I will use blogs in my classroom. I will use 21 publish because I was very impressed with the community blog concept. I think technology is highly motivating for students. I polled my own two teenagers to ask them whether or not they would visit a blog for the classroom if it contained interactive projects, extra credit, assignment detail and feedback and the ability to create their own blog within the classroom structure. Both said yes. Maintaining a blog for a classroom would certainly require extra time...however, I suspect that once you had done it for a few classes, then it would be like the material you were teaching, it would be become more familiar and routine and if you kept good records you could simply repeat for consecutive classes. There is so much "fun" stuff available in the form of interactive activities that I think students would find it engaging. It would also give you a chance to receive and give feedback to every student that participated from your classroom, which I think can be difficult given the time and material that needs to be covered, in the course of a one period class.
Rules need to be established for students on proper etiquette...it isn't another facebook, it is an educational tool...an extension of the classroom. I also really like the idea that parents can access and get a feel for what their children are doing and discussing on the topic of your classroom.
I have much more to learn regarding the features on how best to present an interesting and engaging blog page, but I look forward to trying that and I will start with my first student teaching class next fall.
I am happy that I took this course and learned about something I knew relatively nothing about!
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Blog features and how to use them for marketing
One of the things I enjoyed about the blogging experience was learning to use the "gadgets". Setting up the blog is similar to building a website, the difference being that you can easily change the features at any time and with a website I find that more time consuming. Features of blogs allow you to personalize your space with ready made templates, or if your savvy enough you can create your own. You can add links, videos, information about your geographical region, etc. You can personalize it with your own pictures or, as in the case with 21publish, you can let your community members personalize their own spaces.
As far as marketing the blog, I personally would only be marketing to my own students or through another community. The only other reason I might use a blog would be to write about cooking or horse training, my other passions. I don't see for me personally a use outside of my own interests since I'm not attemping to market a product. So to market my blog I would be utilizing information that was considered private so my classroom students and their parents would receive an invitation to join my blog, which would end once their student had fulfilled the class requirements. As far as management for this type of blog, purging the site, once you had a class turnover would minimize excessive clutter.
As far as marketing the blog, I personally would only be marketing to my own students or through another community. The only other reason I might use a blog would be to write about cooking or horse training, my other passions. I don't see for me personally a use outside of my own interests since I'm not attemping to market a product. So to market my blog I would be utilizing information that was considered private so my classroom students and their parents would receive an invitation to join my blog, which would end once their student had fulfilled the class requirements. As far as management for this type of blog, purging the site, once you had a class turnover would minimize excessive clutter.
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Putting the Blog into action in the classroom
Today my purpose was to investigate how I would set up a blog for my classroom, insure I had a safe environment for student access and design some sort of activity for them to get started. I discovered the blogging site for teachers called 21publish.com. At this blogsite you can set up community pages for any type of group. You designate who can access your website either by inviting them through email, or providing them with their own log in information. If you allow the server to run advertising on your blog than you can set up a simple free blogsite for up to 100 community members with 2MB memory for each blogpage. Your page runs in two layers...the first layer consists of the administrators (or teachers) page, posts, news, etc. that only the administrator can post new items on. Members or students can comment on this page for all postings. The second layer allows students to create their own individual blogs which can be useful for them to post their own interesting links, digital portfolios (post on these to follow), or submit projects. Each person in my group should have received an invitation to join my community in the wou.edu email account. If you did not receive this, please let me know! If you are not in my group and would like to be a member please let me know and I will set you up so you can see the site. At this point, it isn't fancy...many of the features are not available with the free membership. But I have posted a link to an interactive math game which you can access and then comment back on. This type of blogspot can be a useful tool in assessing student abilities. It fosters a sense of community because no one student has any advantage over another and all students can participate in a non-intimidating environment. Teachers can post homework, interactive games, extra credit activities, projects and can communicate with parents. Use is restricted solely to the group. Teachers can manage these type of pages easily as once the class has completed, the pages can be deleted in order to make room for your next class. Postings can be archived to keep a record at hand of past activities.
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Blogging in Society
This weekend I spent some time looking around the internet to find out who's blogging and why? My first thought when asked who blogs is the movie "Julia & Julia" where a girl named Julia who loves to cook, cooks her way through Julia Childs cookbook and blogs about it...a great movie! I have a little better understanding now. A blog serves as a home base hub where you can control the content and are in charge of the design. Social networking sites like Facebook and twitter, are used to direct traffic to your blog, which you can use in a variety of ways...sell products or services. But...I am still confused, isn't that a webpage? So maybe blogs are less expensive, or in our case, free. Hmmm.
I could see the use for networking with people who share common interests. You must have consistent, interesting material for posting, otherwise why would anyone be interested in reading it? I happened upon one where a woman was going to diet for 365 days and try 12 different diets in an effort to lose 50 pounds. I read several posts and it was really a personal journal of her dissappointment at not being able to stick with any of the diets. She had been posting for months! I did run across a good website on blogging, how to make money blogging, creating a business around blogging with lots of tips.
http://www.buildabetterblog.com/
I could see the use for networking with people who share common interests. You must have consistent, interesting material for posting, otherwise why would anyone be interested in reading it? I happened upon one where a woman was going to diet for 365 days and try 12 different diets in an effort to lose 50 pounds. I read several posts and it was really a personal journal of her dissappointment at not being able to stick with any of the diets. She had been posting for months! I did run across a good website on blogging, how to make money blogging, creating a business around blogging with lots of tips.
http://www.buildabetterblog.com/
Monday, January 10, 2011
Further Assessment...
Well, I still think to a certain extent, blogging has a familiar facebook ring to it. But after a looking into it a bit more, it got me thinking about how I might use blogging as a tool in a Mathematics class that I will be teaching. And I started to really see the value in it from this perspective. I found a great blog maintained by a Math Instructor named Jamie Tubbs.
http://futureofmath.misterteacher.com/classroom_blogs.html
Many students are to shy to speak up in class and utilizing a blog, as this teacher has done, has allowed through postings, a "one on one" feel for the students and teacher. The teacher could post useful hints, fun websites, interactive games, and the students could ask questions without immediate peer pressure. The teacher could gage where his class was regarding certain topics by their responses. I really like the website and highly recommend it!
http://futureofmath.misterteacher.com/classroom_blogs.html
Many students are to shy to speak up in class and utilizing a blog, as this teacher has done, has allowed through postings, a "one on one" feel for the students and teacher. The teacher could post useful hints, fun websites, interactive games, and the students could ask questions without immediate peer pressure. The teacher could gage where his class was regarding certain topics by their responses. I really like the website and highly recommend it!
Blog Assessment
Hmmm...how to assess this? I'm still trying to figure out exactly what the difference is between a blog, a social networking site, or a members only review posting site. They all seem to have alot in common, in fact isn't the same basis used for each? Okay, a blog is a site where you give out information and then people who are "following" you are allowed to comment. Still sounds like facebook to me. I like networking sites, there just seems to be so many of them. How do you find the one that best suits you? Keeping up with all of them seems impossible. So...to answer this question I am going online to do alittle research and find out what the difference is. More posting to follow :-)
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