6.2: Web 2.0 Technology Blog Assignment

Publish your first post on your blog.

• Summarize your exploration of blogs. 
• Do you feel you will use blogs with your students? If so, how do you plan on using them? If not, why?
• What do you think is the greatest challenge to teachers and districts who want to use blogs with their students?
• Highlight at least one example of how you might use a blog in your classroom and how this lesson/activity will meet one or more of the NETS-S.

Copy and paste the direct link to your Blog here. Make sure your blog is public so that your instructor and classmates may view it. You do not need to allow commenting.

http://gridleyn.blogspot.com/

I’ve read lots of blogs, and have tried to blog in the past. I usually just feel that I don’t have all that much to say! I’m always impressed with all of the fantastic things that are going on in other classrooms and media centers, as described on the blogs of other teachers and media specialists around the country and around the world. When I go to a conference and actually meet a blogger face to face, it is like meeting a celebrity!

At this time, the way I’ve thought to use blogs is by sharing new materials that have arrived in the library, doing “book talks” for new novels and longer books that have arrived to drum up interest in them, and to talk about other events going on in the media center such as author visits, the upcoming Hour of Code that we will be participating in, and things like that. I plan on posting a link to the blog to my media center web site so that it is easily accessible to the students.

My 3^rd grade teachers are using Edmodo this year. One of the three teachers used it last year with a lot of success, so now the whole 3^rd grade team (all three teachers) are using it as part of their ELA program. They have parental permission, and parents have their own log in as well. Students will have assignments and will be blogging both at home and in school. The teacher who used it last year was happy to report that she saw growth in other areas of the curriculum that she didn’t expect to see growth, and I saw a greater increase in technology skills in the students in her class as well.

One of the challenges teachers and districts face is the lack of understanding on the part of the parents. Case in point – in the 3^rd grade teachers’ experience, they held two meetings with parents in the computer lab, hands-on, to show the parents how to log in to the site, and many still had issues (the kids had fewer issues, I’m happy to report). Also, as the homework on Edmodo isn’t “traditional” homework, many parents think it is optional so it doesn’t get done. It is a different way of doing things and some parents are resistant to this change, even though they may say that they agree that we need to embrace the technology and move in that direction. Maybe it is because of the age of their children. I think given time, this won’t be an issue any more. Another challenge will be students who use the technology in an inappropriate way and post things they shouldn’t. With a site such as Edmodo, it is heavily monitored and the teacher has the ability to remove posts. Character Education and Ethics factor into these lessons heavily.

As for using a blog in the library, I do many different research activities with students at all different levels. I could see using a blog to ask students to discuss what they learned by posting the following questions:

What did you learn about …?

Did you learn anything that surprised you?

How do you think learning about this topic will help you?

Comment on at least one other student’s post.

I would also post a rubric in the library about blog posts. This rubric would address what I expect in a blog post and how to attain various grades on their blog posts. For instance, commenting on another student’s post by saying, “I like what you said,” would not give a grade in the highest category. However adding more detail to that sentence by explaining why you liked what that person said would add more weight. This activity would meet the NET-S #2 for Communication and Collaboration: (a.) Interact, collaborate, and publish with peers, experts, or others employing a variety of digital environments and media and (b.) Communicate information and ideas effectively to multiple audiences using a variety of media and formats as well as #5 for Digital Citizenship: (a.) Advocate and practice safe, legal, and responsible use of information and technology, (b.) Exhibit a positive attitude toward using technology that supports collaboration, learning, and productivity, and (c.) Demonstrate personal responsibility for lifelong learning.