My father always said, "What's good for the goose is good for the gander." Well, this goose has decided that her gaggle of goslings is going to blog.
I introduced the assignment to my students (juniors) today. The assignment is a compilation of assignments that I found online (so, I didn't actually create this one, rather, pieced it together and then added some of my own ideas).
Once the assignment to blog was introduced, we started with an assignment to find two blogs (one they like and one they don't like) and write a review of each. I wanted students to see what kinds of blogs are out "there" - since they actually have limited knowledge of blogs. (I remember reading an article about how our students are "Digital Natives," and how schools and teachers must adjust to how they learn best - digitally. While the idea is good, I still don't completely agree. Most of my juniors didn't know what a blog is! And we have one-to-one laptops, so they all have SEEN the internet. In fact, many of my students don't even like to use their laptops. Go figure.)
I led them to The World's 50 Most Powerful Blogs as a place to start. They were pretty amazed. It was fun for me watching them surf around and see what was out there. Then, they started throwing around ideas, "Could I write a blog about my cat?" "Could I write a blog about skateboarding?" "ANYONE can read this?" The excitement built until the bell rang - I could feel it. They're excited and nervous. (Suddenly, it's not just "Ms. Meyer's reading my paper, so I don't care if it's not that good." but it's "Oh my goodness, EVERYONE can see this!") It certainly upped the ante in the Tattooed Teacher's class...
Fantastic! Thanks for the tips!
ReplyDeleteGreat experience of awakening with your students, Kate. I would agree with you that many students are not as aware (or understanding) of certain technologies as we often assume. To some extent, it may be that they visit blogs but don't know the conceptual or historical nature of them. In some cases, I wonder if they have leaped over sites like blogs and gone to social media sites--also choosing handhelds over laptops. I hope you will capture the experience of your students as it unfolds here because I think it might provide a rich story worth sharing with other educators!
ReplyDelete