I have decided to list the questions that have been posed in my master's class and include my answers after them:
- What instructional strategies would fit well with using blogs in the classroom? Why?
The project-based approach and the inductive strategies would work well while using blogs in the classroom. If students are given a project they must complete, they could blog with one another to share ideas and design their projects.
Using the inductive approach, a teacher could give the student a concept and the students could then generate their own thoughts and ideas using a blog and blogging with others, thereby creating a learning community.
The “guide on the side” approach probably works best here, since the students are able to construct their own meaning by collaborating with others and sharing their ideas with not only their classmates, but the public.
- What instructional strategies would not fit well with using blogs in the classroom? Why?
The deductive approach would not work well with blogging. If a teacher lectures and is known as the “expert,” then students won’t have much to explore while blogging. They will most likely just regurgitate the information the teacher told the student in order to make the teacher happy and fulfill the assignment. This does not encourage the student to collaborate or exchange ideas with others, since the teacher knows best.
- How could you see Blogs being used in your classroom with your subject matter?
In the journalism classroom, I could see them being used as a way for students to respond to current events that they watch or read. They could also share ideas about topics to be covered in upcoming issues of the newspaper.
For English, blogs could be used in a variety of ways, depending on the unit students are studying. I often have class discussions, but it seems that the same students like to dominate the discussions, whereas some students like to take a backseat. These same students who take a backseat seem to share more in their writing. I don’t want to lose the discussion aspect in the classroom because I think it is important that students gain comfort in sharing ideas vocally, but I do think this would offer those more reserved kids the chance to have their voices “heard” by other students as well as the public. I also have my students journal a lot in class, so I suppose blogging could also be used as an online journal of sorts. I like to have conversations via journals, and this would be a much faster way for me to converse with students.
- Bonus Question: Sometimes it is not the technology that imposes the limitations but our own imaginations and ability to adapt technology to fit our needs-- How could you adapt a Web 2.0 technology to support an instructional strategy that you feel it doesn't easily support? (e.g., using a blog to help students understand their math facts.)
Hmmm…probably the aspect of English that Web 2.0 technologies would support the least is vocabulary. It is pretty difficult to think of something I could do with vocabulary words besides quizzes that are provided online. One of the things my students struggle with is using new words in sentences in the correct way. I could have students create wikis, writing their own sentences using words and then editing the sentences of others if they do not make sense the way they are written. I don’t think this is a great idea, but it was the only thing that came to mind. I guess that my imagination is limiting me right now!
Do you have access to Moodle at your school? I ask because I am struggling with the use of external blogs to facilitate student interactions. Our school district will not allow students to interact on the open web for fear that the students will interact with strangers. Moodle provides a blog and wiki feature so students can interact with one another, but not with the world.
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ReplyDeleteKatherine,
ReplyDeleteI discussed the same idea in my blog. The inductive appraoch is more condusive to blogging, while the deductive approach fits better with the "sage on the stage". I do feel that neither is superior though. Currently I have students very far behind in math and using the inductive approach would be detrimental to their learning. I am mostly using the deductive approach in an attempt to make up ground that they lost in their previous math classes in the past. Still, I have used blogging with this approach but it is somewhat challenging.
I also agree with you that blogging offers more reserved students a chance to contribute. Creating a maximum as well as a minimum number of postings could also help to limit the domination of the class by certain members.
WiKis would be a good idea for vocabulary. Voicethread is another web2.0 technology that would work great. Students could create their own slideshow of pictures that demonstrate the vocab words, and could even narrate the slideshow.
Brian
Blogs and wikis are both wonderful resource for creating an online dictionary - especially if everybody had editing rights to the blog. Another idea that popped into my head, as I was reading through the classroom use section, has to do with having a student who is writing a feature article, post it to the blog, then fellow newspaper men/women can provide constructive feedback to the author. Offering recommendations for change, editing suggestions, and kudos for a job well done.
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