Entry #3
I came across this New York Times article while looking at a list of websites Todd Fishburn from Seaford has posted. http://www.seaford.k12.de.us/it/west/westap.htm (I was told about his list of sites last year during an inservice, tons of good sites here and they are even organized by content area, technology, etc. Thanks Todd.)
While this article, In the Classroom, Web Logs Are the New Bullentin Boards was written in Aug of 2004, it is still very revelent today, especially for those of us just finding out about blogs.
It begins telling how a second-grade teacher had students use a blog to discuss their field trip to a Native American farm. The teacher stated "It allowed them to interact with their peers more quickly than a journal. . . and it evened the playing field . . .those who were quiet in class usually came alive online."
Second graders BLOGGING! Great! I always felt that students e-mailing each other improved their typing and writing skills, or at least got them writting. (You can't be a good writer without practicing.) I just would not have expected weblogs to be used in this manner with such young students. I guess I was thinking blogs to be a great tool for older students, perhaps middle school but definitely high schoolers. But think about it, students have always had to write to their teachers, but now they can write to their teachers AND THEIR PEERS at once and get feedback from both.
Additionally, "teachers who use blogs say that students put a lot more thought and effort into their blog writting, knowing that parents and others may read their work on the Web." You mean, using technology, that students like to use, produces better quality work from students, sounds like a win-win to me!
However, all good things have negative aspects too. "Critics . . . worry that the casual nature of writing on the Web may encourage bad habits that are hard to break, like e-mail style abbreviations, bad grammar and poor spelling." One teacher's response to this was "Blogging is a different form of writing . . . we are more concerned about the content, not grammar."
Personally, I agree that grammar and spelling are important, but as a math teacher I always focus on content first. Communicating ideas is the purpose of writing, the mechanical stuff can be corrected as we go. That said, I do repeatedly thoughout the school year discuss the acceptable style of writing for various activities. For example, a quick e-mail to me asking about homework, informal style and abbreviations are acceptable; while an extended response on a test, should be more formal like you were writing to your boss at a job you would like to keep.
Some school districts have already, based on this 2004 article, moved to make their schools blog friendly or even require teachers to blog. "The Little Miami School District near Cincinnati plans to require teachers to maintain blogs for their classes once they are trained on the technology, which should be completed sometime in the 2005-6 school year."
I found this school district's website http://www.littlemiamischools.com/ and they seem to have had mixed results. Some of the schools in this district and some of the teachers in these schools are blogging. However, of the ones that I read, the blogs are not interacting with the students, they are more like informational websites and are not always kept up-to-date. I suppose that this school district, like all districts trying out new things, have meet resistance from some of the teachers, not to mention technological difficulties. However, some progress is better than none at all.
As I consider to start a class blog for this coming year, I imagine it beginning as just an informational website, with the interactive pieces being added throughout the year, as I learn more. This article has just reinforced for me that value of have the interactive piece to get students writing to each other for their combined learning experiences.
Current issue: blogging in schools
possible solution: training teachers on this research AND allowing TIME to become familar and comfortable with it
1 comment:
I'm glad you have considered the pros and cons. Enthusiasts often get carried away and don't consider the limitations. And naysayers often are so busy thinking of the horrible things that could wrong that they miss a great opportunity for learning.
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