EduBlog Insights

The Wikipedia definition of pedagogy is the art or science of teaching. Pedagogy is also sometimes referred to as the correct use of teaching strategies. I also found these definitions of pedagogy on the web. There are several at this link.

This one resonates with me:

The strategies, techniques, and approaches that teachers can use to facilitate learning.

I particularly like this definition. Facilitating learning is our job. As I have been exploring the world of blogs over the past four years, I believe that my strategies, techniques, and approaches have improved due to the very nature of blogs. I’ve tried to capture the right word for these “pieces” of blogging that enable us to improve our instruction, techniques and strategies in ways that are not possible without the tool. In a way it’s like a new approach to learning that has been given to those of us who teach. I’ve called these pieces components, attributes, aspects, traits, elements. None seem to fit perfectly but I think attributes comes closest.

These attributes foster the promise of good pedagogy. Blogs are unique in the ways they offer teachers incredible possibilities to build on the pedagogy

For instance, blogs can provide an opportunity to change our writing instruction to make it more meaningful and relevant for our students. Many times our classroom assignments are assignments where students reiterate or restate information they have read with an occasional opinion. Generally just the teacher will see the paper. Blogging lets many more become engaged. Blogging can be a place where we can make connections and dig deeper into how and what we are learning, both student and teacher. Sharing these thoughts and discoveries with others builds networks of learning that can cross continents. We get to toss our ideas out, have reactions to them, receive suggestions to build upon them and many more become involved in the process. It becomes more personalized and certainly more meaningful. Students are creating meanings that make sense to them because they are constructing them, not having pieces delivered to them that they just repeat.

Blogging has helped me view each of my students as constructors of knowledge who need frequent opportunities to be involved in the process of creating meaning. Blogs can be short, quick writes that give them the practice they need to learn from putting their thoughts down and then engaging in the dialogue about the process, both online and in the classroom…

So on to the attributes of blogging that show promise for developing our pedagogies in whatever content area we teach:

Audience & Comments Having a worldwide audience who can read what students write brings forth recognition for students that can be quite profound. Students are used to the teacher being the only audience for their work. The realization that others think that what they have to say is important is empowering. They are amazed. I recall one student whose highlight for the year was having a high school student say that his writing made a difference. In another scenario I had a group of elementary students who were concerned that their writing would not be good enough for a group of high school students who were reading their blogs. It’s not that they didn’t want to try but what was important to them is that their writing be good in the eyes of their audience. We cannot create that with an audience of one.

Voice – Blogging can give students a totally new perspective on the meaning of voice. They can explore their own learning and thinking and their distinctive voices emerge. Student voices are essential to the conversations we need to have about learning. Blogs give students a place for that voice to be heard by many. Many students that would be hesitant to speak in a classroom will share their ideas on a blog.

Conversations & Dialogue - The dialogue that goes on in our classrooms about our learning through blogging is the key to getting conversations and then postings that promote critical thought by students. Here the teacher is the catalyst for helping develop an atmosphere that encourages and respects the learner and their ideas. Ideas have to be nurtured, explored and discussed. Blogs put us on a learning path together with our students where we can shape new learning environments for the future. Blogs also offer incredible opportunities for dialogue and the social construction of meaning.

Ownership & Choices – Blogs help lead us away from students from seeking to find what the teacher wants in terms of an answer. Students feel more compelled to write when they believe many others may read and respond. They want to do better. Giving students a choice in making their own connections about their learning on blogs paves the way for blogs to be constructivist tools for learning. These attributes are compelling and powerful motivators that help us shape the pedagogy.

Archives – Having records of the learning that is ongoing facilitates learning and evaluation in a much easier and efficient matter. One student put it to me that he could easily find his thoughts on a matter and he could see how his thinking had changed and why. This lets us approach evaluation in reflective ways.

So in closing I’d like to share one of my previous posts that speaks to pedagogy and is my vision of one way blogging could really make a difference.

Picture tomorrow’s schools…

My day began by reading this quote…..

“Write daily for 15 to 30 minutes. Many scholars believe that writing requires big blocks of time. They’re wrong. Research shows that scholars who write daily publish far more than those who write in big blocks of time. The problem with big blocks of time is that they’re hard to find. In contrast, when you write daily, you start writing immediately because you remember what you were writing about the day before. This leads to impressive production. “

This came from Tomorrow’s Professor Mailing list. The author is Tara Gray. This reading led me to this thought and hope….

