EduBlog Insights

I was recently asked to give a rationale for educational blogging. I thought I’d share what I wrote and invite comment.

Blogs are reshaping our environment. They are beginning to emerge in large numbers in the educational field and offer great potential to transform learning and teaching. It is about new literacies appropriate for this time. The quote below comes from Don Leu, to be published soon in a book by the International Reading Association (http://www.sp.uconn.edu/~djleu/newlit.html) I feel it is a very appropriate focus as relates to the new literacies and blogging for educators. Donald Leu of Syracuse University expresses it far better than I ever could.

“The new literacies include the skills, strategies, and insights necessary to successfully exploit the rapidly changing information and communication technologies that continuously emerge in our world. A more precise definition of the new literacies may never be possible to achieve since their most important characteristic is that they regularly change; as new technologies for information and communication continually appear, new literacies emerge (Bruce, 1997; Leu, in press a; Reinking, 1998). Moreover, these changes often take place faster than we are able to completely evaluate them. Regular change is a defining characteristic of the new literacies. 
 
This simple observation has profound consequences for literacy and literacy education. The continuously changing technologies of literacy mean that we must help children learn how to learn new technologies of literacy. In fact, the ability to learn continuously changing technologies for literacy may be a more critical target than learning any particular technology of literacy itself.” 

There are many skills and concepts that need to be addressed to effectively help teachers learn to use blogs throughout their curriculum to foster these new literacies. It is not just a matter of transferring classroom writing into digital spaces. Teachers need to address writing for a public audience, how to cite and link and why, how to use the comment tool in pedagogical ways, how to read web materials more efficiently as well as explore other ways to consider pedagogical uses of blogs. Blogging requires us to teach students to critically engage media. Students need instruction on how to become efficient navigators in these digital spaces where they will be obtaining a majority of their information.
Blogging is educationally sound for teaching students because:

• Blogs provide a space for sharing opinions and learning in order to grow communities of discourse and knowledge — a space where students and teachers can learn from each other.

• Blogs help learners to see knowledge as interconnected as opposed to a set of discrete facts.

• Blogs can give students a totally new perspective on the meaning of voice. As students 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 foster ownership and choice. They help lead us away from students trying to find what the teacher wants in terms of an answer.

• The worldwide audience provides recognition for students that can be quite profound. Students feel more compelled to write when they believe many others may read and respond. It gives them motivation to excel. Students need to be taught skills to foster a contributing audience on their blog.

• The archive feature of blogging records ongoing learning. It facilitates reflection and evaluation. One student told me that he could easily find his thoughts on a matter and he could see how his thinking had changed and why.

• The opportunity for collective and collaborative learning is enormous. Students have the opportunity to read their classmates’ blogs and those of others. This is not possible in a regular classroom setting.

• Blogging provides the possibility of connecting with experts on the topic students are writing.

• The interactive nature of blogging creates enthusiasm for writing and communication.

• Blogging engages students in conversation and learning.

• Blogging encourages global conversations about learning–conversations not previously possible in our classrooms.

• Blogging provides the opportunity for our students to learn to write for life-long learning.

• Blogging affords us the opportunity to teach responsible public writing. Students can learn about the power of the published word and the responsibilities involved with public writing.

Recently I presented a workshop session on blogging at the GaETC conference. I had a Skype call with Darren Kuropatwa. I wanted him to share the positive aspects of blogging that he had experienced with his class. Some amazing things came out of that call. First, Darren shared how his students summarize what they are learning through the scribe posts on the class blog. He explains it so well on the podcast. He uses a paradigm he borrowed from med school - watch it, do it, teach it. His students are writng the textbook for the class. The examples he shared were fantastic. He shared how he uses the chat box so his students have homework help 24-7. The students use delicious to create a resource file to help each class member. Then the wiki solutions manual is the space where students solve, annotate, and correct each others’ work. Listen to the podcast to get his explanations. What is so impressive to me is that Darren has truly put this in the hands of his students. They have ownership of their learning. They work as a team. It is the best use of blogging that I’ve seen in a classroom.

