The Dilemma

A Delicate Balance

The Following is a response for a course I took on Blogging for Teaching and Learning – we were asked to respond to the following:  

 “And herein lies the dilemma for educators. What happens when a free-flowing medium such as blogging interacts with the more restrictive domains of the educational system? What happens when the necessary rules and boundaries of the system are imposed on students who are writing blogs, when grades are assigned in order to get students to write at all, and when posts are monitored to ensure that they don’t say the wrong things?” Stephen Downes, Educational Blogging

           As an educator, I have a responsibility to my students. To the best of my ability I intend to provide meaningful learning experiences. Sometimes those experiences come by way of new strategies becoming popular in the education world. It can be hard to resist the “bandwagon” when a new strategy is gaining momentum as the surefire way to promote student achievement. As a result, in some circles there appears to be pessimism or at least a bit of skepticism when examining the merits of new approaches. The use of blogging for teaching and learning is no exception to the rule. Downes’ raises several good questions regarding this topic. 

          While blogging is indeed a free-flowing medium, as educators we have a responsibility to teach students how to use this freedom responsibly when in a school setti. Moreover during the time they are in school, I believe we are morally obligated to ensure that we encourage safe practices and habits. As such, some degree of censorship is necessary and that’s not a bad thing. In order to be used well, there must be limits and guidelines within a school setting regarding usage. It's a delicate balance to achieve. Without appropriate boundaries in place the misuse and abuse of any good thing can be sure to come .

          We’re all motivated by something. I’m motivated by my paycheck (among other things of course J ), so I don’t think it’s terribly wrong if a child is motivated to blog by earning a good grade. Perhaps along the way, they may pick up other reasons why blogging is something they may continue in the future. A child that blogs may or may not go on to become a prolific writer, but is that the point anyway? The point of blogging is the process involved. Students can gain critical thinking skills and a level of self-awareness that they are able to carry with them in other facets of their lives.

       I’m excited about the possible use of blogging in my classroom as well the benefits it may provide my students. However, be assured that blogging will not be the only method for encouraging writing in my classroom. Blogging is but one tool in the teacher’s toolbox.

NETS Reflection

             

Blogging for Teaching and Learning

Block Assignment 6 

The Benefits of blogging are many. Each of the six NETS for students (creativity and innovation; communication and collaboration; research and information fluency; critical thinking, problem solving and decision making; digital citizenship and technology operations and concepts) all play an individual role in the ‘metablognition’ process. The great thing about blogging is that these processes tend to happen simultaneously! Students begin with the creation of their own original work. This often requires innovation and applying new ways of thought as students respond to the feedback of their audience. As students grow in their ability to collaborate and work together, they learn articulation of ideas to facilitate better communication. They may then come to understand that their work and published ideas require research and as a result, seek to find evidence that supports their findings as well as find evidence that refutes their findings to come up with appropriate counterarguments. Through blogging students learn to interact appropriately with others and practice good citizenship online as well as becoming well versed in different technological capabilities, all the while becoming aware of a world outside of their own communities. I’d say that anything that puts all these things together in one is great. Blogging does just that!

I expect the overall achievement of most students to improve after a year of employing these types of strategies. Of course there are always exceptions to new strategies, as there is no ‘one size fits all’ method that works in education, but my hope is that I’d see improvement in all of my students even if it is slight. Anything that encourages them to take ownership of their own learning is beneficial; it allows them to use the knowledge they’ve gained for life, not just for a test.

Metablognition

   What Metablognition Means to Me

        Obviously this term is a play on the word metacognition. 

I like it.

      It seems to hint at the unique way that blogs can enhance teaching and learning. Blogging is a forum that provides unique benefits in the learning process.  It encourages the readers, commenters and writers of blogs to (albeit somewhat unconsciously) think about their reasoning and what evidence they have to support their ideas.  It can invoke pretty passionate responses from all involved. 

        As with any practice in the classroom, a student must first be taught general expectations and guidelines for use of blogs. Without that necessary component, blogging can become just as useless as any other activity where learners bypass critical thinking processes to simply read the passage and answer the questions to get the grade.  With blogs, a child’s grade is more about the “process” of blogging or their metablognitive capabilities, than it is about the final outcome. Although as students think about what they write and analyze what others write, the outcome (their writing ) can’t help but to improve.

      I agree with a statement made by Will Gardener that blogging allows for students to  “synthesize disparate learning experiences and to and understand their collective relationship and relevance.” It allows them to make true connections and applications of what they are learning to the rest of their lives. It's important to remember however that blogging, like any other tool is beneficial but can be subject to overuse and misuse. In short, I think it is just one more tool in a teacher's toolbox. 

Welcome!!!

Well, hello there! Welcome to my new blog : 'Marrying Drama & History'

        My name is Ms. J Lewis and this fall I will be entering my 7th year of teaching of Social Studies to middle school students! Yikes!!! It doesn't feel as if that much time has passed since I started and yet here I am :) .

        In addition to teaching, my other great love is acting. I always believed that using drama in a classroom setting could potentially bring great benefits to student learning. It wasn't until my third year of a teaching that I was inspired to take a risk and begin using dramatic role plays on a semi-regular basis in the classroom. Since that time, I have sought ways to use drama to increase student engagement and to enhance student learning. I'd like to think that over the years as I see what works and what doesn't, that I'm fine tuning the process and coming up up with a way to reach my students that is uniquely mine :) . 

      Through this blog I hope to connect with other like minded individuals, share resources, glean ideas through comments and also share my trials and triumphs of using drama in the classroom. 

Keep watch for more to come!