My GAME plan is yielding results when looking at my two goals. Students have become more interactive with their blogs and their classmates as they have grown more familiar with blogger. I love seeing students incorporate pictures in their blogs. Students have changed the backgrounds of their blogs to personalize them. The blogs have become an extension of the classroom and they allow students to show their own creative side which was one of my goals. I have also been able top have discussions through the blogs about what is appropriate to post in discussions, in pictures, and in their personal information sections of the blogs. This ties in directly with my hope to help teach students digital responsibility. Implementing the blogs as weekly assignments for the students has been vital to helping me meet these goals.
One of the biggest things that I have seen that I want to incorporate more is students' love of interaction with their classmates. Students love getting responses to their posts. As the blog assignments have progressed, the more students have gotten comments on posts, the more they write about in their posts. They also have increased their own interaction as they get comments. I want to pull this into the class with more collaboration and group work. They enjoy interacting and feeling a connection with their classmates.
I am still working on different ways to work with the blogs. I do not want the blogs to be limited to a form of online journal. I would love for students to be able to submit projects or papers with their blogs. I need to figure out how I can do this. I also worry that the more students do major assignments on their blogs, the greater risk for plagiarism will occur. My students use turnitin.com, so this can still be a deterrent.
The biggest problem has still been access to computers. I still have around three to five students complain about not having access to blogs on computers and not having time to see me before school because they ride the bus. These students are often late with their blog posts or get discouraged and do not post at all. I am worried about how long it is taking administration to unlock the Web site. I am wondering if I need to be available after school as well for students. The issue is that I am also a coach and basketball will be starting soon which will make this impossible. My plan still needs some minor adjustments. Any ideas?
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Hi Matt,
ReplyDeleteI applaud you and your work with your students on Blogging. Clearly this is an activity that they are likely to engage in as adults, even in their place of employment. Instruction on the technical skills, such as placing pictures, customizing backgrounds, is not only important to the task at hand, it may reveal some new interests and preferences in your students that they had not experienced before. It could lead to interests in different careers that they had not considered before.
In addition, our previous courses in have taught us that writing throughout the middle and high school years helps improves students thinking and literacy skills as they enter into more complex and specialized topic areas. Blogging is writing, and in your assessment of their blog writing, you can make the criteria just as rigorous as if they were writing formal term or research papers if you want. There is the option to be that rigorous even if blogging is perceived to be an informal communication style.
I have a thought about how you might possibly be able to negotiate increasing the availability of computers to your students who have limited access to them at home or after school hours. First, I do recommend that you refer your students to the use of computers at their local public library. Even some community centers have study or technology centers for the use of residents. If you should choose to continue to ask your district to open up computer access, you might try the cost effectiveness or return on investment approaches. For cost effectiveness, it is far less costly for your district to open up access to a computer lab using non-teaching (you) employees, is there a paraprofessional that could be assigned for computer lab supervision rather than you? For the return on investment, engaging students in learning by providing them access to computers to complete their course work will lead to them remaining engaged in and completing their high school graduation requirements. Every student that graduates and does not drop out is a financial benefit to your district.
Keep on with your work to make this available to your students, and best wishes for success.
Matt,
ReplyDeleteIt is very exciting to hear that your adventure into blogging with your students has been mostly a positive, engaging experience. I have aspirations of my own to incorporate blogging into my class with freshman. You have given me many ideas!
You mentioned that the website is blocked- does that mean the students make their blog posts at home? The students who are late with posts- do they not have access to the internet at home?
If they need to make their posts at school, is there another teacher they can stay with after school? However, is that even possible if the site is blocked at school? I want to brainstorm suggestions for helping your students, but I also want to make sure I am going in the right direction.
Inger,
ReplyDeleteI will look into other options, but I do not think the district will like the idea of finding someone to oversee a computer lab after school. This would be the only time that could be possible and I think it would cost money regardless of who the district found. The biggest help to me would be for the district to unblock the blogger Web site.
Linda,
the Web site is currently blocked, however, I got prior approval for the blog assignment with the understanding that the site would be unblocked. Furthermore, my username and password gets around the blocked Web sites. This is helpful for students who cannot complete the work at home. Students have a week to complete the post so they have time to work on it at home. If they do need to access the blogs at school they must have a teacher log them on or they have to come to my class before school to use my classroom computers. There might be another teacher who can help after school. This will have to be something I look into.