Rm 31 Blog - week 2.....

It has been encouraging to see the ways in which students in Rm 31 are developing their blogging skills.

Today a class photo was added to the blog site.



Students are also starting to use the blog in a number of constructive ways, from checking homework tasks, sharing books/movies that they have enjoyed, as well as responding to posts.

Over the weekend their teacher added a number of poetry sites that were recommended to students. The post also encouraged students to share poems that they enjoy. Here is one example (and the comment posted by the teacher in response):



It has been interesting to speak with mum (the teacher) about her day-to-day learning in relation to the blog. This evening I showed her a number of editing tools on the blog. We also discussed different ways in which she can use it this week e.g. sharing the Pasifika artwork that they are creating. Using the blog requires a new mindset in terms of the ways in which you record student work as a teacher. It could be something as simple as carrying a digital camera (video or still) with you and recording examples of student work that can be uploaded and captioned (by the teacher or students). This is a valuable way of recording the teaching and learning that takes place in the classroom, and the comment function allows students to respond-to and reflect on their learning

What is a blog (and how is it different to other forms of writing?)

(We)blogs are easily created, easily updatable websites that allow an author (or authors) to publish instantly to the Internet from any Internet connection. They can also be interactive, allowing teachers and students to begin conversations or add to the information published there. Weblogs are the most widely adopted tool of the Read/Write/Web so far.

Weblogs are not built on static chunks of content. Instead, they are comprised of reflections and conversations that in many cases are updated every day. Bloggers engage readers with ideas and questions and links. They ask readers to think and to respond. They demand interaction.

But make no mistake. They are still websites. You can include graphics, photos, video, and audio files. Blogs can have almost every feature a more traditional website can have.

Important to distinguish between blogging and journaling. Fernette and Brock Eide’s research (Eide Neurolearning Blog, 2005) shows that blogging in its truest form has a great deal of potential positive impacts on students:
- To promotote critical and analytical thinking
- To be a powerful promoter of creative, intuitive and associational thinking
- To promote analogical thinking
- To be a powerful medium for increasing access and exposure to quality information
- combine the best of solitary reflection and social interaction

Setting up a classroom blog site - putting theory into practice

Last week I set up a classroom blog for a Year 7 & 8 class at Villa Maria. This was an incredibly valuable process in terms of gaining a better understanding of the practicalities involved in the process. It is one thing to create a person blog that you update and manage in your own time. A blog that you have complete control and responsibility over. It is a very different thing to create a classroom blog. A blog that will be used by students, and potentially viewed by parents.

So how did I go about this process and what did I learn along the way that would be valuable lessons to share?

- It was important to ensure that the creation of a blog was a collective process between me and the students. If students are involved in the creation stage, then they ultimately take a greater degree of ownership for it and are more likely to maintain it in a responsible manner. I guess the pride they feel in having created it means that they have a vested interest in ensuring that it continues to be used (and not abused) by people.

- When setting up the blog I worked with a small group of students who were selected by the teacher. I had two year 7s and two year 8s. I don’t think I would set up the blog with any more than 4 students as it would get too complicated in terms of each person sharing their opinions on layout/design etc. The other good thing about blogger is that you can always go back and change the design/layout at a later stage if you want to.



- Once the students had set up the blog I needed to send out an e-mail to each student inviting them to join the blog. This was more problematic than I had envisaged as some e-mails got ‘lost’ in cyberspace and it took a while to add in each student’s e-mail address. It also got me thinking how you would do this in a classroom where students didn’t have their own e-mail accounts. I spoke with a friend who uses blogs in her classroom and she explained that there is a way that you can ‘add’ people to your g-mail account giving them a separate log-in but keeping a single e-mail address. This is something I will have to explore further to see how teachers navigate this obstacle.

- After morning tea the whole class came to the computer room so that I could teach a lesson on blogging. I decided that before I got them on their blog I wanted to cover some important aspects of blogging with them (see attached powerpoint). These included:
• What do we know about blogs?
• How do we want to use our blog?
• Internet Safety and Responsible Behaviour Guidelines
• Writing a blog post
• Commenting on a blog post

- Approaching the setting up of a blog in this way allowed a number of discussions to take place about what kind of blog they wanted, the kinds of things they wanted on it, and issues of security and accessibility. It was decided that this blog will initially be visible only to the students and teacher in the class. They decided that they will use the blog for a few weeks and assess how things are going. Is it being used? Is it being used appropriately? Is it easy to update (or are we spending a lot of class time doing it)? It is adding value to our learning (inside and outside of the class). At the end of this time they will then ask themselves some new questions:
• Would we like to allow our families/friends access to this blog?
• Would we like to add our blog to the school intranet so that other classes can view it?
• Is a blog site something that the other intermediate classes could benefit from too? Would we like to help them set up blog sites for their classes?


- Part of the intro to blogging involved students exploring other blog sites (especially ones created by school students).



