Tuesday, July 19, 2016
My blog fog is lifting...
After our online discussion about the benefits of blogging last night, I feel a little better about the benefits of blogging in the classroom (see my own blog's 1st post for my initial thoughts). What Ben had said about not necessarily adding blogging to my list of class activities, but rather seeking to replace something made a lot of sense to me. Teaching in the block schedule really creates a time crunch for those of us who have so much content to cover. Yet if I play my cards right, I could use that need for time to cover complicated topics to my advantage (and my students') by requiring them to blog about what they do not understand, creating questions that others could answer. This could be done during class or as homework that evening. It seems like a smarter way to utilize that online forum. I know there are plenty of similar sites out there on the web that answer all kinds of science questions, so why shouldn't my students participate in their own forum? I would like to try this in the fall by starting small, and see where it goes from there.
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I like the idea of using the blog as a question spot, a place to post what they do not understand. Maybe some of the other students could help to explain it to them. Awesome!
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ReplyDeleteYes! I agree! Seeing specific examples as a replacement, not just something else to squeeze it, makes blogging seem more feasible and exciting to try. Starting small is a good idea! Maybe have kids post/comment once per week, or even less, etc. I'm thinking of starting by posting a "Science in the News" or some real-world application article to which students can respond/discuss. Ethics in science would be something interesting, too!
ReplyDeleteHi Wes,
ReplyDeleteThis idea is very similar to the reflection journal idea that I posted about recently. I like this idea because it gives students a chance to process the course content at their own pace and ask questions to me or their classmates when they are thinking about it. I feel like that students are often overwhelmed with the amount of content and activities that we cover in an 80 minute block. By creating a reflection blog, they are forced to think about the content outside of the class in a non-instructional environment.
It looks like great minds do think alike!!
Jason