Thoughts On Blogging
Karl introduced Blogging to you. Maybe some of you know how to blog and others don't. How do you feel about using blogging as a means of journaling? Compare it to last semester and journaling every week. Are you comfortable? Any questions?
One more thing to think about...How can you or have you utilized your Mentor? How about your Instructional Coaches? Remember, we are here for a reason!
One more thing to think about...How can you or have you utilized your Mentor? How about your Instructional Coaches? Remember, we are here for a reason!
posted by melissa m.o. at 8:47 AM
20 Comments:
testing...
I have used them as a sounding board for ideas I may have as the year has progressed....
I thought using blogging would have been a great idea at the beginning of the year. This way as problems arise with new teachers would could have posted a question or concern that we had and we could have gotten immediate feedback from other new teacher and the mentors. Having to make reflective journals were good, but I think most of us were overwhelmed with questions and did not have enough time to make quality reflections.
I’m happy that we will be using blogging as apposed to journaling. I like the fact that I can build off what others have said and people can give me feedback on what I have said. Also, I don’t have a lot of experience with blogging so it will be nice to get an understanding on what it’s all about.
I think an advantage blogging offers us is the opportunity to respond to each other’s idea. This is something that journaling can’t really offer. I looking forward to seeing what other new teachers are thinking.
By posting to the “world,” commenting on a blog may require more thoughtful responses (not that I didn’t think about what I was writing before). My comfort level will be impacted a bit just because of the public nature of blogs.
Of course, an additional benefit of participating in this blog is the opportunity to “trial” what it is like to be in a blog prior to attempting to use one with students.
I am interested to see how the blogging works instead of journaling. The journaling felt like it allowed me more time to respond to the multi-part questions that are often posed. Call me old fashioned, but blogging feels a little rushed to me and I find my self spending a lot of time to write very little that I don't think is as reflective.
I think there is a value to the group communication of blogging where you can get feedback and suggestions from peers, mentors, instructional coaches, and others. Journaling did allow a forum for bringing up issues that new teachers may feel uncomfortable bringing up in a large group or public setting. You have to get past a lot of pride to ask what you perceive as a stupid question to ask it on a blog, but maybe that's just me.
I've been using my mentor for guidance and feedback. I'm looking forward to meeting with Melissa who observed my World Civilizations class yesterday to discuss the lesson and her observations of my teaching. One thing I can say is that I feel really supported here at Arapahoe and it's a stark contrast from where I was before.
Journaling and blogging seem very different to me just in their nature. As we are all aware, blogging is a public forum so everything posted must be well thought out and not just a knee-jerk or emotional reaction. Journaling was benefical for me in releasing those emotions. There is no doubt that the content of my comments on the blog will be different from my journals. One benefit of blogging is to share new experiences with others as well as ask and respond to questions.
My mentor has been absolutely wonderful. I really don't know what I would do without her. Because I work in more of an office envrionment, I interact with her continuously during the day. She helped me survive first semester, so here we go!
In relationship to change, I think this blogging exercise will be great practice for me. I was more comfortable with the journal; however, I think this will be beneficial for me in the long run. It will be interesting to see how my students view blogging. I wonder about how a special services student will handle the stress of a blog as an assignment. Also, I think I will need to be very specific about what should and should not be included in a blog with my students. I think it would be a good idea to have them start a journal first and slowly incorporate the journal writing into a blog (similar to the new teacher format, however, the journal would be written for the public).
Personally, I prefer not to journal on a blog. Reflective journaling is most beneficial to me if it is kept confidential. Journaling is more of a catharsis than a well thought out response and would not be appropriate for a blog. To contrast, on a blog I can see myself asking questions, giving feedback, debating issues, and discussing ideas.
Thanks for the thoughtful effort you have already begun in sorting out the value of blogging versus a personal journal. I do believe they each serve very different functions and we have not taken private journals off of the table. We waited to introduce this as an option because it can be overwhelming entering a new culture to introduce you to all of that as well as blogging. Second, there were expectations we were to meet 1st semester that allowed for very little time to introduce this. As it was, and hour+ was not even enough time to do the topic justice but we felt we needed to dive in.
Our profession can be a very isolating experience, especially in a buliding of our size, and makes it very challenging to move outside our curricular area to take the time to get to know each other and then to share great thinking that will benefit both kids educationally, as well as us professionally. Hopefully, blogging will allow us that forum. It is up to us to make it a meaningful exercise and I look forward to our future "conversations". Thanks for being open and honest in our initial endeavor.
I like what Patrick said, at the beginning would have been beneficial to say hey, does anyone know where blank is? But I think we have all been doing it in our own way through e-mail anyway.
Last semester I tried blogging out a few times but this semester am more dedicated. I managed to get my lower levels into the lab yesterday and had them do practice blogs to get used to it and was able to help students who didn't already have accounts set them up. I think it went well. Karl told us how important blogging is and we read these articles on why blogging is so effective and kids love it because they write e-mails anyway and post on myspace. So my practice blog for my students was how to you feel about blogging. Alot of them don't like to do it but maybe after using it more it can change their mind.
This will help as far as communication because we should be able to see each others ideas and be able to comment more freely. We can take our time to really think about what one another is saying and reflect.
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I am new to blogging, so I appreciate the opportunity to practice what I hope to integrate into some of my classes. I like blogging as opposed to journaling in the sense that, like many others have said, we can read their comments and build off of the thoughts of others. Moreover, it provides us with a forum to share experiences as new teachers.
As Lynn said, there are certain struggles/topics I wouldn't feel comfortable discussing in a public forum like blogging, but that can be taken care of with an e-mail.
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I agree that blogging is a good forum for us to discuss strategies and experiences with each other. I think that blogging in our "personal" lives will give us the opportunity to understand what the students are going through and therefore will give us added perspective if/when we use blogs in class. That said, however, I also think that some concerns and questions should still be addressed in a personal journal entry rather than on the blog.
I like the idea of blogging. I think it can be a great way for students to think about the curriculum outside of the traditional classroom walls. I also like the idea of having students commenting on each others comments\posts. Peers could give each other more meaningful feedback.
I worry about this form of communication as being less personal. I wouldn't want it to take place of traditional forms of classroom discussion. I know some students don't feel comfortable expressing their opinions in front of the class and blogging could help. However, at the same time many student lack valuable verbal communication skills. They have been raised on instant messaging, text messaging, Myspace, and now blogging........ I will use this technology, but still want to see all students attempting to having personal conversations in class.
I think I can utilize blogging in my English Fundamentals classes as a means to pre-writing persuasive essays. I can post a topic question that teens tend to have strong opinions on. Their responses can turn into a pre-writing session/brain storming assignment. I'm not so sure about journaling. It is sort of a personal thing for me.
I have used my mentor’s years of experience as my main support link. He has been more than helpful. It’s great to have someone to go to for answers and ideas!
I have been making my students blog alot last semester...and now I have too also so I think it is funny...like I am getting the same homework assignments that I am giving. I tried it last semester a few times but have made it a vow to be ongoing this semester, tryint to get the kids used to blogging in Spanish!
ok, I'm a dork and behind on my blogs...I didn't remember that I already blogged on this one- ugh!
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