Picture tomorrow’s schools. At schools across the nation writing is considered of paramount importance. The day begins with everyone writing on their own personal school blog. The first 15 minutes of each day is reserved to reflect on what they have learned, what they wish to learn, or to explore some aspect of their learning. Teachers, staff and administrators do the same. Writing is valued by our society. Time is provided for discussion about what is learned from the writing. Blogs are viewed as places to have honest, open dialogue about issues of the day. Writing helps the students become better readers and thinkers. Students and teachers are learning from each other as they reflect critically from available information and understandings. Assessments of student learning are easily made through these blogs so the need for standardizing testing as a single unit to measure achievement has been eliminated, Previous time spent testing is now spent writing

I would welcome any ideas, inspirations, thoughts you’d like to share about the attributes of blogging that show promise for developing our pedagogies to facilitate learning.

I love seeing new blogs like this join the educational blogging community. At a conference this educator encountered David Warlick and Tim Tyson. They motivated him to begin One Teacher’s Quest. Take a moment and welcome him to the community….

Zachary’s weblog has so many outstanding posts. He is a fifth grader from J.H. House who will be moving on to middle school next year. He is one of the student bloggers in Hillary’s Blog Write group. I believe Zach will continue blogging. I sure hope he does. He has quite a voice. His mom, Robin, has commented frequently on his blog and entered the conversations throughout the year, not just with Zach but with other students as well. I wanted to point you toward his blog because it is an excellent model to share with other parents or others who are interested in commenting on your student blogs. I remember when I first started blogging with elementary students, the parents were so excited to have a window into their child’s world. Now that was four years ago and try as I did, I was not successful in getting them to enter the conversations. Now if I had had Zach’s blog to show them I think it would have helped give them ideas and let them see a “real-life” example. Here’s one example but the blog is peppered with them and they are all terrific. Check out this one where Robin talks about a comment another blogger made that some thought might be hurtful to Zach. Yes, parents’ voices on blogs can be profound. What a great avenue to let them be a part of the conversations. Hmmmm, I hope Robin starts a blog, too. I’d quickly add her to my Bloglines account.

I am so impressed with the conversations on this blog. Consider one post, “Profanity on the Blog”, on kristin’s blog. Kristin, the teacher, wrote about one of her students using profane language on another one of her student’s blogs. She expresses her frustration and explains her feelings on trust and how the blogs are a reflection on the class and her. Read through some of the comments where colleagues discuss the issue, treating this as a “teachable moment.” There are conversations with the student. Those commenting encourage the student to contribute reasonable thoughts or comments on the guidelines. The student himself posted a comment saying that he had a lot to say…but feared he may get into trouble for what he is saying and he expresses that he does not know all the school rules. He went on to say that he was emailing a copy to the teacher for review before posting. This blog shows how the conversations can lead to resolutions, more discussions, more thinking, more problem-solving together…

..
Then another post, Will blogs take over the world?

It is really humerous as she says….

I keep thinking of how the machines become self-aware in The Terminator 2 and imagine myself, buff like Linda Hamilton, packing heat to defend the human race against giant metamorphosing blogs.

She discusses blogging a bit more, her worries, concerns, thoughts and then closes with….

I’ve addressed these situations, and I think use of the blog will continue to improve, but I think that so many students are accustomed to blog sites like “My Space” that the line between the personal and the academic blogs can be fuzzy, especially in a course like English. But for the most part, I am blown away both by my students’ perceptive comments and by their honesty. I feel a little closer to them now, and I look forward to reading their entries. At times, I think I, too, become obsessive with the blog. As I mentioned in my last entry, I just have to maintain a philosophical focus.

She really got to the heart of it. Blogs do let us know our students better, their perceptions, and their honesty. There is much to learn from our students. Thank you for sharing, Kristin. Kristin is part of a class, I believe. Other blogs are listed on The Fischbowl. This author has many blogs and he certainly adds to the conversations- some really good reading there. I am going to take the time to read through them. I know I will learn a lot.

Then I traveled over to this post on Learning is Messy. He hits the nail on the head. He says….

