Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Blogging in the Classroom
I teach at a Title 1 school in a school in the suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia. Many of my students don't have the Internet. This makes it very hard to include a blog in my classroom. Taking into account my circumstances I have thought of some different ways to use a blog in my 7th grade social studies classroom. I think I can use a blog to talk about current events with my students. I can post an article about a topic we are covering in class along with my thoughts about the situation. I then could take my students to the computer lab or give my students assigned time on the classroom computer to respond to the topic. For instance, I give my students a current event every week to read at home. This week is about the situation in Darfur. Specifically about asking the President of Sudan to surrender to the International Criminal Court. After they read the article I can have each student respond to specific questions I have on the blog and give them time to respond. I can check in everyday and grade the responses. I think this will give the students freedom to work on their own, while learning about state standards, and being able to talk to the class without being on the spot in front of 28 other people.
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Tony-as you know I am in much of the same situtation as you are. I think it's a wonderful idea to use your blog with the students. What a good idea to put an article on the blog (a paper saving idea!) and then have the students answer questions and write comments about the article. I think you will get better responses from students when they are working indepently as well as having the bonus of seeing each and every child's individual ideas. Would you ever think of posting multiple articles and letting the students choose which one they want to read?
ReplyDeleteTony,
ReplyDeleteI really like your practice of the current event. I think that is really good to expose the students to the world as it is happening. Like Arielle said, the idea of posting the article online, is a great way to go GREEN. I think that you are looking at the challenge of students not having internet access at home in a very wonderful way. I too have the same problem! I think that trying to get in as much blog time at school is the best way to solve the problem. However, I do wonder...are you not putting a lot on yourself by saying that you will grade the blogs daily?
Melissa,
ReplyDeleteI figured that I would give the students a week to respond to my initial posting. If I check it each day then I can go ahead and give a grade to the students who posted.
Arielle,
As for the mulitple article question, I do think it would be possible. For instance, a new article about the situation in Sudan came out today. I could use this article to start a new discussion. Especially so the kids don't write the same thing.
Tony,
ReplyDeleteThe idea for using current events in the class blog is a wonderful way for the students to understand how different the rest of the world is compared to the United States. Would the students also have opportunties to ask questions or state opinions that they might have about the articles?
I would definitely let students ask questions and state opinions. As a social studies teacher I always ask for their opinions on topics because it gets them thinking pass just the facts.
ReplyDeleteTony,
ReplyDeleteI also teach social studies and about 25% of my students do not have Internet access at home. I am confident they would go out of their way during flex time and even in our labs afterschool to post comments to a blog.
In my experience ALL students rise to the occasion when technology is involved, especially new technology, or a new application of one they are already somewhat familiar with, which may well be the case with your current events idea.
Best of luck to you!
Eva