To Blog or not to Blog?
Blogging is not something that I have ever really thought about before. I felt too old or it was too complicated or I just didn’t have time. Really, what it was - was I just didn’t think it was important enough for me to take the time to learn. So prior to this class assignment I have never blogged before, despite having read many blog posts of others. And, Wiki, (baaaahaaaa) I didn’t even know what that was until I Googled it. After I did I showed it to another one of my teacher friend’s and she said, “Wiki is MySpace and Google Classroom is Facebook.” I got that comparison.... no really I did.
Currently in my classroom, I have a class website that has a similar function available to blogging and I’ve only posted reminders for the class. But now, having researched blogs and seen how easy it is to do, I’m excited to implement blogging into my course curriculum. I either will use Tumblr to blog or get the blog aspect set up on my website. I am extremely enthusiastic to see how the kids respond. I’d like to blog about a particular topic we are discussing in class but in a way that it causes the students to have to really think about the subject and to ask questions of their own. I’d like to see it turn into discussions and debates on different subjects.
Since receiving this assignment I’ve looked into several other technology tools that would help me enrich the curriculum in my class and help in general to promote the writing skills of my students. One in particular tool I found is a website that allows you to create “Fakebook” pages. The page is built just like a regular Facebook page however, a student would build it off the information that they researched on a certain subject or person. This would require them to dig deeper into the subject matter and be able to convey it to anyone who would read the page.
I’ve also become a little more familiar with all things Google and am quite impressed by the different things that can be accomplished with all that they have to offer. I’d like to have the students build and write a Google Slides presentation to teach a particular subtopic of what we are discussing. I believe that the students having to build and write a lesson to teach the class will help them understand a topic in a way they may not previously have been able to do so.
Since researching this topic for class, I have seen so many incredible tech tools that I never even had a clue existed. But now, I’m excited for summer to come for a whole new reason!!! I will have plenty of time to research and learn how to use these tools in my classroom.