Richardson Chapter 2
This chapter looks at using blogs with your curriculum. Talk about your thoughts about what the chapter says and add any personal application ideas - how do you envision blogs assisting you or the teachers that you work with. Last semester I had a high school English teacher in one of my classes who used a couple of blogs to carry on the discussion from three books that her senior class was reading (they had a choice of books so how do you carry a class discussion on three books? - a blog was a great solution). She had a lot a positive things to say about the experience - the students said things that they might have been afraid to say out loud in class, but felt safe saying on the blog...but it brought up other issues she hadn't thought of...like how much should the teacher direct the conversation? Should the teacher totally stay out or add her comments? There are many other ideas to consider when you bring blogs into your curriculum, Richardson talks about a lot of them in this chapter...but if something some up that isn't mentioned, bring it up in your comments...
posted by Terry @ 11:00 AM
2 comments
2 Comments:
Chapter 2
The realist in me is very difficult to persuade, especially when change is involved (does that make me a realist or just thick-headed? no comment). After reading the first chapter I was not convinced that I should whole heartedly embrace the Read/Write Web and use blogs and wikis and podcasts (oh,my!) in our curriculum. I still have issue with equal access because I know not all of our students have access to a computer. However, after reading the second chapter I am ready to accept the usefulness of blogs in education.
The chapter began with me asking for proof that the use of blogs teach students to “read more critically, think about that reading more analytically, and write more clearly” (21). Being a former English teacher I know helping students become proficient in these skills is a difficult task. With each subsection of the chapter the author built his evidence like a defense attorney leading up to the final argument, in this case, how the use of blogs can teach the standards, both Language Arts and Information Literacy. And as members of the teacher-jury we know that critical thinking skills are a must in order to be information literate. And if blogs help students achieve this then they might be an excellent tool to enrich any school’s curriculum.
What I found most significant and useful in the chapter was the distinction between writing and blogging and the tips on how to use blogs in the classroom as well as how to use them as resources. I think using a blog to create lit circles or an online book club are two great ideas. What an amazing learning experience those students were given when allowed to converse via the web with author Sue Monk Kid….So, do you think J.K Rowling would be up for something like that? If so, I’m one jury member who is more than ready to acquit!
Wow! meaty and useful chapter. I'll add to other's comments at this point instead of repeating my brilliant fellow students. Personally, I'm now considering keeping a blog for myself - not for others' use but just to keep my info on line and accessable from any computer. Also, I'm going to give my (almost) 6 year old a blog so that she can have an on-line portfolio. She enjoys writing and using computers - so why not!? Richards's son did it too! I am her library media teacher anyway... and I will be able to use her blogs as a tool to show my teachers what blogs can do for the little ones.
Professionally- I am excited to use blogging addresses linked to our school website (teacher's pages) instead of being the only one on campus to be able to change our site's content. Many teachers at my school are ready to communicate with families and studets via the web and blogging. As for the concern my freinds have about equal acess to computers... all of our students have equal access to computers while they are at school, but not necessarily at home - so assignments ought to be adjusted accordingly.
I have already experiemented with wikis with one fifth grade class and it was potentially great! My suggestion is that you need to get the classroom teachers' buy-in since you can't always be there for the blogging/wiki process. For the whole community of blogging to be successful it aught to be done often, and with so much on the LMT's teaching plate already, we need to teach our teachers how this whole thing works so they can contiunually work on blogs in and around class topics.
I'm including some links Mr. Richardson included in this chapter, so I won't forget them (!!) but also to remind us that bolgs have links to other related sites in them which creates a more global/community feel to a blog.
Tim Wilson's blog http://technosavvy.org/
Meredith's page
http://central.hcrhs.k12.nj.us/mf069
Anne Davis
http://anne.teachesme.com/
The write weblog (5th graders)
http://itc.blogs.com/thewriteweblog/2004/11/who_says_elemen.html
How to evaluate by Tom Hoffman
http://www.eschoolnews.com/eti/2005/06/000877.php
Standards
http://www.ncte.org/about/over/standards/110846.htm
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