I chose to pursue a degree in Integrating Technology in the Classroom because I want to be able to teach my students using all of the new technologies that are being developed, and I want them to understand the correct ways to use new technology. Since I teach 3rd grade science and social studies, I try to do a lot of writing across the curriculum. Each week my students are given a journal topic relating to our curriculum and their lives, which they write about in their dialogue journal. For example, when we discussed producers and resources, the students wrote in their dialogue journals about what goods they would produce if they were an entrepreneur. They also had to discuss the resources that they would use. At the end of the week, I look through the journals and add comments or suggestions. I would like to integrate the idea of dialogue journals into blogging. I will post the journal topics on the blog, and the students can use our classroom computers during center time to add their responses. I will review the blog to add my own comments to their responses, just as I did with the dialogue journals. As Kathy Martin demonstrated in Spotlight on Technology: Blogging in the Classroom, I will provide the students with a rubric explaining what is expected from their journal responses (Laureate Education, Inc., 2008). Students need to be taught the proper ways to communicate in blogs so that they will post appropriate responses. I would also like the blog to be a place where students can access from home so that they can view their peers' writing and add praise or suggestions as they would like. This would help parents to stay informed of what I am teaching and see their child's work. I hope that blogging will be successful in my classroom!
Resources
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2008). Program 6. Spotlight on Technology: Blogging in the Classroom [Motion picture]. Understanding the impact of technology on education, work, and society. Baltimore: Author.
The thing I love most about using technology in the classroom is how exicted students get about an assignment when they get to use it. Blogging will be a way to make journaling even more exciting for your class. Do you have a lot of student computers? How often do you think each student will get to spend blogging in class?
ReplyDeleteI think you have a great idea about how to use blogging in your classroom. I was thinking along those lines as well for my classroom by using a reading response journal and transferring it to a blog. You mentioned that your students could post their thoughts from the dialogue journals during centers. Would each student go to that particular center each day, or would this be a once a week center? It might be difficult, due to time restraints, to have all of the students visit the center everyday, but I was thinking that it might be a good option for morning work and for work if they finish other assignments early.
ReplyDeleteI think it is a great idea to have the blog open to parents as well. This keeps open communication with the parents, teacher, and students. I like that you give feedback to the students. Maybe you could have an area for the parents to give positive feedback to their child’s blog post and make comments about what they’ve written. Good luck as you begin your blogging adventure with your third graders!
Amber- I am so excited to say that I just received 5 brand new computers in my classroom, and we are expecting to receive 5 new laptops as well as a laptop and projector for myself within the next month! I would assign the blogging as a center activity. Since I teach 3 class per day of science and social studies, each class usually gets about 25 minutes per center, per subject. I split the class with 40 minutes per subject. Do you think that this would be enough time for the students to complete their blog? I would like to have a link to the blog on the desktop of each computer to make access easier.
ReplyDeleteAbby-
ReplyDeleteYou can see in my response to Amber that my time restraints do make it impossible for every child to do several centers each day, especially when inclduing blogging.
I spend Mondays as a teaching and lab day. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursdays, I start each subject with a mini lesson, and the students choose one center to do for the day, in each subject. Each student has a menu for the week that gives directions for each center. There are 3 centers per subject, so each child can go to 1 center per day, per subject and have completed all of them on Thursdays. Fridays are for sharing homework and taking quizzes. I hope that was not confusing! :-)
Hopefully in the future, Fridays will also be when I would pull up the blog on our projector to let the students share their journal responses. Due to strict internet policies in our school system, I am working on communicating with the head of our technology department for approval to start a class blog.
Tiffany- Congratulations on all the new technology you will be getting in your classroom. That is very exciting. Wow, it looks like your students will have plenty of time to blog every day. Including the link on the desktop is a great idea- one that I'm sure will save you lots of time especially in the beginning.
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