Tech Play 1 ~ Blogging

By Definition~

A blog (in the form of a noun) is a website containing the writing of a person (or a group of people) to share opinions, observations, etc., or it could be considered as a single post or entry on a website (dictionary.com).  In my words, a blog is a platform to creatively express the thoughts, ideas, news and all other visions an author feels inspired to share with others.  It feels more like an online journal.  With a vlog, video is the primary presentation piece.  Where as a blog is lead more by text.  You can always upload video to a blog, but it won’t be the only piece of the site. Integrating a blog offers many affordances. It provides opportunities to explore and apply cognitive thinking using a different medium. It can also provide social interaction when evaluating the thoughts of other viewers, which can help settle confusion through authentic interaction one may have on a given concept when learning.    

Choices, Oh Choices~   

After seeing the many, free choices for starting a blog (overwhelming), I first reviewed Weebly.  Weebly offers a website design panel, but it seemed more geared to company profiles and not user-friendly. Also, the free set-up provided only 500MB of storage. It would cost $8 per month to move up to the next level of membership.   

Another site that caught my attention was Edublog.  It had nice appeal, so I took a peek.  The basic start-up was free, but you’re only allowed the bare minimum (post and customize the look), and the storage space is extremely limited with only 100 MB of storage. To move to the “Pro” membership it would cost $7.95 per month and allow 10GB of storage.   

WordPress was another contender to create a blog.  WordPress would be my second choice.  The free account was still limited with basic design and themes for customization, but I like that it offers a forum to answer questions (a plus for newbies).  Through WordPress I also found helpful blogs to use as reference when starting a blog.  As said, the free membership is still limited, but could be okay for starting out, the next level is only $2.99 per month.  

There are many choices out there and many are free, but you have to compare the features because not all are easy to use, especially for those with limited experience.  After spending the time comparing choices, I returned to Blogger.  I liked that it’s free, user-friendly, and doesn’t have as many limitations as some of the others reviewed.  Plus, already having a Google account made the decision much easier.   It’s very easy to create a post, and Blogger offers a scheduler if you want to post something at a specific time.  Blogger is the original interface I chose to begin my previous blog.  I’m hoping that after using it to post my reflections in the coming weeks, maybe it will give me motivation to return to my original blog.   

My Experience~

I won’t say I have zero experience with blogging because I have attempted (I say that lightly) to integrate a classroom blog (using kidblog) with my second graders, but it wasn’t easy for them to navigate and quickly lost its appeal.  I blame myself for failing because  a) I shared it with my students the first week of school (c-r-a-z-y) and  b) They could barely log in to a computer, let alone navigate through the site.  What was I thinking?  So I abandoned it and never looked back.   Then, after attending a workshop on blogging, I created an account for myself right then and there...and (again) that was where it ended.  In teaching, time is our worst enemy and you HAVE to make the time to blog or you’ll be left with no followers, outdated posts, and when you’ve been inspired to blog that amazing “something” you probably won’t remember your username and password (like me).

Student Work~

When studying graphs, the readiness standard says students must write and solve a one step addition or subtraction word problem using data presented in a picture or bar graph.  Using my blog, I would create a survey link for the students to partake, which would then turn that information into a graph for all to review.  Students would use the information to write one addition and one subtraction word problem.  Those problems could either be shared in their Google Classroom, on a padlet, or used during class to share, evaluate, discuss, and answer with peers.  Word problems can be such a struggle for many students.  The affordance of this activity is the ability of providing a real world connection. When students are more invested in the work and take ownership, they’re more committed to the learning.

Another idea for integrating my blog with student work involves students making inferences and drawing conclusions.   This is always a difficult concept for second graders.  I would use a movie clip, like this one http://viewpure.com/WjoDEQqyTig?start=0&end=0, and include a padlet link (open forum for discussion) for students to share their thinking with other students.  The padlet would include questions that fosters deeper thinking and directions for supporting their thinking using evidence from the video clip.  Completing this activity using the blog provides a few affordances.  First, it allows students to watch the video as many times as needed to capture all ideas to draw their conclusions.  They can pause, rewind, and skip to different parts of the clip as needed when providing their evidence.  Second, the padlet provides the learners an opportunity to view the thinking of others and providing time to process the information before posting their reflections.

The Mishra and Koehler SITE Keynote shared the idea of Moodle that I would love to investigate more. An open forum discussion that restricts users to see other posts until an original post is made can have a positive effect on learning. It allows students the opportunity to articulate their thoughts and ideas before reading the reflections of their peers.

I can identify with the constructivist theory of learning, and  completely agree that real world experiences make a huge impact on the way people learn.  Three years ago I moved from a school where students fell into a completely different socioeconomic status.  I didn’t realize the impact it made until I moved to my current title one campus.  Even in the smallest task of using schema to build comprehension, it blows my mind knowing some of the children have never been on a vacation.  Therefore, the only way some of these students can learn, or build on their learning is by collaborating with their peers, who share other experiences, so they can all grow.

  

Another Way~

Using a blog could be a valuable asset in reserving more class time.  I’ve always wanted to try flipping with my class.  I could use the blog to share new material, and offer links and other resources for students to explore, practice, and reflect on the the content shared before returning to class.  A blog could really be a storage center (so to speak) for collecting valuable resources we use week to week in the classroom.  That way the information is always at their fingertips, should they need to review it later.

 

Obstacles~

The most difficult obstacle I would face, coming from a title one campus, would be restricted computer access.  We share devices, and are limited with usage in time. Also, many of the students do not have home computers or tablets.   I know many parents have cell phones, but with limited data plans.  

I know the pros of integrating a blog certainly outweigh the cons, so this tool is an asset to share with students and parents in the near future. https://sites.google.com/vanalstyneisd.org/dhilleportfolio/home