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."

Seeking 'experts'.....

Last week I started exploring avenues for finding 'experts' - primary classrooms that are using blogs as part of their teaching programme.

I have a few people that I have made initial contact with (and am still waiting to hear back from) - I'm unsure how many classrooms I would like to visit as part of this project, I guess I'll just have to see what is feasible in the time that I have.

But one certainty is a classroom at Fendalton Open Air school. Fendalton has a reputation as a school which values ICT integration in pedagogical practice. Here is a link to an article that was published in March this year on their innovative approach to the use of technology:



http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/1756615

I am excited to have the opportunity to see the way this school is integrating the technology into their classrooms.

I have been looking at a few lists of NZ classroom blog sites. One thing that has interested me has been the high number of rural schools that are listed. I was starting to wonder about the ways in which technology like blogs creates a new connectedness for these schools - and the possibilities for online partnerships and collaboration between schools. I guess when I was growing up you had things like pen-pals and school exchanges; these possibilities seem only to increase exponentially through online communication.

Another interesting area to explore (which is also beyond the scope of this project - but something to think about and be aware of while doing my research) - is the way in which blog sites allow for a high level of reflexivity about who we are 'as a person, as a classroom, as a school, as a community?' - what do the blogs that we create say about who we are? How can blogs be used to create a sense of identity, a sense of place? Maybe it's just that I am a cultural geographer and therefore questions about place and identity fascinate me, but it is something interesting to think about. We are active creators in the process of blogging? How do we decide what to include/what to exclude? How are we present in our blog? How do we interact with the world around us through the blog? What to we want people to think of us in our blog? So many questions........I'm not really wanting to answer these - but will try and provide a space in which to continue developing my thinking around these ideas over the next few weeks.