In order to achieve my first goal to promote student reflection using a collaborative tool, I will need to set up a class blog. I know that I want to use Blogger with my classes. I also know that I want to have control over viewing student comments before they are actually posted for the entire class, so I will have to take time to refresh myself on how to use this option. Initially I thought that this is a technology tool that I could bring into my classroom without having to spend too much time setting up. However, another colleague posted last week that she recommends that I spend a lot of time modeling the appropriate language to use in a blogging environment. As of today, I have not had the opportunity to set up a classroom blog account and I do not know when I will be able to do so. Because of a new push in my school system to prepare all students for ACT testing and the 11th grade writing assessment, I am behind in what I should be covering with my students. Our midterm exams are given October 6-7 and I have to spend time catching up on standards that I should have already covered but have not been able to because of additional classroom time being devoted to ACT and writing assessments.
In regards to my second goal which is to model and teach safe, legal, and ethical use of digital information and technology, including respect for copyright, intellectual property, and the appropriate documentation of resources, I have not had very much time to explore resources. There are two resources that I have looked at briefly, but I need to spend more time exploring and gathering information. These two sites are Copyright Guidelines and Keeping it Legal: Questions Arising out of Website Management .I teach Desktop Publishing in the Spring and want to do a better job of teaching students about copyrights, plagiarism and fair use than I have done in the past. I also need to find additional information about scenarios that I can present to my class, so they can analyze and recognize what the law says about violating copyrights. In addition, students need to learn how to request permission to use copyrighted materials. If anyone can refer me to additional resources, I would greatly appreciate it.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
I certainly can relate to your feelings of having to catch up at school. I am feeling the same way and the demands of this class (especially things that are due during the school work week)are making it even harder to get school work done and then try to research resources and do required grad assignments. Teaching is a tough, tough job.
ReplyDeleteMy recommendation before you spend too much time setting up a blog account is to check with your tech people at your school or in the district to see if any blogging sites are unblocked. Anything related to blogging is blocked in my school and district. I would love to use this tool but have run into roadblocks. I would check on what is allowable before you spend a lot of time and then feel frustrated when it can't be used.
Maureen,
ReplyDeleteI think the fact that you know what you want to do and the steps you need to take in order to get there are a huge first step. Give yourself a break because there are always things that come up in teaching that put us behind.
Do you know what blog site you are going to use? I am assuming that you will use this site (blogspot) if you go to your homepage and click features at the bottom you can customize how people can comment on your blog and all sorts of other options. This might help you take the first step in working on your blog.
Gayle
Jeannine,
ReplyDeleteWow, you have a great start on the resources you will need for your technology GAME plan, but I guess being a Business Technology teacher, you have a lot of experience with the various technologies available for classroom use.
I appreciate how you describe and organize the classroom blog, but I have question. I want to use blogging in my music/band classes, however many blogs require the use of an email account. I teach K-12 and not all of my students have email accounts created. Also, they cannot access their email accounts to "sign in" to the blog in school due to firewalls. Have you encountered these problems before and if you have how have you solved them?
Thanks for your post and have a great week,
Dustin
Jeannine,
ReplyDeleteI think that a lot of teachers feel the same kind of pressure that you do as far as trying to do new and excitign things in the classroom, yet still keeping them up on the curriculum for their testing. It has been an increasingly greater task for us teachers. Just know that your hard work will eventually pay off.
I think that a blog for your class is a great idea. One that which I would believe a lot of students would get on board with. Good luckwith prepping yoru students and accomplsihing your blog.
Jeannine,
ReplyDeleteI sympathize with your reluctance to do too much change right now when you are already behind. This is my biggest challenge too. I wish I did not have so many things I needed to do and I could just do what I want but we have requirements as teachers. Getting good ACT scores is really important so get that teaching done before you add in new technologies.
Luke
Jeannine,
ReplyDeleteHave you ever heard about or looked into a program called MOODLE? A teacher here used it with her 5th grade class on a particular lesson and the students really liked it. She was able to tell when, where, and how they logged on the program. She could even give test and make each one different so the students were not able to cheat on it. The students were very involved in the lesson and she seemed to think they retained the information because they used so many different modalities in the learning.
You are doing a great job in working on your game plan.
Karen
Everyone,
ReplyDeleteI appreciate all of your comments and suggestions. Thanks for your encouragement.
Maureen, my school does allow access to edublog and blogspot. I know that using these sites will not be a problem.
Gayle, I will use blogspot because I am familiar with it and it is what I use for Walden coursework. Thanks for your directions on how to get to the options to set up how comments are viewed. My problem is having time to explore it. It seems there is not enough hours in the day to get everything done.
Dustin,
My students can access their yahoo e-mail accounts at school. Since you have firewalls at school preventing email access, you would need to talk to your tech coordinator and see if they could allow students email access. I have software in my classroom called Vision with Surflock that gives me control over what students can access. I can prevent them from going to the Internet and I can push certain Interent tsites to their computers as needed. It is great software and helps me monitor students computers.
Karl and Luke,
I agree that I may have to put my blogging idea for students on hold for awhile. Since my school administration is pushing improving ACT and writing scores, I have to focus on these areas. I also have to find a way to get caught up teaching standards that I am behind of because of this additional preparation. If I can not put my Game Plan into action this semester, there is always next semester.
Jeannine Lowe