Greetings all.
Over all my time as a 8th grade American History teacher, I've noticed over the years that my students get more and more disengaged with early American History. One question that I get frequently at the beginning of the year is "Why do I have to learn about some boring old dead white guys?", and the answer I give: "So you can understand why we are who we are today" just does not work any more. I don't necessarily think that using more technology is the "magic pill" that will fix what's wrong with education, but I think it may close the gap that is widening every year, and blogging may be a good first step.
One way that I think that having a blog will be beneficial to my students is by using it as a forum for independent study. Teaching similar to how Socrates did. Each week I will post a question that the students need to reflect on and let their comments and questions drive their learning. I already do something similar with class discussions at the end of a unit, but discussions tend to sputter and falter after the same 4-5 students have stated their opinion. Maybe by having them blog, their interest will be piqued and more than the same ones will be adding to discussion.
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I have never thought about using a blog as independent study for my students. I do think that students would enjoy blogging and learning at the same time (although they may not realize that). :) I have seem numerous times in my own classroom that students learn a great deal from their classmates through group teaching or group activities. I do think that having students answer the question will allow them self-reflection and drive their learning through conversations between each other.
ReplyDeleteIf you do this, please let me know how well it works for you. I would love to try this in my classroom. I would have to allow my students to use the school computers because many of them do not have internet access at home. What do you do for students like this?
Mindy,
ReplyDeleteI teach high school history and I have many of the same problems you have. I have many questions about this, so any input you have may help me get rid of some of my fears. First, is this something you would grade?
- I think it has to be graded to get participation
Secondly, what would you do about students who do not have internet access at home?
Thanks,
Jared