I've awakened just as Rip Van Winkle to find a whole new avenue of learning or time marching on while I've been a blissful dream state, except I've been asleep awake. In theory the whole idea of blogging made sense, but now, I have to really dig into this adventure and find out just how this will work for me.
In truth I've found several concerning things about this blogging, or online process of the information cyber highway. One is that the whole information age can bring about new problems both for myself and for my students. Really, who would have thought that my kids would want to tape portions of my lectures or even my discipline practices to put on Youtube? Why would they even want to do that? I feel like a liability waiting to happen at this very moment. But, I also know, now, because someone did take time to post this, that there are options for me to take to prevent future problems or at least foresee them. For my students, bullying is as common as going to high school; however, it has never crossed my mind that there is a place for cyber bullying as well. It's almost as if our students are not safe anywhere. Hate this I do. Now, I can be better prepared to make the "blogging" that my kids will do a safe task.
Reading through these blogs seemed to take no time at all, and I think that would be a plus for our students. Additionally, it also gives students an opportunity to respond to what they've read in a meaningful constructive way. And they can do it at a touch of a button without having to actually be in class to make meaningful discoveries about what they are studying. I do like the fact that as a type of research tool one is able to link up to another blog they want others to look at while reading their own blog to make a point that much more clear. It takes out some of the tediousness of a works cited or even parenthetical citations.
Blog writing is similar in many ways to the writing I expect my students to produce every day. Writing should be a process of choosing the best words and putting on paper ideas and conclusions they may draw from a reading assignment. The mode or where they write it is different, but the end result is the same. It matters not if it's on paper or on this blog. In fact I find myself writing more here myself than I would if I put a pen to paper. Is this a bad thing? I'm reading blogs, thinking about the ways in which they are used, and coming up with my own conclusions about their relevancy. Aren't all of these skills on our TEKS? And all the while it doesn't feel like I'm really working. Go figure.
I have to make one more note about the addition of art from students as an aide to their thoughts and feelings and being able to post that on a blog. Though I thought this mode of learning would be more useful to upper grade levels, the elementary levels have found some astonishing ways to help their young students to think, interpret through drawing, predict, and reflect on this duck, even if their grammar isn't perfect. Nor is the teacher afraid to post this "work in progress".
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I hadn't thought about how much simpler the linking to other sites was compared to citing and work cited, but you're right. When I was doing Thing 11 I think (Flickr stuff), I got into a rhythm of finding, copying, pasting, downloading that was much faster than looking up where the comma goes and where the colon goes, which I could then see has been tedious for years. Look how MLA wants us to cite our internet sources--could it be a bigger pain in the butt? No wonder no one wants their students to use internet source, citing them is a royal pain.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I too write more when I am blogging than I might on paper. Somehow, this must translate to the kids, and we should be able to use it to our advantage. . .
I really did not jump to the social consequences of the blogosphere for students. Are we (the world) creating a space for social understanding between superficially confrontational groups or are we allowing one more avenue for teasing and harrassment? I am hopeful for the former. I want the anonymity of the cyber world to allow for connections between disparate people to be formed without the pressures of "how I dress, the color of my skin, my speech pattern". A brave new world? Perhaps.
ReplyDeleteAs you have pointed out and Salinger has acknowledged, I, too, write more when blogging than I would if I had to take pen to paper. I don't know why, but I do. Maybe it is the informal environment, or perhaps it is the fact that I'm amongst friends, want to be helpful, and enjoy the sharing atmosphere. As an optimist, I see how our students, too, can engage in the writing/sharing/creating activity, and without a doubt it would be beneficial to those who make the effort. The diligent students will write and share and offer suggestions and insight; they will grow and learn. However, the realist keeps whispering in my ear that the lameos, on the other hand, will just make irrelevant, superficial remarks. I've come across some of these remarks offered by learned adults. I can't imagine what the kids will do. Overall, the benefits outweigh the negatives, and since when, do we let the lameos decide on the path we should take?
ReplyDeleteExcellent post and thoughtful comments. I love how you are all looking at the positives and negatives in order to figure out how best to use this with your students and keep them safe. Even a pencil and paper can be used for bullying - remember slam books? Just because some use this new technology for ill, shouldn't keep us from using it for good.
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