In my classroom, where I teach 7th grade social studies, I always post a question that guides my unit. The question is one that I refer my students back to in order to determine if they actually learned anything throughout the lessons. For example, my current question is: How has Ancient Greek culture influenced our lives today? Often, though, this question is addressed in a rush at the end of the period and not explored as fully as it could be. I feel that it is not a good gauge of what all students have learned due to the format in which we reflect right now. Students usually talk for a minute and then share out their answers, but I cannot always tell who is participating actively.
Writing reflections on my unit question is how I would like to introduce blogging to my students. Lisa Zawilinski refers to this type of blog as a "mirror blog" or one that "allows bloggers to reflect on their thinking" (2009, p. 652). In this case, it would be a collaborative reflection that students could continually build on as we learn more.
Don Tapscott at the ASCD annual conference remarked that collaboration is an important characteristic of this generation of students (Varias, 2010). Blogging will allow students to work together to gather their thoughts and analyze the work of the unit, thereby utilizing one of their preferred learning modes. Additionally, the benefit of my planned blog and blogging in general is that is allows students to continue classroom learning all the time. We are definitely not in the agricultural age that David Thronburg describes, but rather, in a time where learning should take place anywhere and anytime (Laureate Education, Inc., 2007). Blogging offers the opportunity for teachers and students to extend the dialogue outside the school day, moving beyond the limits of those pesky bells that ruin so many instructional moments. Furthermore, the blog will allow me to assess more accurately who is participating and understanding the content. I can also look for the whole class' overall understanding and adjust lessons accordingly. The unit will improve due to this reflection, collaboration, and forum for continued learning.
References
Laureate Education Inc. (Executive Producer). (2007). Program Three. The Third Wave. [Motion Picture]. Understanding the Impact of Technology on Education, Work, and Society. Baltimore: Author.
Varias, L. (2010, March 7). Tapscott on changing pedagogy for the net generation. Message posted to ASCD Inservice, archived at http://ascd.typepad.com/blog/2010/03/tapscott.html
Zawilinski, L. (2009, May). HOT blogging: A framework for blogging to promote higher order thinking. The Reading Teacher, 62(8), 650-661.
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9 years ago
Sarah,
ReplyDeleteTo be honest, outside reading is the most successful with my honors students. You are correct, it is challenging to get kids to read outside of school. In our district the kids have to read a book over the summer and then they are assessed on it. Many of my college prep kids did not read, sadly. Last year, when I had a couple of honors classes, they all read 2 novels and had 2 different types of assessments.
I thought I could give the students a month to read a book, and three days a week they would have to blog and post something interesting they learned while reading, or something they were confused about. I would give them some theme-based questions, and I would make sure to stick to the standards of course. I don't have a classroom blog yet, so I am actually not sure how to faciliate it. I would have to monitor it, yes, but how, I don't know yet. Maybe three days a week would be too much, maybe not. I know I would start small; I would take them to the computer lab and model for them.
Roxanne,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the information about your post. I replied back at your blog.