Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Blogging in the Classroom

"We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master."
-- Ernest Hemingway



The Problem of Student Buy-In and Writing Practice
As teachers we tout the importance of writing well all the time. We want to work under the assumption that unless you write something well and convey your ideas clearly, no one will want to read it, and if they do read it, they won't understand it and will assume you're unintelligent.  But people communicate their thoughts, ideas, feelings, hopes, dreams, and reflections on bowel movements all the time with little regard for the Standard English language. People post; and what one person posts, at least fifty other people will read just because it's in their Newsfeed. Largely, the Epic Fails and Damn-You-Auto-Corrects aside, the people reading the posts (tweets, texts, etc.) do understand what the writer was trying to communicate, even if the 6 Traits haven't been exemplified.

So we're up at the whiteboard insisting that students strive for perfection and that the consequences of improper grammar usage and incorrect conventions are dire. But we'll never convince students in the 21st century that they have to write well or get passed up for jobs, write well or no one will understand what you're trying to communicate. They know from their real-world experience that these insistences are not true. The only consequence we can really back up is that if you don't write well, you won't get a good grade on this assignment, and the threat of a bad grade reaches and motivates a very limited number of students.  What we need to do is make students aware of the different language registers and teach them what type of writing style is more appropriate and more effective for different situations.

Once students understand which register and what type of style are appropriate for a task (whether it's a business letter or a status update), they have the power to choose to apply the appropriate writing techniques. Students get plenty of practice writing in the informal register in their personal lives. In school, we have to focus on the neutral and the formal registers. And developing these skills takes practice.

I decided to have my students blog, using Google Blogger, all year to get practice writing about something that they're interested in. I thought that there would be more buy-in for out-of-class writing homework every week if they were entirely in control of the topic. I also wanted them to have different experiences with social media. We discussed the fact that people will read what you write on Facebook because they're your friends and family-- they're interested in you! People will read your blog if they're interested in the same thing/s you're interested in. Blogging puts you into a different social group and gives you the chance to be part of a global dialogue about something that you have deemed important.

The Assignment

 I've posted pics from my bulletin board below a) because I'm too lazy to organize the documents themselves, or b) because I can't get enough of this Orange and Teal Wild Moroccan theme from Teacher Created Resources-- you pick! The bulletin board outlines the assignment, requirements, and expectations. It also gives a few examples that were useful for me to illustrate my expectations.  Here's a brief overview of the assignment:


  • 5 paragraphs of original posts every week. You can write a paragraph per day, or five all at once. If you write more than one paragraph at a time, the paragraphs must be related and your Ideas & Content and Organization should reflect that relationship.
  • 1 Blog Response paragraph every week. Find another blog online, read an interesting post, and write a one-paragraph response that will add to the conversation. Screen shot your published response and Gmail it to me with subject line: Blog Response. 








Prep To Start Blogging in the Classroom:

 First, decide if you want to blog just for your class (discussion-board style) , or if you want students to create blogs for themselves that are visible to everyone on the web. My students are using Google Blogger and their blogs are out there, public, for all the world to see.

Because my students' blogs are public, we spent time in class discussing digital citizenship (with a focus on why and how we cite our sources) and safety concerns (e.g., do not post specific personal details about yourself, friends, family, town, etc.).

But before we even set up our blogs, we checked out other people's blogs. We looked at The Pioneer Woman so I could show them a successful blog that shows off lots of one person's interests. We also looked at Glasgow to the Movies so that I could show them a blog dedicated to one subject-- movie reviews.

I assigned them this Blog Sheet, which instructs them to find a blog about something that they might be interested in blogging about so they could see, and think critically about another example before they started their own.


We spent time in class setting up on Blogger (most of my students already had Google Accounts from other activities we've done). Then I reviewed the assignment again, emphasizing that this is all out-of-class writing practice, and set them loose.



