C. What do you see as the educational value of blogs in the classroom

Blogs can be useful to the classroom as well as the personal life. Blogs can help students to keep up with what they are learning. Many times students forget waht they learned about on the previous day. This can help them to see how they are progressing. There progress can be looked at by any parenet or administrator that wants to see.

Outside the classroom blogs can be used as a journal or a planner or just to keep up with the progress in your daily lives.

The teacher should of course be the administrator. The person that makes sure that everything is on schedule and appropriate.

A. What did you learn from this blogging experience about yourself and about blogs as tools for teaching and learning?

Blogging is a powerful tool is used appropriaely. It can help to increasestudent learning by increasing the amount of information they have on a certain subject. What I mean is studenbts can get a variety of information from many different sources. People from many different backgrounds and professions can comment and give there poitn of view. The other main detail I feel is useful when dealing with blogs is the fact that blogs enable a user to maintain all the information in one place. Many times research ends up in many different spots. This is not useful when looking at the overall research.

One of the things that I found that was negative about blogs is that you have to keep up when it and make sure that your are posting information or the blog will die. If it has the same information all the time the blog is useless. I really enjoyed bloggin and plan on creating my own.

As for myself I learned that I am not very good at keeping up with the posts.Therefore a regular blog probably is not for me because it did not grab my attnetion. I read the information but I looked at it all as just an opinion. Even when it had a source. This tool probably does teach opthers but I didnt feel like I was learning from this part of the project.

The Educational Value of Blogs

I think that blogs can serve many educational purposes both inside and outside the classroom. The teacher should be both a creator and a facilitator of the blogging experience while students can be both creators and the ones that interacts with blogs already set-up by the teacher. Currently, I operate a classroom blog that communicates information like test dates, homework assignments, and upcoming events to my parents and students. My blog that operates off typepad.com is not an interactive tool, but simply a means for me to communicate information. However, I think that blogs can be so much more. I can see a classroom blog being used for homework assignments every night. Students might have to go on and post a thoughtful reply to a question or prompt. Most of all, I can see my students actually creating their own blogs. For example, as a S.S. project for the unit we just finished up on American Growth and Expansion, students could create a blog on the topic. They would have a required number of posts on specific and curriculum-based topics within the unit. They have the capabilities to post pictures with their posts as well. Then when the test rolls around, they have an excellent study tool to look back on. My students would have a great time responding, correcting, and adding to eachother's postings along the way
Unfortunately, when blogs become interactive,you are entering into a whole new arena with issues of safety to consider. The teacher would probably have to monitor all posts and replies that were made and make sure the blogs remain private. The possibilities for blogs in education are endless!

Blog Features

As I first set-up my blog, I was amazed at all the different options available for us to choose from. I like how Blogger already had design layouts for you; this makes it easy on someone like me that can be design challenged at times. I also enjoyed the automatic spell checker as I typed out my posts. It seems that Blogger is connected to many different Web 2.0 technologies on the internet. This made it easy for me to do things like embed my Voicethread example into my post. Finally, I enjoyed how you can personalize your profile by uploading your picture. It's nice to be able to put a face with a name while viewing and responding to blogs.

What I Learned about Blogs

As our semester comes to a close, I can honestly say that my blogging experience has been a great one. Blogger makes it incredibly easy to form and maintain your own blog. Throughout this semester, I have relied on my blog to express my thoughts and ideas on what we are learning and how it connects to my own classroom. I was surprised about how much I depended on my blog as a means to express my thoughts and feelings; being able to get those out can be liberating at times. One of the nice things about the blog is that it now becomes a record of my journey throughout this semester.

What do you see as excellent features of the blog you participated and why? What stands out from this blogging experience for you?

