Video conference with Bernie’s class
I had the pleasure of participating in a video conference with Bernie Dodge’s EDTEC 700: Blogging in the Classroom this past Saturday morning. There are links to the student blogs on the class blog. This class was part of a Saturday Seminars for Teaching with Technology.Now wouldn’t that be a fun class to teach. Here’s his syllabus for Motivating Student Writing with Weblogs. I like the way he has structured the class and I really enjoyed talking with the teachers in the class. Bernie posted my links that I shared with the class. Here are some of the ideas I shared with them:
- Weblogs are not like regular school websites. It’s a different tool full of a multitude of possibilities. It takes time to wrap around it. Blogs can be unique learning spaces. I shared the different student blog projects I had done over the past couple of years.
- Weblogs are a way to make writing THE focus. Time constraints and our current focus on skill learning for tests is throwing writing out the window in schools. We have to make it a priority.
- Weblogs are also places for teachers to write and model the process for students. It shows students we value writing.
- It’s interactive. This interactivity will not just happen. Teacher needs to set the stage and make it happen.
- Run a parallel blog with your students. Open communication, discuss the writing together, share what is hard for you, and help each other. It’s a great place to teach students the importance of dialogue.
- Having older students mentor younger students can be a great learning experience. I shared The Georgia-NJ Connection.
- Gives kids a voice. Nurture the dialog and make time for reflection.
- It is the best in-service going for teachers. I have learned more in this arena than in many of previous school in-services.
- Discussedthe use of literature circles with a Georgia State group of preservice teachers. You can have group blogs, one individual blog, a class blog or any other combination you can come up with.
- Start small, take one piece of your curriculum and do it on a weblog. For example, focus on one standard.
- Have kids summarize the day’s learning in your classroom. This is a great window for parents to see what is going on in your classroom.
- Recognize and honor student work. Celebrate it and write about it.
- If you only have one computer in a classroom, make it into a learning center and have students take turns posting.
- Put a disclaimer on your blog if your are working with students like ESL who are just learning the language. This lets our audience know that these students are learning and we want to honor their efforts and know that it may not be perfect in the beginning but that is OK.
- Post poems, photos, pictures and get the students to write. Give them ownership.
To sum it up, Bernie asked a tough question. What did I think weblogs would evolve to? I said it was impossible to imagine but right now they were opening up doors for us in the classroom so we can communicate and write effectively for others. It’s a place to learn and a place to be heard. It is a stepping stone full of all sorts of possibilities. It blows my mind but my hope is that it will make us a more global community. We need to be a responsible nation, get dialogue going and see the importance of building extended learning communities.
—–