Edubloggers and Blogging

What I was surprised the most with (but perhaps I should have expected) was the discussion about using blogs in the classroom. I mean, these are bloggers were talking about so obviously they're pro blogs, I just wasn't anticipating the large discussion that was taking place regarding the use of blogs in the classroom.

What I read I tended to agree with. I had already begun to think about the use of blogs (for all types of classrooms but specifically my future English classes) on a regular basis in the classrooms. My mentor teacher has asked me to begin to think about how we can utilize technology in a traditional English classroom next semester (I'll be teaching a women's lit course.) One of the first things that came to mind was using blogs.

I've just been thinking about how I can motivate my students to write, and I know it's not going to happen if they're just writing essays to me throughout the semester. I was thinking about how excited my journalism students get simply because their creations are being shared with their classrooms and the world. How can I incorporate this into a traditional English classroom? Blogs! And it appears I'm not the only one.

Some of the things that have been discussed include making sure that blogging is done on a regular basis, and using blogging as a gateway to understanding other types of technology.

Of course it's important to make sure that blogs are utilized on a regular basis. If they're only used sporadically throughout the semester students won't see the value in them, or feel as large of a sense of ownership over their blog as they would if they posted every week. The second item of discussion, using blogs as a gateway for understanding other technological tools, is something I had honestly not thought of. I guess I don't consider myself technologically savvy and I don't always consider all of the possibilities. But really, teaching students how to post links, photos, and videos can add a whole new dimension to their blogs. Instead of just writing, they can add other elements to demonstrate their knowledge of a concept which allows for differentiated instruction.

Hopefully this helps spark another conversation about how to get students to take ownership of their work and how integrated we want technology to be in our classroom!

Tech in my Placement Survey

Earlier this semester we were asked to look into the technology available at our placement schools. Perhaps it was because my mentor teacher is extremely tech savvy and likes to integrate technology in the class as much as possible, but I was unsurprised by the results. Well, I was surprised about one question in particular but I’ll talk about that in a little bit.

As a Journalism class (one block focusing on print and one block focusing on the web-based newspaper) we spend a lot of time using technology. Students spend the majority of the class on brand new Mac computers, editing using InDesign and other tools I’m not quite familiar with. The students use cameras, video cameras, and recording devices (cellphones or iPods) to add auditory elements to their articles and so that they can record their interviews. Needless to say technology is a huge part of our class, all of these tools are available to us every class period. Students can also rent or checkout cameras from my mentor teacher for use when they’re not in class.

However (there’s always a however) the majority of these resources aren’t available to students when they’re not in class. The computer lab is locked at all times (teachers are the only ones able to unlock it) so students don’t have access to printing or working on the computer during their free times. The aspect that I was surprised about was actually brought to my attention by some of the students and I mentioned this on the tech tools in use survey, the library at the school is not “open” during hours that the students feel would be most beneficial to them. I’m not as familiar as I should be with the structure and hours of the library but if the students have felt the change in its availability then I must tend to agree.

Overall, completing this tech survey was useful. I do wish that I could have heard from classmates in other schools to see what the availability was, how much they use technology, and how they think they could implement it. It would have been interesting comparing our different experiences.