The only features of a blog I found were excellent was the fact that it allowed the user to quickly comment on any topic. There was not a certain amount you had to type or a certain topic to type on. Anyone could type in the blog if they were invited. The invite part was kind of confusing. I think it would betrter if you let any intersted user post to your blog and you could delete the ones that were not relavent. Another feature I enjoyed was the fact that you can follow certain blogs easily. This makes it easier to check in quickly as to what was posted. If a user is able to check in quickly I think that they will be more inclined to log on.This can get the participation rate up.
Honestly what stands out to me is the possiblities. I never knew about. You can make a blog out of anything on any subject. Once i get into it I think that a blog will be very detailed.

Reflections on PBL

As our PBL Project draws to a close, I am left with many thoughts and ideas when it comes to implementing this model in my own classroom. Since student projects are a cornerstone of my teaching as it is, I don't think it would be too hard of a transition to make the learning more authentic and connected for my students. An immediate thought that come to mind when I think of project-based learning is all the time that must go into planning the projects. Nowadays we have to be super-focused on our teaching standards. Is it possible to cover all our teaching standards using the PBL model? If I could get my entire grade-level team on board to try out PBL, I imagine some powerful planning could take place if we all put our heads together to create worthwhile and real-world projects for our kids to engage in.

There is no doubt in my mind that kids are more engaged when they are the ones creating and doing. I can see that in every project we do. However, I think an aspect of PBL that I still struggle with is handing over the reins to my students. I agree that they should be able to pursue their interests and are more engaged that way, but what about the students that lack direction? I think some students are comforted by the more traditional rubric that I provide to them with every assignment. It gives them security in their learning because they know exactly what to do on every assignment. I can see students like that struggling at first in a more PBL environment. I am looking forward to using the knowledge I have gained through the development of my activity plan, the collaboration with my group, and the PBL readings we have done. As I gain more confidence in the process, I can see my students benefiting greatly in both their learning and their engagement.

PBL Article

I found and read an article titled Why Teach with Project Learning?: Providing Students With a Well-Rounded Classroom Experience by Edutopia. This article explains all the qualities of Project-Based Learning in an easy to understand way. PBL incorporates many different subject areas into one project and includes real-world issues and problems that the students must examine and pursue. Students may work collaboratively on projects which hones communication and teamwork skills. Engaging in PBL could inspire students to look deeper at topic areas that interest them or may even inspire a future career choice. Importance lies in students being able to connect what they are learning in school to what is going on in the "real-world." PBL is a great way to make learning more authentic, and thus, more engaging for students.

Revised PBL Idea

After really delving into the sixth grade curriculum, my PBL idea radically shifted. My activity ended up being a cross-curricular activity that covers state standards in both Math and Language Arts. Students are composing a persuasive essay to convince their principal that middle schoolers need recess. Along with the essay, students will be conducting research across their grade level as to what playground equipment is desired and will be used the most by the sixth grade students. Using the data they collected, the students will be creating a graph using Excel to organize their information. Lastly, using the results of their survey, students will be creating a scaled drawing of the play area and how it should be designed. As a culmination, an architect or builder should come visit the sixth graders to explain the importance of doing market research and using a detailed plan as a foundation for a future project.

Thoughts on eLearning

As I educated myself on eLearning through Egbert, I had several thoughts towards the topic. As an eLearner myself, I can definitely agree that by nature, eLearning is very flexible and places a lot of control into the hands of the learner. This is a great feature that I enjoy with my constantly hectic schedule. I'm just not sure I can see the flexibility serving younger learners. I try to teach time management and work habits to my fifth graders, but many still struggle with this developing skill. Many of my students struggle when I gave them flexibility in their current learning environment; some are better with strict structure. The flexibility piece can clearly be a blessing or a curse I think. Furthermore, in an eLearning setting, students are required to be responsible in part for their own learning. I think this responsibility is still in progress in many of my students. Without being face to face with their teacher every day, many of mine would struggle in this area even more than they do now. Egbert also mentions how shy students can shine in an eLearning environment. I can see several of my students who may be too reserved to contribute in class, thrive in a more virtual setting. There is something about the comfort of being at a distance that can help some come out of their shell. In conclusion, eLearning works great for me, but I can see it having a slower start with younger learners.