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…
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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!
Kristin is an amazing teacher and has had some wonderful conversations with students on her blog (and in class, of course). What’s even more amazing is that we really just started looking at blogging in October and she took the risk to launch it with her classes “on the fly.” I think she will be even more successful with blogging with her students after having some time this summer to reflect on the experience this year and then start at the beginning of the year with a new group of students.
FYI – your link to the “profanity” post has a typo in it – it should be http://21ckakos.blogspot.com/2006/02/profanity-on-blog.html .
Kristin is indeed part of a staff development class of teachers at our high school exploring constructivism and the use of technological tools to foster a more student-centered approach to learning. We have 18 teachers in our first cohort that are finishing up our first year of staff development. Those 18 teachers will continue next year with a second year of staff development, and then we are adding a second cohort of 32 additional teachers who begin in August. The Fischbowl is the blog where we can continue the conversation in between our sessions once very two to three weeks, as well as where I try to post other relevant issues to push their thinking.
Blogging is obviously one of the technological tools that we introduced – both for use with their classes and as a place for them to reflect on what we talk about in our staff development and on their teaching. On the side of The Fischbowl you’ll see links to their personal blogs (not much posting here at the end of the year) and to some of the class blogs they have created for use with their students. I know I would love if you have any comments to contribute to our discussions on The Fischbowl – and I think the teachers would appreciate any comments you’d like to leave on their personal or class blogs. I always learn something when I read your posts (although I must admit I am very far behind on my Bloglines reading at the moment) and appreciate the time, thought and effort you put into them.
I am even more impressed – I agree that she will be even more successful. I think the work you are doing with the teachers is absolutely wonderful. It is a model that needs to be shared. You may have and I look forward to browsing about all the engaging sites. I constantly try to come up with more effective ways of teaching about blogging. It can be overwhelming to those new to it. Your staff development is truly well developed and many others will learn from it. Also, thanks for alerting me about the typo on the url. It is corrected! I also know the feeling of being behind on bloglines – I have a long list of “must get to this” items! Thanks for taking the time to post a comment back. Best to you and your cohorts – I shall do my best to enter the conversations.
Great job guys… Thank for you work…
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