I think student interaction, collaboration, and project/inquiry based strategies would work well using blogs. I think experimentation, writing process, questioning, and constructing own knowledge would work. Direct instruction might be a bit tricky, as well as exercises and examples. It might also be tricky to conference with students individually and provide “private” feedback. I also think it would be difficult to conduct guided reading groups over a blog. Additional resources are necessary to complete these tasks and students need first-hand experience. I also think it is important for teachers to observe students reading to analyze what strategies they are using and what the next steps should be. Also, I have a few students in my class who do not have a home computer and it may be tricky for them to add their additional thoughts outside of school. I can picture using blogs with other teachers and parents. In 1st grade the prime limitation is typing. A blog where students can practice typing to express their thoughts or questions about school might be something I could incorporate. I could have a few students a day read posts, comment, and write their own post. I think it would be more like a journal with students asking questions to each other, creating a classroom community, and becoming familiar with technology. I could also integrate this into the Reading Workshop. I could have students blog about a book they would recommend to other readers and why. I could have their classmates read the blogs, comment or make additional posts about books. One area I think would be tricky to help students over a blog would be sorting and classifying. I think students need hands on manipulatives to grasp this math concept. I suppose students could post web pages that address this concept, strategies they use, or ideas of objects to sort at home on a blog. A blog would also be a great way to share WebQuests.
I think it was interesting that I said in my blog that I would want my students to respond to literature in blogs and that you mentioned that guided reading through blogs would be difficult. I was thinking of it as more open-ended responses to books they read on their own, but I also think students could respond to what they read in the classroom. You could give them a question, or choices of questions, and have them respond and then respond to each other.
ReplyDeleteI agree that access to technology would limit blog use a lot. It would be great to assign blog posts as homework, but unfair to students who do not own computers. Students could complete blogs in school, but it would be difficult for younger students because some do not have the typing skills to finish a post in a short amount of time.
I really like the idea of using the blogs to get students used to typing. I was thinking of the same thing in my classroom. We both have little ones, so it's something we have to think about. I LOVE the idea about critiquing books and responding to each others' blogs about each of the books. This sounds like a great idea, and a great way to get kids motivated to read and write about what they read about. Awesome idea!
ReplyDeleteI agree that using blogs in the classroom doesn't fit for everything especially in the younger grades where students are learning to write let alone type.
ReplyDeleteI love all of the examples that you gave of using blogs in your clasroom. I think that using blogs would fit well with in readers's workshop. It would be a great way for students to share their thinking about what they are reading.