Reflections After 4 Weeks of Blogging
"You cannot teach a man anything, you can only help him discover it within himself."
Galileo Galilei

This blogging project has had mixed success, but overall I am pleased with the outcome so far. Some students still have yet to post to their blogs, even though they are frequently reminded that it is a requirement. We have already had parent-teacher conferences and the negligent students' suffering grades were discussed. As always, some PTC interactions were very beneficial and productive, others less so. Seeing students decide not to do their work and decide to fail is always discouraging. I'll continue to offer every means of support, encouragement, insistence that I can to persuade them to participate. Wish me luck!

Regarding the students who have blogged, I am amazed. They are performing better than I had expected, and I always expect great things from them. Getting to read their opinions and reflections about topics near and dear to their own hearts is eye-opening. It's also exhausting-- 6 paragraphs a week does not seem like that much to write. But 6 paragraphs x 22 students is a lot to read! I'm enjoying every minute of it, though. I am very proud of them. And I can already see improvement in their critical thinking and their 6-Trait skills. I've had several students tell me that they didn't expect to like blogging, but they do. Teacher Grinch (you know, when your heart grows three sizes?)! They frequently check to see how many page views they have, where their views are from, and one student came to me with his first comment from a total stranger. I don't know which one of us was more excited about it-- probably me. The most important thing we can do as teachers is help make students feel valued and successful in the present so that they want to go out and be valuable and successful in the future. This blogging project is bringing the rest of the world in on that goal! 

For those of you who are interested, here are the links to our class blogs:

Please view and enjoy!


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Thursday, September 11, 2014

10 Things You Don't Know About Me


1.  I’m from Montana, but I moved around a lot growing up because my dad is in the Army.

2.  I have two sisters, two brothers-in-law, a perfect niece and a precious nephew. My immediate and extended family is physically all spread out (sisters in Montana and Kansas, my parents are in Norway, aunts, uncles, and cousins are all over), but we’re very close and involved in each other’s lives. Thank you, Skype!

3.  I started studying Russian in college so I could travel there one day with my best friend. We’ve both been to Russia now, but we’ve never been together.

4.  After graduating from the University of Montana (Go Griz!), I wanted to move to Seattle. I applied to grad school there but wasn’t accepted. I was accepted to the University of Kansas (Go Jayhawks!) Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures. I got my Master’s degree there and continued with Ph.D. coursework. However, two more years into my studies I decided what I really wanted to do was be a high school humanities teacher.

5. I moved to Alaska because a) it seemed like an exciting place to live, and b) they had a great alternative certification program for people in other careers who wanted to become teachers. I finished all the requirements for the program (AKT2- Alaska Transition to Teaching) this past summer (2014).

6.  The AKT2 program trained teachers for rural Alaska areas, a.k.a. The Bush. I ended up on St. Paul Island out in the middle of the Bering Sea. I teach middle school and high school English/Language Arts, Russian Language, and various history and social studies classes at St. Paul School.

7.  My philosophy of education is rooted in Pragmatism. I believe that the purpose of thought and learning is action and practical application.

8. I also take a leaf out of the Cognitivist/Constructivist book—I think that learners of all ages construct their own understanding of reality by interacting within their environments and then reflection on actions and circumstances.

 9.  Above all, my role as the teacher is to make sure I provide a space for students to develop social/emotional awareness and intelligent behaviors in a safe and encouraging environment.

10.  I decided to blog about my career as a teacher and my ongoing attempts at greatness in the classroom for two main reasons: 1. I use teacher blogs (and other sites and pins) for ideas all the time. I rarely comment on anything I find or use. Before starting this blog, I wasn’t contributing to the global conversation at all—I was all take and no give. 2. I am having all of my Language Arts students blog this year as a way to connect and be part of a dialogue with people beyond St. Paul Island about the things they’re interested in, as well as to get structured weekly writing practice outside of class. As my students set up their blogs, some of them asked me what my blog was about—so I had to create one! I hope it gives me good writing practice, too, as well as a place to share, overshare, and reflect. 
 

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