This past Monday I was contacted by my schools local LST and informed that I could proceed with my private classroom blog through www.classpress.com. Needless to say I am excited but also nervous. My goal to develop a community of learners is about to take shape. After comparing many similar avenues through edublog and wiki spaces I chose classpress because of such features as drop box, unlimited classes and students, can buddy up with another Health teacher in my school, it is kid safe, filtered content, no ads, does not publish to the web unless I want to, I see all responses, have access to all usernames and passwords, and many other features. In short I can have complete control over the blog and motivate them to use it in a productive way. Students can design their own page with their favorite colors, sports heroes, movie stars, and even their own avatars. My goal this week is to educate them in the lab to the blog and it's possiblities and next week to begin by asking a discussion question based upon our content and each student must post an answer on their page that three students must respond to, much the same as we do weekly in this class. The intent is to develop this community where students are depending on their classmates to help them solve and clerify open ended questions. As far as new questions that have come up, the idea of monitoring has been solved in my mind through the site and my interview with two middle school teacher I found in our system that use this site. If any of you are doing a similar blog or wiki what issues have you had? What advice could you offer?
John
HS Health
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Theo to John
ReplyDeleteHello John. First, I would like to apologize for not writing to your blog sooner. I saw that you had updated your blog; but then did not immediately add you to my Google Reader account. Consequently, I did not access your updates as quickly as I would have liked. Second, I wanted to offer my hopes that your mother’s health is steadily improving. Being the child of older parents, I empathize with worrying about parents’ health. Hopefully your biggest concern now will be our current course.
Although I do not know much about teaching high school health, a class blog appears to be a sound idea for your subject area. I remember health being a very challenging course because it required knowledge of so many different areas. One would have to know the different parts of the body, how the different systems of the body worked and interacted with each other, and how the body can be affected by one’s environment and decisions. A health blog would not only assist students with learning information about all these complex ideas that your class offers, but also help them with assisting each other with concepts with which they are struggling as well. In regards to blogs, Cennamo, Ross, and Ertmer (2009) note that “students will need guidance on what and how to post” (p.74). Therefore your idea of first educating students at the computer lab about the different possibilities that blogs offer is a great one.
I can understand why educating students on blogs would make you nervous. When you became certified to teach, you probably never envisioned that you would be teaching technology skills if you are close to my age. However, you appear to have the essentials of your endeavor resolved. You are teaming up with a teacher in your school; if you begin to be overwhelmed with your blogging experience, your colleague can offer his or her advice or support. Classpress appears to offer all the essentials that a teacher would wish to have, such as password protection, publishing options, and ways for students to incorporate sound and video. While I have no advice to give, I did find two ways to enhance your students’ blogging experience that you may wish to consider. The first is through Twitter. Richardson (2009) expresses that when Twitter is employed in learning scenarios properly it becomes “…a running river of conversation that…[binds]…connections to the [learning] community and…makes… the network even more palpable” (p.86). Twitter (2009) offers a way to use Classpress with twittering; perhaps your students might become more engrossed in your class by using Twitter in tandem with your class blog idea.
The second way is to link Classpress through Facebook. Facebook (2010) offers a way to implement its site with Classpress- although I anticipate that if your students’ are already using Twitter, they will probably not want to incorporate it into their Facebook as well. In addition, some schools block Facebook, which may cause additional complications with your blog-project. Regardless, you may wish to investigate how these two sites might enhance your students’ learning experience once you are more comfortable with what you are you doing with Classpress. I am eager to learn about your blog-experience! Best wishes!
Theo
ISS MS
References
Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach (Laureate Education custom edition). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.
Facebook. (2010). Classpress is on Facebook. Retrieved from http://www.facebook.com/pages/ClassPress/102207790201
Richardson, W. (2009). Blogs, wikis, podcasts and other powerful web tools for classrooms (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Twitter. (2009). Hey there! Classpress is using Twitter! Retrieved from http://twitter.com/classpress
John,
ReplyDeleteWhen teachers start up a BLOG with their students it provides a great way to integrate technology into the classroom. I do understand you being a bit scared. Do you have the parents involved with this project at all? Working through the passwords and having full control will eliminate many headaches I am sure. I am very interested in hearing about how Classpress works. Maybe I will get the nerve to step forward and create a BLOG for my class next year. In our readings this week they remind us that no matter how or what we teach when we include technology we need to make sure we use it to assist the students in learning the content (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009). I think integrating the BLOG into your classroom will definitely enhance their learning. Keep us informed; I will look forward to hearing of your progress. Good Luck!
Deborah
Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technologuy Integration for Meaningful Classroom Use. Mason: Cengage Learning.
John I understand your excitement and apprehension of starting a blog. I feel the same way of the first portion of my game plan as well, and I am only having students’ journal their reaction to current world events. As we work with new technologies and incorporate them into our class routine these feelings only seem normal and appropriate. Have you thought of the type of response you will have your students posting? Cennamo, Ross and Ertmer (2009) suggest that “blogs can help students practice and demonstrate different styles of communication, especially through writing”( p74). Maybe creating different response activities to a question on the blog will assist your students in becoming better writers and bloggers. I know from experience I would not have my students write and essay, I would start with a simple paragraph and keep adding to it week after week. Good Luck.
ReplyDeleteReferences
Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technologuy Integration for Meaningful Classroom Use. Mason: Cengage Learning.
Theo, Deborah, and Kelli,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments and suggestions. I am becoming bolder I guess. My students are really enjoying the class blog. We have not considered anything outside of classpress as of yet. I believe I will stick to a conservative approach this year and try and learn the good and the bad and maybe within the parameters of our system before expanding. My parents can access and see what their children are blogging and a few have even dropped emails to me. My kids think it is very cool and are beginning to get more and more involved. Stay tuned and keep the suggestions coming.
John