One modification will be to attend training. Thus far, I have been unable to locate training in my district regarding technology. This may need to be a long-term goal or have to be found through the Internet.
I have learned how to make pages within a blog and add widgets. I have also learned the basic structure and functions of a wiki. Additionally, I have learned that my students, who are working on the podcast, are much more comfortable with self-directed learning. I am allowing them to be my teacher – and we learn together.
I am wondering about the purpose of the wiki. What areas do I want to focus? What content do I want to include? How often will I check it?
Overall, I am focused on my goals and taking action to reach them.
Reference
Cennamo, K., Ross, J. & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach. (Laureate Education, Inc., Custom ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.
I am glad I read your post, because I have not even considered what a student rubric for my blogs should include. I am now motivated to take some time to think about what I will be grading them on. What elements will you cover in your rubric?
ReplyDeleteWhile I have started creating a class blog, I have to admit that I have not taken a lot of time to familiarize myself with all the possibilities and functions the blog can have. You mentioned tutorials; what resources have you found in learning how to get the most out of a blog? Any specific tutorials you can recommend? I felt pretty comfortable with my progress so far, but after reading your post, I know there is a lot more I could be doing. Thanks for the motivation!
Finally, I know it can be frustrating to find technology trainings. Thankfully, I feel like this course is technology training in itself! Just a suggestion, I know that my county offers trainings that count towards our continuing education. Does your school system offer anything like that? Also, another option would be looking into anything being offered at local colleges. We also have a good technology coordinator in our building who helps us with trainings as well.
Good luck with everything!
- Jen
Jen,
ReplyDeleteHere are a few resources that may help you with blogging.
http://kturnmire.blogspot.com/p/tcte-memphis-2011.html
(I attended this session at TCTE conference in September; this teacher is tech smart. She has video instructions that take you step-by-step through the creation process).
http://ilearntechnology.com/
(blog about tech in classroom)
http://www.2createawebsite.com/traffic/create-free-blog.html
(site about creating blog)
I am still working on the rubric. The following categories are what I had in mind:
Timeliness, post quality, evidence of strategies/skills, and response quality. I am looking at some examples of blogging rubrics to generate ideas, but I have not created on yet.
http://edorigami.wikispaces.com/file/view/blogging+rubric.pdf
http://edweb.sdsu.edu/courses/edtec296/assignments/blog_rubric.html
My students are more successful, and I am more satisfied with results when expectations are clearly explained prior to completing a task. I believe that a rubric will guide students in appropriate blogging for classroom use and enable me to utilize the blogs as learning and assessment tool.
I hope these links help!
Jessica
Jessica,
ReplyDeleteI think we are all feeling the time pinch. I am hoping that over the Christmas holidays I can spend some time playing around with all of the technology resources available. I know that it is difficult finding good training. One thing you might think about is emailing other schools and seeing if there is anyone there who could offer more support. Also, contact the county tech person and see if there is a possiblity that more training could be offered. Good luck!