Sure, blogs are a nice for sharing opinions and information, but do they have a place in the classroom. Blogs have entered into every day vocabulary within just the past few years, so the possibilities for utilizing this new technology hasn't been fully explored and utilized. With how easy it is to create and post content onto the internet their are many ways that teachers can get creative and use blogs. The benefits of blogging is that students can interact in a situation where they can build writing skills and have more control of their own learning experience. I teach in a 4th grade classroom and have been considering incorporating blogs. Here are a few ideas that I have come up with for using blogs in the classroom....
Teacher Created Blogs
1. Posting answers to questions- Teachers can post questions in blogs that students can respond to. Once students start to respond they can build off of other responses and really construct their own learning with the help of their classmates.
2. Blogs from history- I thought it would be really fun to create a blog as a historical figure and write to students in the class. The students could then post questions to that figure and interact like they were really sharing a dialogue with someone from the past. Hopefully students would be engaged and want to learn more through this experience.
Student Created Blogs
3. Student Current Event Blogs- Students could each pick or be assigned a topic related to news to blog about each week. An example might be one student is reporting on environmental news while another student reports on news related to the War in Iraq. By reporting weekly, students would do research and be able to share links to news stories and opinions. In turn, students could have the assignment of responding to a select number of blogs which would give students the chance to learn from other students reports.
4. Video blogs- Video content has become so easy to create that it could easily be added into an assignment. By creating video blogs where they share things that they have learned or opinions about things that they are learning they can take that interaction to an even further level. It wouldn't have to stop at students just talking either, it could be a student doing a science experiment on camera and then talking about the results of the experiment. Another idea would be a student showing teaching a skill that they know how to do for other students to see.. an example could be a student teaching how to tie a necktie or do a proper push-up. Students could write the script, produce the video, post the content, and then respond to other video blogs.
Let me know what you think and if you have any other ideas that you would like to share. Until then, keep blogging.
Mr. Henne
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I love your ideas! I think the history blog sound fantastic! You could even rotate the students to research and portray the historical figure themselves! That would really provide some deep learning opportunities.
ReplyDeleteI think another way you could use your blog would be as a discussion forum for science topics and experiments. Student groups could blog (in writing, not just video - although that is an excellent idea!) about their experimental predictions and/or findings. This could also work for literature and text responses.
You could even post math problems on your blog and ask students to post how they solved the problem. Students would have to write about their mathematical thinking. Writing about math seems to be pretty tough for kids, so this might give them some great practice, as well as allow them to see other student process formulations.
Are you in a situation where many of your students have access to computers and the internet at home?
Jason, I really like the idea of posing as a historical figure. I think that's really neat idea! With video blogging...do you think that your county/school is going to allow that? I am not sure that I understand all of the legal issues with students appearing in videos. I remember having to obtain permission of all the students in my student teaching course before I was allowed to videotape a lesson for my professor. I would be a little worried about allowing them to broadcast their videos.
ReplyDeleteGreat ideas Jason, I especially like the courage you are showing in suggesting a video blog...but I think once the students are trained it would be quicker than having them type in their ideas.
ReplyDeletehave you used a Flip video camera before, they are very cheap and come with their own simple plug and play software. My little girls in grade 1 and 3 use it to make some fun videos to send to the grandparents on their own, point, shoot, download, edit, very basic, idiot proof, only 2 buttons on the camera with its own built in usb port.
Another idea a teacher used in English class was having a revolving story, where everystudent went to the next student's blogg to add a paragraph to the story starter. I think a wiki might be better suited to this though.
Julie,
ReplyDeleteThats a great idea about having students do the research and portray the historical figures. I also think it would be really fun to have students be able to ask questions and have the student who created the blog need to continue to research to be able to answer questions. I also think it would be fun for students to take on the role of a historical figure without saying who they are. Then students could ask questions to get more information and make guesses to who that figure is. I liked your ideas for math and science as well. I think you and I are on the same page about using this technology to span the subject matter. For me, it's always about, how can I integrate this subject and working in math and science seems like it is very possible.
Jason
Mrs. Kruger,
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you mentioned permission from parents for posting video content. On our schools website we posted pictures of some of the students doing different activities and obtained permission from parents for students who were in the photos. Since this is still something that is in the idea phase I haven't asked my administration if their would be any stricter guidelines for video over photo. My hope is that parents would see it as a great opportunity for learning, but for those who didn't want their child to be a part of it, I would definitely make alternative and equivalent arrangements.
Jason
James,
ReplyDeleteIt's so funny that you mentioned a Flip video camera, because I have wanted one for several months. I'm an avid video guy with a lot of expensive equipment, but after researching them I think they would be great for quick simple shots like I would want students to use to create a video blog. Also, from what you've said and I've researched the interface for getting footage onto a computer is fairly simple. There have been 3 models the regular Flip video, the Flip Ultra, and the Flip Mino (which can come in HD). The regular Flip is not great quality and the Mino is new and still over $200. You can get an Ultra on ebay for about $80. I think I will get more serious about purchasing one. Hopefully before this class is out I can post a video to my blog to showcase the quality and tell you how easy or difficult it was. So be sure to check back on my page in the upcoming weeks and thanks for your comment.
Jason
Jason, it's Melissa! ;) I went with Mrs. Kruger on my class blog profile and apparently it carries on all my blogs! Could you please send me an email address that you most frequently check so that I can add you to the WikiSpace page that we are creating for Week 3's application. We have sent a few emails through Walden's email, but I know that not everyone uses it! Since you are checking your page just shoot me a line at mlynnkruger@yahoo.com
ReplyDelete