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Thursday, 12 July 2012

Demands of blogging

We had a great Professional Development session today. We talked about the current trends in e-learning and what is happening in schools today. I really enjoyed some of the thought provoking discussion that took place because it let me evaluate what I am doing in my classroom. My current challenge is this whole blogging thing.
At the moment I find it difficult to find enough time in a day (as well as energy) to do all the things that I want to do. Blogging for my self is something I need to get into the habit of doing. For me that will come with time. What I have been thinking more and more about lately is blogging for kids.

I use kidblog with my class (http://kidblog.org/Room265/). Please come and visit us by the way, the kids love to see your comments.

I have some children in my class who have a number of dyslexic type needs (I don't want to label them as dyslexic because it is such a huge range of difficulties that fit under this very large umbrella we call dyslexia). These students often dislike writing and reading. Blogging is a great tool for them as they don't have the negative connotations with computers as they do with pen and paper, which is usually a struggle. I realise that not all children will jump up and down about blogging, but I have realised that some of my children have started to write about their day quite regularly. The comments they write to each other are becoming increasingly more constructive, rather than just "cool" or "nice story." Some still have some growing to do in that sense but we are getting there. This has also been great for my really bright kids because they feel like they are educating the people around them by writing interesting facts. Some of my boy's write a fact each week. They have to find a new piece of information, learn about it and blog about it their own words (NO COPYING!) So over all this has been a very valuable tool to increase children's confidence and enjoyment for expressing their ideas in the written form.
This brings me to my dilemma. I use kidblog to keep an eye on what the children are writing and help out some of the children who struggle with spelling by checking some of what they write. I don't correct all mistakes, I think it is important for them to make these and discuss what they have written with their peers. What I'm finding now though is that I can't always keep up. During the term with all the other things we have to do (MARKING, updating wikis, collaborating with children on their google doc creating flipcharts...) I am finding it harder and harder to make sure that I check each blog and approve comments.
So here is my question to my fellow educators... How do you keep up with the increasing demand to keep blogs, wikis, sites, etc up to date? What do you do to manage these? Am I being a little too ambitious by checking all these blogs?
What are your thoughts on the matter?

4 comments:

  1. You raise some valid points indeed. I found about a year ago that if I just let control go and gave up checking in on every single blogpost, that I was actually handing ownership to my students. I don't edit spelling (unless you can't understand it!) and the class came up with the solution that their blog-buddy would be responsible for checking their posts before publishing, just as a buddy would check any writing before I see it. I make sure that I keep up with what is on the blog in general but it becomes a trust issue - do I trust them with the control? If the answer is 'yes' then maybe try the same idea with your class.
    The other aspect I have found to be the 'next step' in blogging is quadblogging or having a buddy class in another country. This is a really powerful, authentic learning pathway for students because they have a defined audience and they have a deliberate purpose for writing. Check out the flat stanley project or global classroom wiki or the quadblogging website. You will love it!

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  2. Will have to check those out. I guess its something teachers who use blogs go through. Giving up control for us is pretty hard. I have blogging buddies but I think I need to find a way to make them responsible for their buddies posts as well as their own. Tricky age really they're not so bothered about keeping the teacher happy anymore haha.
    Will keep working on it

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  3. It's a great question, Ksenia - can I invite you to share it as part of the Blogging 101 event in Enabling e-Learning? It opens from 6 August - I think it is a question others would find relevant (and the community may have views, too) http://www.vln.school.nz/discussion/view/695542 . Hope to see you there! Cheers.

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  4. Will gladly share Karen. I think this all goes with the life long question teachers have of life/work balance too. How do we get there? Will post on the 6th August.

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