A quick introduction of myself: my name is A.J. and I am the adviser of my
school’s daily news broadcast: Wave TV.
My students direct and produce the show for our student body of about
2800 and then post it to the internet for the community. My course is considered a CATE class (Career
and Technology Education) and the class is called Media Technology 1 and
2. I am sure you can imagine the huge
impact technology has in my classroom.
Keeping the large amount of technology I already use, I am
nervous to incorporate a blog into my classroom for my students. We are already using Google Docs and Google Drive
to share information through my program.
I know it would be easy for my students to use their Gmail accounts to
start a Blogspot, but I am not completely sure of the impact it would make in
my classroom. My students do not have
any issue communicating using social media and email. I use the Remind101 text
program to give my students announcements and reminders. All of these items are easily attainable from
a smart phone. The only reason I would
possibly consider using a blog in my class is to eliminate all paper from my
classroom; for example, my students could complete their package outlines using
Google Docs and then they can post their personal evaluations and reflections
to their blog instead of the paper form we currently use. Moreover, our show uses Twitter and Facebook
as our main place to post updates and links to our shows. We post our actual shows on Schooltube. Creating a blog for the show would be
overkill. What do you think? We are using technology that is new and
progressive and I am unsure if a blog would impact student learning. Many of my students have a Tumblr, but it is
not designated as “school appropriate” at the moment.
At the moment, I would like to use the blog to communicate
to other CATE teachers . This would mean
that students would not use the blog to communicate with each other (as I
explained above.) Teachers would be able
to share ideas and post examples of student work. I am currently a member of a listserv where I
experience something similar via email.
Therefore, if I use this blog as a place to post about my experiences in
my classroom and ask for suggestions and comments it would still impact student
learning. Mainly because the sole source
of information about new technology and equipment comes from other teachers in
the area. I would still be able to
showcase their work by posting links and pictures of what is going on in the
classroom.
I really like the idea of initially using a blog to communicate with colleagues. I think we all could use a place to share ideas and learn from each other. A lot of my lessons have started as an idea that I got from another teacher. They may do something that I like in their class, and I modify it to make it my own and make it fit into my classroom. So I definitely agree that this type of use for your blog will impact student learning, even if the students do not have a direct hand in the blog. Great idea!!!
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree that a blog would be a great way to communicate with colleagues! At our school we use the Google Docs to share our ideas and communicate a lot through emails, but a blog I feel would be better because it would not fill the inbox on email! It would also be a great way for educators to reflect on the professional development meetings or factually meetings that took place. It is great to have blogs and email now because we can communicate and share our thoughts at eleven at night instead of waiting until the next morning!
ReplyDeleteHappy Blogging!
My third try to comment. You may be wondering what I am trying to say and it is this - blogging is such a new experience for me the simple action of replying is a challenge. Evidently I am not familiar with such a simple function. Anyway, I am committed to learning this new process. The ideas are great and I will persevere and become competent. Keep those ideas coming and I will be blogging fluently in no time.....
ReplyDeleteI really like your idea if using a blog for colleagues to post ideas and such. It could be something between Pinterest and a listserv. I also think the RSS feeder would make it easier for the teachers to see if something is new and could subscribe to more than one blog. The biggest challenge is that initial learning curve but soon everyone could be soaring. Thank you for such great ideas!!
ReplyDelete