We need working, breathing, reproducible, intriguing models available in many places for many to see and experience to leverage the gurus and the online examples. Should we build the clearinghouse – any volunteers?
Learning is messy!

Join the conversations. Share your stories. Get your students involved!

Dean Shareski has put together some wonderful interviews with 3 teachers telling the new stories of teaching and learning. His first three are with a high, a middle, and an elementary school teacher. His first is with Darren Kuropatwa, a high school calculus teacher. His second was with Kathy Cassidy, a first grade teacher and his third with Clarence Fisher, a middle school teacher. He will be having a final podcast with all three. Wow! I can’t wait to hear that! These are invaluable! I was spell bound by each one. It is great to hear the voices straight out of the classroom! They are all very different yet very similar in the sharing of their learning in such reflective ways. The value of the networked learning clearly stands out and all three offer such great insights and suggestions. These conversations count! Thanks Dean for making this possible so others can think possibilities and hear the stories. Dean also shared the technology he used with each educator.
I’ve been taking a break from blogging and using my time reading as many blogs and listening to as many podcasts as time would allow this week. I can’t get enough of it.  This ability to connect with anybody on any subject and then the ability to share, rethink, create, collaborate, imagine and learn! Why would some ever think of keeping this kind of learning from our kids?

Clarence asked a great question in one of his posts recently, “How do you measure the wealth of a network?” He ends up his post saying that like most other meaningul things, the wealth of these connections cannot be measured. He’s right. We need these type of connections more than ever now, and this is probably the most important learning our children could have.

Thanks again Dean for making this happen. These are truly conversations that count. They are all about our children…… oh the possiblilities!

I believe Tom is right in rejecting the premise and rationale for this bill. Thanks, Tom! It was also really helpful to read all the letters from other educators. I love this blogging community. Thanks Liz, Miguel, Will, Robert, and Doug. I’m sure there were others I missed. Here’s mine:

Dear Rep. Westmoreland,

I would like to express my appreciation for the work you do for your Georgia constituents. I also am thankful for the opportunity to voice my opinion on matters of concern. I have taught in the Georgia public schools for over 20 years. I am currently working at Georgia State University as an Information Systems Training Specialist, but continue to do work with students and teachers on instructional technology projects in the public schools. A great deal of that work revolves around using technology such as blogs and other “social software” with my students. It is crucial for educators to be right there with the students discussing the ground rules, the what ifs, the why nots, and to be modeling the appropriate use of these technologies. It can be empowering for our students. I have found that when we give them ownership and listen to their voices we all flourish and learn, I cannot believe this learning is threatened by a bill recently introduced in Congress.

I am very concerned about the Deleting Online Predators Act (DOPA), H.R. 5319, recently introduced to Congress by Rep. Michael Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania. This proposal is ridiculous. Simply telling schools and libraries to block certain sites will not “delete online predators”. Children can encounter predators anywhere. Are we prepared to ban churches, schools, shopping centers, playgrounds? Yes, we need to continue to seek solutions to online predators, but banning internet sites will not solve this problem.This bill just muddies the waters about what we truly need to address. It is an affront to educators of our nation. Children need to be well-versed in safety techniques and recognize inappropriate behavior on the Internet. Parents, educators and others need to develop a basic understanding of what’s on the Internet and how children use it . I sincerely hope that you will reject the premise and rationale for this bill. We must model safe and responsible use of the Internet. We MUST teach our students to think. To do this, we must reject these reactionary type proposals that would prevent educators and students from using social networking tools for educational purposes. Put the focus on resources that will help us continue to learn and educate students, parents and educators on how to deal with issues of safety in an open, responsible way.

I would very much appreciate a response from you on this matter. Thank you.

Hillary Meeler of Blog Write says:

Your story will be the last assignment on the 6 Traits of Writing. Then we will have all the pieces for our End of the Year Project.

Now I say:

I can’t wait to see the end of the year project. These stories are exceptional and the students have received some wonderful comments! Wow!

This truly is blogging at its best. Well, done students, well done!

Hmmm, shall I move to Scotland, Canada, or Australia? Seriously, read Sam, Andy, or Will. Enough said.

Christopher Harris says it best:

Protecting children is good, but educating them is better.

Filter a website and you protect a student for a day. Educate students about online safety in a real world environment and you protect your child for a lifetime.