Meeting Standards Through Blogging

Here are some ideas to start off this blog that aim to tie the classroom, standards and blogging together.  The ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) standards called NETS (National Educational Technology Standards) were used.  I have little experience with blogging, so please comment with any suggestions and experiences!

JOURNALING.  I am sure we can all recall some point during our education when our teachers expected us to journal [especially as students of education].  While Mead black and white marbled notebook may epitomize this commonly used reflective task, technology has transformed the art of journaling. Blogs now allow us to integrate our thoughts and opinions with images, videos, music, etc. in a single space. This deconstruction of boundaries allows for endless possibilities for expression, reflection, and making connections.

Through privacy control settings, students can create blogs that are shared with only the teacher and/or classmates. Students can also create pseudonyms for fun. Journals can focus on a variety of themes from informal creative writing to structured literary responses. A beneficial aspect of using a blog as a journal for English Language Learners (ELLs) is that they can support their writing with images and/or videos, while acquiring technological skills. There are multiple levels of engagement intended to both support and challenge ELLs. Teachers and/or students can then comment on entries with questions, comments, additional information, links, etc. Journaling can become an interactive process where students not only reflect on their own thoughts, but on others’ ideas too! It doesn’t hurt that blogs also significantly decrease the teacher's take-home pile of papers, by offering a paperless means for writing and ensure that students should always be prepared for class!

ISTE | NETS: Students are able to use their own creativity and innovation to express themselves. Students will become more familiar with technology operations and concepts, like creating, posting/commenting, and navigating a blog.

CURRENT EVENTS. After reading through several blogs...on blogging, I learned that reading is an essential component. Writing may present itself as the bulk of blogging, but reading and critical thinking are underlying skills required for meaningful and reflective posts/comments. Personally, I am an advocate of incorporating current events in the classroom. One way to connect the classroom to the world is by sharing a variety of news sources with students through a blog. For instance, the teacher can develop a class blog and post several links for articles dealing with a variety of current issues from local to global. This allows teachers to control for students' literacy levels and appropriate content. Students can then choose the topic that interests them and read the respective article. There are unlimited options for student responses depending on the nature of the task. They can post a related link, answer guided questions, pose questions, identify the main idea, analyze the structure of the text, discuss point of view, etc. Through the blog, students are exposed to current events, can work at their own pace, and most importantly, are required to read and think before posting.

Here are some links for news articles for kids:

DOGO News
National Geographic Kids
Science News for Kids

ISTE | NETS: Students will use the internet and blog to access and post research, developing information fluency.  Students will become more familiar with technology operations and concepts, like creating, posting/commenting, and navigating a blog.


 SOCIAL ACTIVISM. For the first education class of my undergraduate program, I was required to do a group activism project at the end of the semester. It was the first time I was ever asked to think of a solution to a social problem and implement it. I struggled with the idea that we were only sophomores in college and therefore, could not make any meaningful advancements regarding education. I would love to say that the project was a huge success and we solved the debate on bilingual education; however, the truth is that I could not even locate the informational website we created to include in this post. However, this project did transform my perspective on education,  my role, and my students' roles. Instilling a sense of civic duty among students became one of my life-long goals as an educator.

Fortunately, students today have the opportunity to reach an audience beyond school walls, thanks to tools like blogs. The mere notion of a global audience sends the message that what students have to say is valuable and worth sharing, embedding a purpose within the task. Teachers and students can create blogs to inform classmates and the public about an issue that they feel is important.  As many ELLs come from impoverished and/or war-torn countries, creating an activism blog can offer a sense of empowerment to students who are often marginalized. Students can work in groups to construct a blog that shares their issue with the school and community.  Working together offers students a realistic setting when problem solving that requires listening and communication skills, patience, and cooperation.

ISTE | NETS: Students will use critical thinking, problem solving and decision making skills to create a solution for a social issue.  Students will use creativity and innovation when developing and executing their action plan for social change.  Students will use/develop communication and collaboration skills while working in a team.  Students will become more familiar with technology operations and concepts, like creating, posting/commenting, and navigating a blog.