Then another story developed as we were skyping. I commented on the first time that I had seen Darren’s blog and how it blew me away. I am not and have never been a good math student but as I was reading his blog I got so excited because it made me feel that I could still learn these math concepts that had alluded me in the past. See my post here: A Math Weblog to Note. I can still remember that day and how I explored his blog in depth. It was exciting. Now the neat thing here is I heard the other side of that story, as did my workshop participants. Darren recalled how how intense the feeling was for him hearing how someone a half a continent away had been impacted by the work he was doing. Now here’s the best part of the story. Darren said his first reaction was “My students need to feel this.” His first thoughts were how to give that to his students. A true teacher! Now that’s a feeling that many of us have had and have seen firsthand when students blog. I’ve had many moments to share with students when they were just blown away that someone thought something they wrote was good or someone added to the conversation about something they were blogging about in class. Darren said in the skype call that this was what blogging is all about, that motivation from an authentic audience. I thought it would be good to share this piece because it could be used to share with administrators and others to get an idea of what blogging can be all about. Teachers need to set the stage and guide it. No one does that better than Darren.
I’ve thought about it a lot since the workshop and I’ve also thought about how Darren has captured the essence of blogging and then gone that extra step to share it all with others. Then each year he has built on the pedagogy and shaped and reshaped his learning and teaching. Darren is not just a math teacher. He is an incredible writing teacher as well. He knows how to use writing, blogging, and the Internet to learn. He guides his class and steps aside to let them own it. Just check out Living in Whoville and you’ll see. It gives me chills.This digital story is a class project. You can see links to some of the other projects that tell the story of what his kids have accomplished. It is awesome.
Now listen to the podcast, DarrenAnne.mp3, and listen to the two sides of the story. Just think what could lie ahead for our students! It is inspiring. He is really empowering the student in a way that totally focuses on the pedagogy - no small task. Plus the work is in the hands of the students. They own it! It is a model to follow. I can’t wait to cast my vote this year in the EduBlog Awards 2006.

Thinkpiece #1

Reflection by the students is an important piece of blogging. Letting them write their way into their own understandings and letting them discover answers to the questions they need to ask. They need a lot of help with this at the elementary level. The high school students I worked with last year could have used this even more. They have not been asked to do much in this area except at a very superficial level.

So, how do you teach reflection? I think you teach it by modeling it. I want to do a better job of that this year. I need to do more thinking aloud for them, blog more about this piece on the class blog, and develop better questions for them to ponder. I think if I pair them from time to time where they can pass ideas back and forth and talk about how they are learning will help.

Asking students to communicate the results of their thinking is difficult for them, both out loud or writing it. I need to work in times for this. They need the practice to learn to be clear, convincing and even precise. I need to discuss the meanings of the words that go along with reflection.
Hmmm, maybe start with what did you learn this week? How did you learn it? Did it mean anything to you? Why or why not? What would help you understand it better? How might you apply this learning? Can you make a connection to what you learned? Did it make something else you learned come into your mind? Did it clarify anything you had wondered about in the past? Is there anything else you might like to learn about this topic? Supposeyou had to teach this to a younger student? Could you write a description of how you would do this?

Now I am just brainstorming some possible questions. Maybe the students themselves could add to this list, call it something like “our reflection questions” or “reflect specs”.

A reflection is really a strategy for learning. We need to foster more reflection in our classrooms. Let them be creative, off the wall, branch out with their thoughts. Students need to think aboout what they are doing so they can use this information for future decisions.

We need more conversations, both verbally and on blogs. Maybe I could have short prompts that they respond to by picking one of the questions above. I’m throwing out quite a list. Of course, I would not use them all at one time.
I want them to use blogging to help them explore, clarify, and think a little deeper about the ideas and concepts they learn in their classrooms. We might need to use podcasts at the beginning to let them just talk together about what they have learned.

Now I have to work at creating the environment where they feel free to respond openly. They have to honor each other’s thinking and build together.

I know I won’t have time to do this as much as I want but I’m hoping I can model it so the teacher will be interested in continuing it when she can in other moments in the classroom, or better yet, let them blog!

This is a question I have used in the past with kids.

• What was going on inside your head when you were thinking about that?

At first, they look at me like I have lost my mind. They have not been asked such a question before. However, I’ve found that it leads me down a road where I can really assist them in clarifying what is going on inside their heads. I need more questions that I can think about to help them reflect about their learning.
Now I am just letting it flow without trying to make this a polished product. Can you add to the list? What are your thoughts?  Have you done this in other areas than blogging in your classrooms? Any suggestions are MOST welcome!

I can really identify with this on Barbara Ganley’s bgblogging:

As I have mentioned here several times, I am not a techie—I am a teacher of writing, all kinds of writing, and of Irish literature (when I get the chance).

I am not a techie either—like Barbara, I, too, am a teacher. I’ve taught mainly in the elementary grades, but once I became the ‘Instructional Technology Specialist’ I became a teacher of all content but the most enjoyable part for me was to become a better (I hope) teacher of writing. Blogging paved the way for me. Writing to learn, that’s what blogging is all about.