- It was important to establish ground rules in terms of the blog. The most important ground rule related to ‘appropriateness’ of posts. To emphasise this point I modelled examples of different things that could be included on the blog and we discussed whether we thought these things were appropriate. Ultimately we made the distinction between the things we would share on a social networking site like Facebook and those that we wanted on this blog which was set up to share the work of students in the class (and achievements and interests outside of class - that are linked to learning)

- Language: We made the decision that this is a formal blog site and therefore students need to use correct spelling and grammar when posting.

- Labels: Over the next week students are going to develop a list of labels to use in their blog postings. This will help with the categorizing of posts on the site and for searching.

Plans for week 4 - A BUSY week!!!

It's crazy to think that it's already week 4:-O But also great when I think back on all the learning that has taken place. This morning I have felt a bit like Bob the Builder coming across multiple technical roadblocks with uploading some of my research data onto my blog. I have managed to find my way through the problems and come up with creative solutions to them:-)

So what is the plan for this week?

- Continue uploading data from my afternoon at Fendalton School
- Meet with Niki and have a chat about setting up a website - part of me is now wondering whether this is needed. There is a lot of valuable information in my blog and I am wondering whether I need to duplicate by making a website. I am potentially interested in something like a wiki if it can be an easy way of organising the information (in a kind of copy and past from blog way).
- On Thursday I am spending the morning with a Year 7 & 8 class at Villa Maria helping them set up a classroom blog site. I am really excited about the opportunity to put my learnings into a practical outcome like this. I am meeting up with the IT technician beforehand so that we can have a chat about digital security, setting up the site on the network etc.
- Thinking about my presentation. I am still thinking about how best to do this. I think I will try and take some more footage on Thursday of the setting up of the blog site and try and integrate some of these videos into my presentation next week. I would like to make the presentation as interactive as possible. In an ideal world I would love to get the group to create their own blog post - but this would be complicated in terms of getting everyone usernames etc. This is something to keep thinking about this week.

Visiting the experts.....Rm 17 Students

I visited Rm 17 at Fendalton Open Air School to find out about their classroom blog......

What did I discover?

Here is a summary of my discussion with Rm 17 Students

Best Things About Blogging:
- sharing things with other people - more people will look at it - a wider audience
- feedback from people helps with our writing
- comments about posts that people find interesting
- can see what is happening in other classes in the school
- family and friends overseas can see what we are doing at school
- we can put photos and videos on our blog (not just writing)
- We can write interesting stories/Acrostic Poems (current focus using Read/Write/Think)
- We can access it from anywhere in the world
- Mum and Dad can find out about what we are doing at school (and post comments)
- We can record ourselves talking and put this on the blog (e.g. introductory videos from each student at the start of the year; poetry; what we did in the weekend; visitors to the class)



Frustrations:
- the internet speed (slow)
- problems with spelling
- takes longer to type than to write
- forgetting passwords to log-in
- finding things to write about



The class has a list of rules for digital safety and using the blog. Students have written instructions for using the blog site which are pinned to the wall by the computers.

From student to teacher - a new idea!

My mum is a teacher and this evening she was telling me about a holiday homework task she is setting her kids. They have to design a dinner menu and then make it for their family. They take pictures of their dinners and write a report to accompany the menu.

My immediate response was, 'see if you had a blog site the kids could upload their projects onto it and then they would have a virtual recipe book that they could share!'.

It was a passing comment but one that got us thinking. Mum's response was, 'that's a great idea, why don't you come in and help the class set up a blog site.' A week or two ago I would have shied away from the idea, but I think this would be a really meaningful way of putting my project into action.

Although I have only had 20mins or so to think about this idea my initial plan looks something like this:

- spend some time with the whole class explaining what a blog site is and how we can use them
- show them how to log in and make a post
- work with a small group of 'experts' - 2-3 students who I can work with setting up the blog site. They can be the ones who are responsible for maintaining the site (in conjunction with mum as the teacher) - and they will also be able to help other students who have problems/questions. I think I will also stay on in some capacity so that I can provide assistance were it is needed.

This links into ideas I was having earlier in the evening about seeing if I can set up a blog site with the class on my next placement (if they don't already have one). I think it would be a great way of transferring the skills/knowledge that I have learned on to others.

It's been an exciting day and incredible to see the way the inquiry project works. Yesterday I was feeling rather despondent and unsure of where I was going with the project. Today I am 'buzzing' with excitement about potential possibilities and meaningful outcomes.

Bud's Blog Experiment

I came across this interesting blogsite this afternoon:

Bud's Blog Experiment: http://budtheteacher.blogspot.com/


It was referred to in the 'Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms' that I am reading as part of this project.

Basically the blog is about the journey that he took with his students to implement blogs in their classroom. Reading this was very useful, both in terms of my own reflexive blogging journey at the moment, but also in being able to see the way in which creating a classroom blog can be a joint journey with your students. This was exciting as it shifts away from the common preconception that you have to be an expert in blogs to set one up in your class. Reading through the blog gave me an increased sense of the powerful learning that can take place in the classroom through this journey.

