Blogging is one of those technologies that it is unfortunate the students embraced before the educators realized it's potential. Social blogging, and the media focus on it's negative aspects, created a stereotype of blogs as uneducated ramblings focused on weekends of inebriation, rife with misspellings and bad grammar. To make matters worse, young bloggers often revealed more about themselves than was prudent, with the potential for disastrous results. Added to this, of course, are examples of students publishing negative information about district teachers or the district itself.
The negative reputation of blogs has been difficult to surmount, even as a growing number of teachers are finding creative uses for blogging in the educational environment. Certainly there are students who are much more motivated to author blog entries than to complete a simple wordprocessing assignment. The shared development opportunities, in which other classmates or even students from other countries, allow for some very creative group dynamic scenarios. As we are able to offer more positive examples of blogs, such as group collaboration on a creative writing projects, language projects that involve students in another country, or history projects in which class members assume the roles of specific characters and "discuss" the events of another time, or even something less creative like a district technology director using a blog to offer technology integration ideas to teachers, we will be able to get beyond this negative stigma.
To use the old standard, "the train has left the station" and our students are already on board. It's time for us to join them by finding creative ways to apply this relatively new technology in our classrooms.
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3 comments:
Amen! We have about 12 teachers blogging. Well...we have 12 teachers with blogs. Some have not "blogged" recently. One has not posted anything yet, but has one!
I have to admit I can find regular posting a challenge, too. Regardless of the value you see in blogging, balancing family commitments and the "day job" sometimes prevent regular blog updates. Then I'll get inspired or get some time (a break or long weekend) and I'll try to make up for lost time.
At least they're making the attempt, which is really saying something because with the workload teachers can be under even trying can be a major commitment.
Mr. Schiska, you raise several key points in To Blog or not To Blog… And yes, “…That is the question.”
I have recently discovered blogging under the direction of my university professor. The class, C&I 401: Instructional Media and Technology, has thrown me into the world of blogging! As a first grade teacher I see opportunities for my students to be involved in blogging with other classrooms around the world. Reading, writing, and social studies could be covered in ‘just one blog’. Unfortunately, time constraints and lack of adult supervision while managing the classroom as a whole, are definite constraint to what could be a highly motivating experience.
As I write, excuse me, blog, I wonder how blogging between students could be incorporated into a learning center. I am limited to three computers in the classroom, but have access to the computer lab once a week for thirty minutes. You appear to have a superior knowledge of technology and blogging, and wonder if you have any words of wisdom for a mature student with limited technological experience… Perhaps the title of the class, for me, should be C&I 101!
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