If I was to use a blog in my classroom, I would most likely have the students look at the blog to ask and answer questions that they may have. This way if a student doesn't understand something during class, they can go blog with friends or ask a question that someone can give them an answer to. I think that this would be like "studying" for some because the student can sit and go over information with others while sitting at home. I would try to post the homework assignments also so I will not hear the excuse of I didn't know what the assignment was.
Also, I would try to put some of the students' work on the blog as well. When a student shows improvement or just does well on an assignment, it would be nice for them to see their work on the site where everyone could look at it. Of course I would ask the student if I could put their work on there before I actually did it. "As you get more settled into the rhythm of posting, begin to write more in depth about what you are reading, drawing on your own personal experiences and reflections." (Richardson, 2006) 12th grade math is not liked by many students, but when the class is made easy for both the student and the teacher, I have a feeling that students will give me less gripe and aggravation. I think a blog is great because it allows students to interact with each other as well as learn the material that they need to.
Richardson, W. (2006). Blogs, wiks, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
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I am new to blogging as well. I think that your ideas to use blogs in the classroom are great. Like me, I think you are probably only scratching the surface of what blogs can be used for. Using the blog for homework assignments to stop the excuses is an excellent idea, however, I was wondering how you were going to set up your blog so that students could have immediate question/answer sessions. I plan to set up my blog where comments have to approved by the teacher. Is there a way to monitor student comments and allow them to have an open forum.
ReplyDeleteI teach math as well and it sounds as if we are thinking alike of how we would start up our weblog. As a suggestion, you could always upload examples as well for students to look at while doing homework. This would open up the opportunity for them to try and use their resources to figure a problem out themselves as well. But I love the fact that students can help students on these weblog pages. Also, the fact that you would put student work on the page too, would hopefully push those students who aren’t trying so hard to try harder in order to get a chance to have their work on the page for everyone to see.
ReplyDeleteI forgot to post a challenge...
ReplyDeleteWhat happens if a student is struggling on homework one evening and the student poses a question and does not get a respond back? Will you penalize the student the next day in the classroom or will you allow them to ask their question in class? Also, what if the student doesn’t have access to your blog from home to get extra help? You could always copy the work you are posting on the internet and give them a hard copy to take home with them.
Emily, I like your idea about sending the student home with a hard copy since they might not have access to the blog at home. As far as a student struggling and not getting a response back, I guess the circumstances would be different at each student will be handled at their own level. This is all new to me and I will have to investigate more if I want to use it.
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