BlogginBetsy

AP Lit. students at ERHS have been utilizing a blog in their classroom "to extend and enrich" their "understanding of a difficult text in an academic and very public forum." This quote was taken directly from Ms. Groce's Literary Blog Expectations for her AP Literature & composition class. Glenn Malone (as seen here) facilitated a discussion with the students, their principal, and their teacher about the benefits and drawbacks of posting to a classroom blog on Tuesday, April 11th. The student responses were overwhelmingly positive about their blogging exercise. I noted the following comments:

About Blogging...

• very cool and lengthens discussions from class
• gives a voice for those who are out of their comfort zone in a classroom
• allows students to think on their own
• step out of the box
• easier way to learn
• more relaxing way to communicate
• found that I am reading more posts than I thought I would
• interesting to see other's opinions - very deep
• gives other ways of learning
• certain students can sway a classroom discussion to their way of thinking, but blogging allows the individual student to formulate their own opinion
• promotes independent thinking

One student was concerned that blogging might detract from human interaction. Others were quick to point out that too much of anything is not healthy.

After listening to this discussion, I would conclude that this Blogging Exercise has been very successful. Ms. Groce set up explicit expectations for her students. The student responses to the literature have been extraordinary. I can see why these students are A.P. kids by reading their postings and comments.

Although it was thrilling to hear students speak so eloquently about how blogging benefits different learning styles and the positive engagement/authentic writing factor the technology connection makes, but I was shocked to learn that they don't perceive personal information posted on the web as a threat to their safety. It was most interesting and uncomfortable to watch Principal Brian Lowney tense up as Glenn Malone shared personal information about one of their classmates. Mr. Malone knew where she worked, what she looked like, where she vacations, her favorite movies, songs, and baseball team! I was surprised with all the My Space controversies that have been in the news that students were not more aware and careful about information they post about themselves for the world to view. We definitely need to do more with all students, parents, teachers, and administrators on internet safety.

How can something that sounds so easy have such disastrous results? The instructions for adding a template that is not a blogger template seemed so straight forward. Copy and paste. I am really good at copying (I am a teacher after all.) The pasting is also pretty simple, just where do you paste it? Perhaps if I wasn't reading Will Richardson's weblogg-ed on my other monitor while waiting for the downloads I would have been able to salvage my profile and flickr. I guess I started to fade from the source code when I read this on Will's March 27th posting:

Not every student needs a blog or a podcast or a wiki to be engaged, I understand that. Blogs and podcasts and the audiences they facilitate will not engage every child. But are we not at the point where we can honestly say that the learning potential of these tools is such that every teacher should have them as a part of his or her toolbox?

My little instructional technology group is engaged in a debate about whether to purchase the new and improved Inspiration 8.0 for next year's student computers, or try to purchase Inspiration 7.5 so the students' computers will be the same image as the teachers' laptops. In reality my group has very little decision making power and the district will probably purchase whatever is cheaper - sad but true. But after rereading Will Richardson's words, how can we not choose the latest and greatest if it holds more learning potential for our students? Don't we owe it to our students, our community, ourselves to continue learning and growing? If Inspiration 8.0's Word Guide, or symbol search allows users to be more successful - why wouldn't we buy it?

I am of the belief that before you can have a successful classroom blog; you need to have your own personal or professional blog. Blogging requires routine, a message or purpose, and an audience.

I personally write for myself (audience) because I consider my writing truly cruddy (see what I mean, what kind of a word choice is cruddy?) I am keying this post in Word since Blogger doesn’t spell check immediately – I need that instantaneous reassurance that my spelling is correct. I learned in third grade that good writing is all about correct spelling. Needless-to-say my writing was non-existent in elementary school since I didn’t even start spelling words correctly till I was in junior high with Joanne Gaspard. (I got the privilege of teaching her daughter MacKenzie twenty years later – Mac was a better speller than I was as her third grade teacher.)

Routine? I write sporadically to sort out all the mixed messages I receive as a teacher, technology trainer, and mother. Being a mother is the best, and perhaps the most difficult job. Raising three children to live in an environment that doesn’t even exist is a pretty exciting situation. I can’t even imagine what types of jobs the Fletcher kids will enjoy when they are in their forties.

I am still trying to sort out my message. As I read through my posts, I see that my thoughts are all over the place. I guess I will just have to continue posting to find my voice and purpose.

I got to spend the afternoon with Glenn and Lisa
talking about blogs. Glenn drug me along because I think he would like me to create a class that teaches people how to create their own blogs and how they can used to enrich and enlighted teachers' lives.
I have found a great blog that takes people step-by-step through creating a teacher blog.

Visit: CSU site for Blog 102 Class

I love change. I love moving furniture in my house, altering the look of my bedroom with the changing of the seasons, always experimenting with new ice creams at Baskin-Robbins.

I have always enjoyed professional development because it gives me new ideas to employ in my classroom, more methods for reaching children, more reasons to teach. When I read Who Moved My Cheese I thought, of course!

Apparently I am an anomaly in my profession. For years it has been difficult for me to understand why all teachers don’t embrace new researched methods to improve their teaching. This past year I have learned that teachers are traditionalists. They often teach how they were taught – like parents who parent how they were raised. It is cyclical.

I have done a lot of reading about how to promote change in the classroom. It has to take place positively; it has to be fun, it has to be easy, and it has to work. That is a lot to ask of the change agents.

Then I saw this video. And I laughed, and laughed, and laughed. Maybe this is a starting point for change.

Teachers and change if this doesn't work try:

http://homepage.mac.com/lesleyu/iMovieTheater.html

Enjoy (-;

One of my favorite hobbies is to Knit! I knit while listening to TV, riding in the car (I have been known to knit while driving - but at a stop light), and watching my children play basketball, soccer, baseball and swim. I no longer knit while enduring staff meetings or at the dinner table.

I am delighted that my friends would like to join me in my knitting adventures. I have embedded my some of my favorite knitting links for them to enjoy and learn.

http://www.knittinghelp.com/knitting/abbreviations_explained/
Great knitting videos for how to do a stitch. Does require bandwidth!


http://www.jimsyldesign.com/~dishbout/kpatterns/knitting.html
Wonderful patterns and pictures of dishclothes. Knitting dishclothes is a terrific way to finely hone your knitting skills.

http://www.blacksheepbags.com/booga_bag.html
This is my favorite felted bag. It is super easy to knit and would be perfect for a beginner.

This is my first entry on Creating a Successful Blogging Classroom. I will be documenting my progress using my personal blog. Hopefully it will keep me focused on my task.

My first and on-going task is to research other Blogging Classrooms on the web. I was fascinated with http://www.teachandlearn.ca/blog/ . The Blog of Proximal Development (teacher.blogging.learning) is created by an eighth grade teacher in Canada. I added it to my bloglines so I can follow his classroom's development using blogs. My goal is to start my day exploring different blogging teachers and adding the worthy ones to my bloglines folder "Blogging in the Classroom."

Day One - Explore classroom blogging sites
Task - Document Steps for classroom teachers to download pictures of student work using the AVerMedia Document Camera 300i.

Questions & Points:

• What can be done without software installation and how?
• How to install software on laptop
• How to use the software on the laptop