At the same time, sharing ideas with other teachers at the middle school level is a valuable use of a blog. "...as educators, we must tap into the potentials that these tools give us for learning." (Richardson, 2010, p. 9) We all have different techniques and projects that have worked well with students. When we share ideas and projects with each other, we all win. The students are the biggest winners of all!
Using a blog would enhance math lessons in a couple of ways. First, students will be more conscientious and thorough if they know that their projects are on display for the world to see. They will be inspired to be more creative. They will push themselves to higher achievement. Second, when ideas are shared with other teachers, lessons will improve in content and creativity. We will be encouraged to push ourselves to higher levels of learning for our students. The blog provides the conduit to collaborate with teachers around the globe.
It is important to provide tools like blogs in the instructional context because technology is a necessary part of a student’s education. We are preparing students for a future that will be very different from what we know today. When I was in the sixth grade, blogs, wikis, and podcasts did not exist. Can we even begin to imagine what technology will be like when our students are grown? If technology is separated from learning, we do our students a great disservice. "We have the capacity to use technology to transform educational practice in ways that were impossible twenty years ago." (Thornburg, 2004) We need to make sure that education keeps pace with technology so that our students are prepared for the future.
Perhaps this blog should be named “The View from Room 1203.” When you visit, you will be able to see what is happening with my students. You will also find great ideas to use with your students. And together we can encourage the use of technology in our classrooms.
References
Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
Thornburg, D. (2004). Technology and education: Expectations, not options. (Executive Briefing No. 401). Retrieved from http://www.tcpdpodcast.org/briefings/expectations.pdf
Interesting thoughts, Deb! I wonder if your class could work with the math class that November mentions in his book, http://pc20s.blogspot.com/? (Actually, I just followed the link and it looks like he stopped using the blog after a few years. I wonder what we could learn by finding out why or what he's using now!)
ReplyDeleteHi Deb!
ReplyDeleteLove the idea to post student projects. When I first read your post student evaluations came to mind as well. When I have students create something in class I try to get the kids to do a gallery walk in order to critique their own and one another’s. This would work just as well, if not better, on a blog. It would really encourage reflection and metacognitive analysis which is such an important skill to have in the 22st century (Richardson, 2010). With a blog, class time would not have to be used. Second, students could get a feel for how something is graded and how effort can clearly be shown through the results of a piece of work. The knowledge they would gain from critiquing other’s work would be beneficial as well.
Depending on the type of project it is I also would encourage kids to check the math work on each others’ projects. I have found that students do not really look at the math itself in a piece of work they just look at the answer. I have offered prizes to kids in the past for pointing out mathematical errors; not to embarrass the student making them but to get students to read the math itself.
The challenge I see here is what I am worrying about with blogs myself and this is how you are going to post mathematical language on a blog. I know you can copy and paste from Microsoft Word but I have messed with this already and it does not come out the same. Do you plan on just uploading a document as a link or attachment? Ideas on this would be great because I would love to know myself!
Resources
Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
Sarah,I did check out the website mentioned in November's book. The level of math was much higher than what we are doing in our classroom. However, the layout and appearance of his site was attractive. There were many good ideas, too. Thank you for your post.
ReplyDeleteAmanda, mathematical language is a stumbling block for me, too. Your idea of uploading a document as a link or attachment just might be the sollution, at least in the short term. If you come across a method that works, please feel free to share! I will continue to investigate the problem also. Thank you for your post.