Blog Post for 9/22

I have no idea where to begin as far as a final project. I feel like there is so much to learn; most of this is brand-new to me! At the same time, I'd like to learn something well before I teach it to my students. After the first class session, I was gung-ho about trying some new things in class, but then I realized I need to be able to answer students' questions and concerns in order to introduce them to these things.

At this time, I am most comfortable with the blog and could see a lot of possibilities for a final project in creating a unit for my students on an author study in which they would create their own blogs. I'd like them to blog about their reading of a text by that author. I'd like them to create links to other sources of information on the author, upload pictures (and possibly videos or podcasts). The students would also be required to follow each others' blogs and comment on several each day. Clearly, I would need to work out a lot details, but this is a possibility.

Another possibility would be to further explore using the ning in my classroom. I'd love to set up social networks around specific book titles and facilitate literature circles online. I'd envision requiring students to sign in nightly and chat, ask questions about, or react to their book. Again, I think there will be a lot more possibilities that will open up once I am more familiar with the ning.

In order to conduct background research, I'd start with the Education Full-Text database. Typically, this is where I do the brunt of my research because it's easily accessible and reliable. I also subscribe to the Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, and I would thumb through my collection in order to look for another source. Though this certainly isn't a very efficient research method, I always find very useful research and don't mind the distractions (if it isn't the last minute)! I generally do not do research in the library, simply because of the inconvenience. However, I think I'd rather welcome a challenge which would require me to dig further. I've just never needed to.

Generally, searching the Internet is my last resort. It's actually quite time-consuming to wade through all the possible sources on the Internet, and from merely my personal point of view, it always feels a little less than valid to cite Internet sources. Clearly, I'll need to overcome this because there is a wealth of valid, useful information on the Internet!

The rules I use for checking validity and reliability are the same ones I teach my students. I generally avoid ".com" URLS or sights that include advertisements. I always look for an author or institute that sponsors the page and search the author/foundation separately to validitate the source. By skimming through the text, I can tell if its well-written and reasonable, which also indicates reliability. Finally, it is useful to double-check information with other sources when possible.

Bloglines, Google Reader, and Delicious are all brand-new to me! I set up accounts on each of them, though I'd prefer to really familiarize myself with one rather than experiment with too many at once. I started with Bloglines, and added a number of interesting blogs, most of which focus on the teaching of English or middle school or technology. I thought subscribing to these would be a quick task, but I was quickly absorbed in the blogs and ended up gathering all sorts of tidbits for my classroom. I'll probably work on Delicious next. I feel like I have so many ideas, so many passwords and usernames, so many wonderful websites... It would be nice to connect them all together! It sounds like Delicious will help me do that!

Blog Post for 9/15

Though I have never kept a blog or even subscribed to a blog, my family members have been urging me to blog for years. I am a storyteller by nature, and they prodded me to tell stories online. For some reason--one that's still unknown even to me--I've been resistant to the idea. And yet over the past two years--as I see the relevance and even reliance of my students on popular social networking sites--I can envision huge positive implications to using a blog in my classroom. Thus I am now eager to learn and utilize blogs as much as possible in my classroom.

As a 7th grade English and Reading teacher, I have noticed a definite increase in my students' motivation when assignments incorporate technology. I would definitely like to start by using blogs to discuss books--either independent reading choices or even literature circle choices. I feel like this would give students a format to dialogue, react, and think critically about their reading. I could also use this as an opportunity to incorporate critical lenses in my discussion forums, which are a part of my professional learning community's learning targets for the year. Finally, blogging also appeals to different learning styles than typical book projects.

Some of my initial reservations have stuck with me. I am nervous about confidentiality issues, as well as the monitoring of comments. I think I would need to approve anything before it's posted, so I'd like to learn how to do that in a timely and effecient manner. I hope this does not become an overwhelming task. I also want to ensure that students aren't using their real names, but at the same time, I'd like to develop a record-keeping system to ensure that they receive credit for the work they do. Again, I am sure there are easy and efficient ways to do so, and I am eager to familiarize myself with them.

Using digital writing is something I am ready to explore both personally and professionally as I move forward. However, I have limited ideas on how to use this, most likely because I have such limited experiences with blogs. Perhaps my initial step should be to subscribe to and peruse a variety of blogs in order to explore ideas for my own writing and for my students' writing.