I must admit, I'm overwhelmed and amazed. Amazed at the knowledge that others have related to technology in education; overwhelmed with the thought of how far behind I am when it comes to technology.
One of the requirements of the METS and CTE standards and benchmarks have been that students be exposed to blogging. In an effort to meet state requirements, those of us in my department who teach technology have created class blogs that we have our students follow. Students are required to comment on published posts - articles or videos, and upload assignments. Obviously, we are only scratching the surface of what a blog may be used for. As a side note, using the blog in the classroom has been a nuisance. It's just one more thing to add to the laundry list of things I must do.
I'm intimated by the thought of having my personal writings "out there" for the world to see. It's one thing to allow my students to have access to a class blog but to publish personal thoughts on a routine basis? I feel like I'm opening myself up to a ton of criticism and that is terrifying.
As I mentioned before I was impressed with the vast wealth of resources available to me through the blogs of educators and professionals in the technology field. I haven't read a lot of blogs in the past and, in all honesty, don't think to look to them for ideas to use in the classroom. I have a feeling that after today, all of that is about to change.
I was kind of scared to have all of my thoughts out on the web at first, but I have felt a lot more comfortable after getting my foot in the door. Make sure that you have your moderator setting on because all of other's comments need to be approved by you before being posted to your blog.
ReplyDeleteJill is absolutely right about the comment moderation. Nothing gets published until you approve it.
ReplyDeleteThere are a number of blogs that I read on a regular basis. There are a lot of really smart people with some interesting ideas who write eloquently. They may not have written a book (although some of them HAVE), but they provide a lot to think about, and to learn from.
We assume that our students know all about blogging, but in reality, they are more versed in the nuances of texting and Facebook. It would be a wonderful creative outlet if we could get them to write seriously, and to truly think deeply about what they and other students have to say. At least we can provide an example for them to emulate.