The potential for my classroom’s blog is virtually endless. I teach seventh grade science at the largest middle school in our district. The seventh grade is divided up into three different teams with around one hundred students per team. One aspect of my blog will be related to content information. This is place to post extra material that re-enforces content, videos from classroom lectures or student presentations, and a place for students to comment on each other’s ideas. I would incorporate online journal prompts that connect to the current content we are studying. This way, students get to practice their writing skills in an online environment. They can then read and comment on fellow students entries and create a great discussion centered on the content they are studying. The blog would also help students who are out sick. They could access the blog from home and get caught up on the content and assignments they missed.
My classroom blog is a great place to post student work. This way the student’s parents, relatives, and friends from other schools could see their work. By posting student work on the blog my hope is that it encourages parents to frequent the blog. The more parents visit the classroom blog the better. The blog will also keep them up to date with what is going on in the classroom. This blog would allow student’s to show off their accomplishments, that otherwise no one would see besides their fellow classmates. By posting student work it allows students to demonstrate the knowledge they are learning in science. Currently my students are finishing up our cells unit. Students have been studying all the organelles that make up plant and animal cells. My advanced students were assigned a cell project. Students chose between two options: create a 3D cell model or a cell analogy poster for either an animal or plant cell. Posted below are two examples of the 3D cell model option, which happened to be editable.
Students did such an excellent job but only the other member of the class got to see their projects. By posting the pictures on the blog, student’s work is seen by a much bigger audience. Other science teachers may come across my blog and give their comments or advice on how to improve the project. My blog could also be used to communicate with fellow science teachers. We could share ideas and critique each other’s ideas and lessons.
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ReplyDeleteI really like the projects that are posted. Posting student work is also a great way for parents to see previous student's work, so they know what the teacher is looking for. Sometimes when my chilren bring home projects it is not always clear what they should be doing (I'm having to listen to my children say what the teacher wants). If parents have a blog to look at different projects others have completed and read the teacher's directions then they would have a better idea of what is expected.
ReplyDeleteOne challenge may be with the lower level students not understanding how to blog and post their work. One could always place students in pairs to help out, such as, placing a lower level student with a higher level student.
I agree with Dr. Thornburg (2010) when he stated that the Internet has opened up new doors for us. Blogging is a great way to take advantage of the technology offered to us.
Thornburg. D. (2010). Technology and Society. [Video] Laureate Education.
I really like the idea of posting work that is not on a piece of paper. Having students create projects is more like the real world, and involves higher-level thinking. I wonder about privacy and the parent’s view on posting their child’s name online. Have you had any experience with that?
ReplyDeleteI was also thinking of posting something for those students who were gone or need to hear or see something again. I can see students needing help with a problem at home and being able to go to the blog and be able to view a flipchart or video of how to do something.
I also like how students can see what other students are doing and thinking, which I would imagine would promote creativity within the classes. Dr. Thornburg talks about the age of “Creativity” coming next, after the “Communication Age” (Laureate Education, Inc., 2008).
Emily Million
Resources:
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2008). Program three: The third wave. [DVD]. In Walden University: Understanding the Impact of Technology on Education, Work and Society. Baltimore: Author.