I have taken out some of the quotes that I found particularly thought provoking/powerful:

"An online journal is somewhere someone posts their thoughts when they hope that someone will see them. A blog is where someone posts their thoughts when they hope that someone will think about them." (Comment made by one of the students in the class)

"What I have noticed in my own blog is that I blog less when I don't have/take the time to read other blogs. That is what has been going on for the last few weeks. So it isn't the habit of writing in my blog that is concerning me but the habit of reading. I need to make more time for that. When I do, the blogging comes naturally." (Comment made by one of the students in the class)

And this quote which I think in challenging in terms of our teaching philosophies and questions of the purpose and value in education:

"And I know not every student was born to be a blogger. But, I would argue that every student, every person was born to be a contributor, whether that's via blog or wiki or podcast or whatever. We need to create a culture of contribution in our schools where our students' work is non only celebrated but put to use in meaningful ways. Don't just e-value-ate what they do but provide ways for what they do to have long lasting value."

Monday Morning - Week 3

It's scary to think that I have already had 2 weeks on this project. In many ways I feel like I haven't got that far with things. I seem to keep hitting road blocks, or deviations which take up valuable time needed to get me to my final outcome. I took a break over the weekend which I think was helpful for giving me perspective on this project and what is achievable in the time I have.
So.....I am approaching this week with a new attitude. I have learned a few things on reflection so far:
a) it's very easy to take the project vision beyond what it achievable in 5 weeks
b) it is harder to re-focus and make decisions about what 'can' be achieved, especially when you feel like you are having to let go of some of the research 'excitements' in the process
c) roadblocks are all part of inquiry - and some of the best reflecting takes place at these moments when you have to make decisions about 'where to from here?'
d) Inquiry is definitely not a linear process and this can be both frustrating and liberating in terms of the research process
e) Making a list of things to do each day helps me stay focussed and feel like I am getting somewhere (reflecting at the end of the day can help with this too)
f) Some days are frustrating, some days you feel like you have got nowhere, or gone backwards. This is all part of the journey, and tomorrow is always a new day. Learn from it, but don't dwell on it too much.

So this week.....what are my plans?

I would like to continue with my literature reviews/research of blog use in classrooms to gather information to use in my website which I will be building next week. I am unsure at this stage what the different sections will be - but I am trying to keep it open at the moment and just see how much is possible.

I am spending Thursday afternoon at Fendalton school speaking with the Principal and spending time in a classroom talking with students about their class blog site. This is the highlight of this week as it will allow me to see in practice the things I have been reading and thinking about.

I am hoping by the end of the week that I will have had a meeting with one of the profs at tcol about setting up a website. I have spoken with a few different people about different servers that I could use, and just need to see which will best suit my minimal skills and time constraints.

“the use of blogs to learn not just to teach”

I came across this and thought that I would post it because it seemed to be exploring a lot of the questions that I am also wanting to explore through my inquiry project. I am hoping that it will help me in my research focus......
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Will Richardson’s post Teacher Bloggers Not Blogging (Says Me) looks at the David Warlick article in EDTECH titled Blog Rules.

Will says:

“Blogs are powerful communication tools. Blogs are powerful publishing tools. But blogging (the verb) is still much more than that to me. Blogging, as in reading and thinking and reflecting and then writing, is connecting and learning, neither of which are discussed in the article. (And maybe they weren’t meant to be, I know) I’m not knocking what Tim or his teachers are doing, I think it’s great. But I’m just asking the question: how are his teachers modeling the use of blogs to learn not just to teach?”

I have been looking beyond just blogs and considering the use of technology ‘to learn not just to teach’ quite a bit recently. Is it a natural progression to use technology to teach first then to learn, as we integrate new technology? Or is this just a lack of training and professional development? I’ve heard more than a few people call the new Smart Boards nothing more than glorified blackboards recently, (I have yet to actually even see one of these, much less know how teachers/students are using them, so I am really just making note of what others have told me). The fact is that technology such as this needs the user to be trained. How can we implement new things in new ways if we lack the knowledge or training to do so? Also, I think teachers must model what they expect, or at least find appropriate models for students to follow. A blog that replaces a daily diary may be useful, but does it expose a student to the potential a blog has as a reflective, synthesizing, learning space?

On the topic of blogs, I have been thinking about what this blog means to me. I write it as if I have an audience, but I write it for me, not the audience. It is sort of a cathartic expression of my thoughts on education; A place to synthesize ideas and reflect on new areas of exploration. I am surprised just how often I look back at my entries, reread them and follow the links. It has also been an experimental playground where I have learned a bit about html, and figured out how to add tools, such as the meebo messenger, the ClustrMap, as well as the flikr and bubbleshare photo windows. This blog isn’t about my practice as an educator but it certainly affects my practice. It is a learning tool.

I am developing some ideas about using wikis and blogs in my Science class next month. As I develop the plan, I need to ask myself:

‘Am I adding technology to my teaching or providing students with new learning and new ways to learn?’

‘Am I creating an environment where students will express, synthesize, and reflect on their (and each other’s) learning, or am I creating a new way to report out?’ (A glorified poster board).

‘Am I encouraging students to be lifelong learners?’

What else should I be asking myself?