition to this one for our Tech 1 assignments and reflections: one to document and store ideas for activities and assignments such as the Niles North Freshmen English teachers have used in their classrooms, the other to research a potential site (Edublogs) that I may use for students to create a classroom blog roll. My first priority is finding a platform that maximizes the safety and supervision of the students and minimizes exposure to distracting commercialism - I believe Edublogs accomplishes both of these goals.
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