Jo Mcleay has been encouraging quietly and persistently to use blogging with my Year 9 English Class as a way forward in pedagogy.
It is an interesting journey. Partly I have struggled in becoming reliant on technology that isn't very "bombproof". Will it breakdown / jam up / disappear just when I expect it to be ready to hand for my 25 eager students?
Of course, it did! This resulted in two things. Frustration from my class although they are a forgiving mob and maintain faith in human nature and reflection on my part that really "bomb proof" is more about my depth of knowledge and ability to fix on the fly than about the relative value of one blogging site over another.
Still, we persevered over a fortnight until, at length and again with Jo's phenomenal patience and enthusiasm we have a classroom full of bloggers. Their attempts can be found here. I'm sure that they would like some responses to their early attempts at blogging if you have a moment.
So far, a lot of happy and excited faces in mastering, at least in a limited way, the art of blogging. Next is the challenge of content -finding valuable things to say and ways to say it. Hm - the jury is still out but it has lead me this far at least.
Bernie Peeler
5 comments:
You know I got such a pleasant surprise when I read your comment. I replied there but I also wanted to leave a comment here. Can I use this site as an example on Monday afternoon?
Welcome to the blogging world. I have put your student blog site into my class del.icio.us account so they can respond to some of your students' work.
Hello and welcome!
I just started blogging myself in late June and enjoy it immensely.
I'll be teaching a Current Events class when we begin the new school year in September. I will certainly show your student blogs to my kids, and, hopefully, they will be able
to interact with your students (this will be our district's first experience with blogging and I'm not sure yet what our server will support. Administration is backing the concept, so I'm hoping for the best).
I can't wait to put theory into action in a few weeks.
Hi! With Jo by your side, you are going to do just fine!
I think all of us struggle with the "What do I have to say that is worth writing about?" problem when we start out. After 2.5 years, I can say that as long as you are honestly writing about something that is important to you, it is valuable and people will want to read it.
I look forward to reading your blog and your students' blogs. Welcome!
Thanks for the comments. As the blog title suggests it is for me a journey. There is a great image from Douglas Adamms The Great Tea time of the Soul where he describes his method of locating a new place. He simply follows the car in front of him. "That way," he says, "I rarely get to the place I intended but always finish up where I need to go."
More than happy to have to have my class link to as many areas as will be of value. Again, thanks for your hospitality
Bernie
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