1.In a creative writing class, keeping an individual record of each student’s written work has several advantages and a blog can serve as a platform for this publication. Students can view their progress over the course of a term. This allows them to monitor their improvement as well as help them focus on areas for improvement.
A blog also provides a real world audience. Student’s work is no longer limited to exposure to the instructor and perhaps a few other classmates. The blog allows the student to publish his/her written work, making it available to anyone who accesses the blog : friends, family , other teachers ,visitors.
2.I am sure that our English drama activities : plays, skits or monologues will be more visible for the students' families especially (they can't be present at the shows every time ).
3.From time to time , in our English textbooks there is a written project as part of a vaster portfolio . A 'portfolio' is a file or folder containing a set of someone's best pieces of work over a period of time collected as an example of their skills . The creation of this portfolio can be more challenging on line, on the class blog . And because in these lessons a particular emphasis is placed on cross-curricular transfer the teacher can post links for helping the students to carry the task on .
4.On the clss blog I can choose the game of the month .Not any game , but an educational one using different areas of English: grammar or vocabulary , for instance . I could explain the game , write the rules with the class (if necessary )and let them enjoy it as homework . Their assignment could be a ' report ' on the blog about the game ( what they learned , why they liked or dislike it)
5. I can also use the blog as a resource centre ,as a way of engaging students in more reading / listening . I could use online stories for children with a short exercise of a kind or another at the end of it( how to catch the main ideas of a lecture or a reading, how to respond to a specific reading or lecture, how to write an essay or summary).This way homework will gain more credit, I assume.
Variety of teaching is the spice of learning !
Hi Cami,
ReplyDeleteYou've presented great ideas of blogging with students.
Blogging as a writing platform sounds excellent, especially if students know their blog posts will be read by a wide audience.
I'm sure the majority of students will be delighted to express themselves by writing, but what about those shy students who don't feel confident enough to share their thoughts with their peers?
Do you think that the virtual environment and knowing that they can delete their thoughts at a single click will boost their self-confidence?
All the best
Arjana
I think that two factors can help with this problem. One, I believe using the blog project as part of the classroom will force all of the children to participate (i.e homework assignments requiring the children to comment on different blog posts as short writing assignment, and longer in-class writing assignments that the students will have the opportunity to edit and correct with peers and with the teacher).
ReplyDeleteSecondly, I believe the writing in the cyber world can give students a little more courage in writing their thoughts. For instance, maybe a child who is hesitant to participate in class, fearing comments from other students, will be more brave when they are sitting in front of their computer and have the time to more carefully put together their thoughts.
Also, another thought, if it becomes clear that a few students are choosing not to participate with their homework that involves the blog, it would be a good idea to pull the students aside and see why they are hesitant. Then, as the teacher, one could maybe sit down with the students and help them and post something together. This could help to take away some of the nervousness they have been feeling.