I am excited about next year’s blogging project. I am returning to my favorite school, J. H. House Elementary and I’ve got many ideas brewing for working with a classroom teacher to use weblogs to get the kids to reflect about what they are learning and how they learn. Letting students write their way into their own understandings and letting them discover answers to the questions they need to ask. Working together, reflecting, passing ideas back and forth and having the abilitity to reach out to such a larger audience to share and learn from one another. This technology is still so exciting to me and every time I can’t do some “techie” thing I realize it doesn’t really matter because you don’t have to be a “techie” to teach good use of technology. Plus, I have so many bloggers and yes, students who share and are so very willing to give a hand when help is needed.

I’ll also be working with a GSU professor who wants to build a research piece into this. Now that’s exciting! We’ll all be learning together and just imagine where it all might lead as we continue to take “responsible risks” and set high expectations to improve the teaching and learning.

I have the wonderful opportunity to use blogging to learn right along with my students and everyone else. Actually blogging can save time. How about that for a new twist? All the time that we teachers have to spend answering students’ questions can give way to guiding students to write (blog ) their way into an understanding of concepts that they could not get before by simple reguritation of facts. Through the connections and collaborations we can all form answers together and build bigger understandings. Blogs really do give us an avenue to learn together. Can’t wait!

I came across two interesting articles on reflection : “Making Reflection a Cornerstone of School Culture” - Part I and Part II. The authors are Bob Garmston and Bill Powell. The first article opens with the question “By what criteria should schools be evaluated?” It compares the differing views of politicians, parents and accredictaion agencies. It then refers to Roland Barth’s classic work, Improving Schools from Within.

Barth suggests the quality of a school is often reflected with remarkable precision in the quality of the adult-to-adult relationships within the school house. He observes that the manner in which adults speak to each other, share ideas form work partnerships and even manage conflicts is often a profoundly accurate predictor of the quality of learning within the classroom.

I have previously pointed to Barth’s writing. I like where this article heads as it reflects on what adult-to-adult relationships have to do with student learning. The article suggests the process of professional reflection. It goes on to say that we learn not from our experience in the classroom but from our reflection on our teaching and the corresponding student learning (Kusuma-Powell & Powell, 2001.

The article acknowledges that is is possible to engage in professional reflection as a solo activity by keeping a professional journal but the value increases when this reflection is expanded to colleagues and the instructional improvement can be powerful. The article goes on to suggest seven reasons why schools should embed reflection in the fafric of their culture.

Blogs can really be a great vehicle for sharing reflections. I really would like to see the day come when we educators, along with our students, are able to spend a good portion of the school day doing just this…reflecting about what we are learning.

The second part explored how to initiate and develop reflection in schools. It talked about not assuming the skills sets for reflection and collaboration are already present and may need to be taught. I have found that students have had little practice with this, both at the elementary and yes, even the university level. Actually, teachers also. One interesting example they gave was one of administrators and teachers using “walk through observations” as a springboard to promote teacher reflection on differentiated instruction.

How about a walk through observation on the use of technology and how it is being used? That would make for some interesting discussions.

I’ve been thinking about some ways to use blogs to help students develop the ability to assess thier own work and their thinking “about their thinking”. If we gave short assignments on blogs where they talk about their thinking this could help. I’m going to think of more ways to foster making connections between related concepts. I’m going to work at ways to think aloud more in front of students and encourage them to do the same. Regular writing is a must and what better way to do this than through blogs. It doesn’t have to be a big project.

Some possibilities:

Write down the most pressing question that is on their mind after a lesson. If they don’t have one have them imagine what another peer’s question might be? Then the next day have them comment to one of their classmates’ questions.

Re-state something said during class discussion and add something to the conversation.

Could there be another point of view on resolving a problem or an issue? Develop it.
Pose one multiple choice question and one essay type question for the material we covered today. Which one would assess learning better and why? This could make for a great classroom discussion on assessment.
Imagine yourself as the expert of this subject. Predict what will change in the next five years and give your reasons.

If you had only a few minutes to summarize the lesson today what would be the best way to do that so someone would remember what you said?

Can you give an example of how we could check to be sure if the information we are using is accurate?

State what is unclear to you about what we discussed. Have another student try to clarify for you.

Write down a “think aloud” about something you are interested in learning about that you believe is relevant and is related to what we are studying in class.

Hmmmm, I’m still thinking about this but we really need to be thinking of ways we can use blogs to get the students engaged - not cover more and more content but let them read, write, think, rethink - hmmm, let’s blog!