What happened to January?
It's February and I missed posting here in January. I've lived the busy teacher's life since returning from winter break. It's been a whirlwind.
I can't access this blog from school and perhaps that's why I'm writing less, but I do want to continue to note and journal about the technologies I'm trying and how they are affecting student engagement and my own practice. So, what's changed? What's new this month? In terms of my practice, I started a blog and a wiki for my service learning classes. So far so good. Our blog, At Your Service, is going well. I was quite excited the first day to see the postings/comments climb as students accessed the site and posted entries from home. I introduced my second semester students to the blog the first day of the semester. We did an ice breaker writing in class based on American Express print adds. Here is one student's entry:
Students will be posting weekly journal entries to the blog instead of keeping a written journal. Am I merely making the blog a pencil/paper tool? I hope not. I want students to comment on each other's writing on the blog, but I haven't figured out how to alter the blog template so that comments have comments. Does that make sense? Right now, I post a writing invitation with my example. I do it during class and students draft on paper and talk about their pieces. Then outside of class they log onto the blog and post a comment in reply to my invitation. Right now there is not another level of commenting, so we're aren't having the dialog I want to see. Hmmm...
Another issue is timeliness. I've posted 3 writing invitations so far--so that's 3 weeks with one entry a week for my service students. I give students a week to post their comment. At last count I had about 145 students. Here are how many I've had post so far.
My Life entry: 105 posts
How were your first few days? 48 posts
Prayer for the 21st Century: 34 posts
There are significantly fewer posts this week than the first week. Hmmm... One cause? Teacher absence. I was absent the second week, but I put the invitation online and thought I'd just see how many students happened upon in the course of checking the blog. My students meet with me on Mondays and then serve as student assistants in classrooms and offices across campus the rest of the week, so 48 of 145 students were checking in on the blog and posting. Of course 20 or so of those students work for me in the Reading Writing Center, so they knew I had posted an invitation because I had the opportunity to tell them on Tuesday (or throughout that week). Fuzzy math or insignificant statistical analysis leaves me thinking that at least 20 students are logging into the blog regularly. The site's statistics say it's been visited 900 some odd times-- many more times that we've met in class certainly. But how can I up the number of students writing there?
I think I get students more engaged by having them engage with each other and not me-- which perhaps can happen on the wiki in the comment section. I'm going to think about that and think about when/how I can move them there. Hmmm...
I can't access this blog from school and perhaps that's why I'm writing less, but I do want to continue to note and journal about the technologies I'm trying and how they are affecting student engagement and my own practice. So, what's changed? What's new this month? In terms of my practice, I started a blog and a wiki for my service learning classes. So far so good. Our blog, At Your Service, is going well. I was quite excited the first day to see the postings/comments climb as students accessed the site and posted entries from home. I introduced my second semester students to the blog the first day of the semester. We did an ice breaker writing in class based on American Express print adds. Here is one student's entry:
Denise S. 5th
Childhood Ambition:Lawyer
Fondest Memory:Going to Disney for the 1st time
Soundtrack:Chris Brown
Retreat:Bahamas
Wildest dream:Wanting to fly
Proudest Moment:Passing the FCAT after 3 times
Biggest Challenge:life
Alarm Clock:Mom
Perfect Day:Hanging out with people i love
First Job:Pizza Hut
Indulgence: Chocolate
Last purchase:Jeans$32.50
Favorite movie:The Notebook
Inspiration:Cousin
My life is amazingly crazy
My calling card is weightlifting
Students will be posting weekly journal entries to the blog instead of keeping a written journal. Am I merely making the blog a pencil/paper tool? I hope not. I want students to comment on each other's writing on the blog, but I haven't figured out how to alter the blog template so that comments have comments. Does that make sense? Right now, I post a writing invitation with my example. I do it during class and students draft on paper and talk about their pieces. Then outside of class they log onto the blog and post a comment in reply to my invitation. Right now there is not another level of commenting, so we're aren't having the dialog I want to see. Hmmm...
Another issue is timeliness. I've posted 3 writing invitations so far--so that's 3 weeks with one entry a week for my service students. I give students a week to post their comment. At last count I had about 145 students. Here are how many I've had post so far.
My Life entry: 105 posts
How were your first few days? 48 posts
Prayer for the 21st Century: 34 posts
There are significantly fewer posts this week than the first week. Hmmm... One cause? Teacher absence. I was absent the second week, but I put the invitation online and thought I'd just see how many students happened upon in the course of checking the blog. My students meet with me on Mondays and then serve as student assistants in classrooms and offices across campus the rest of the week, so 48 of 145 students were checking in on the blog and posting. Of course 20 or so of those students work for me in the Reading Writing Center, so they knew I had posted an invitation because I had the opportunity to tell them on Tuesday (or throughout that week). Fuzzy math or insignificant statistical analysis leaves me thinking that at least 20 students are logging into the blog regularly. The site's statistics say it's been visited 900 some odd times-- many more times that we've met in class certainly. But how can I up the number of students writing there?
I think I get students more engaged by having them engage with each other and not me-- which perhaps can happen on the wiki in the comment section. I'm going to think about that and think about when/how I can move them there. Hmmm...
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