I'm not sure how I'm feeling exactly yet. I see some benefits and some drawbacks. The benefit is that it would bring my classroom into the 21st Century and technology always engages the students more. It could also connect my students with people around the world, which is great for a LOTE classroom.
I wanted to blog with my friend's students in Spain who are learning English, but we haven't been able to set that up yet this year. We used to do it via e-mail; the students would type letters in class and then I would copy and paste all the letters they submitted and e-mail them to her via my e-mail account (since students can't access e-mail at school). That was a bit of a pain. We stopped last year due to the time it consumed on our end. That's when I started to think about blogging. To be continued...
I currently have a blog on my school website for Current Events. I offer this as an extra credit assignment to students. I used to have it set up with a Message Board format, which I preferred, but that option no longer exists. (I had to "re-create" the page because I was getting a ton of SPAM posts to it.) Maybe I could expand the postings to commenting on each other's articles to have a discussion online. I used to have it as a requirement for my eighth graders, but got rid of that due to our schedule change last year at MW. They would present it to the class and we would have a discussion. Maybe I could revive that next year as a blog. Each student would be responsable to post a current event on a separate date and I could require a number of comments per student for credit. I just worry that this would be an organizational nightmare for me.
I guess that's all for now. I'm interested in reading what you guys are thinking and how you think you might use blogging with your students.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I've often wondered how students feel about writing to a native speaker in their language. I know I would feel very intimidated. The fact that they respond in English (not their native language)helps and shows students that others struggle also to learn a new language. Despite this, I still would hesitate to do it. Since you have done it in the past, obviously it is not a problem. I should talk to you and get more information. Perhaps I am totally off base with my reservations on this.
ReplyDeleteKudos to you! I think it's great that you have a extra credit blog on your school website. You are definitely ahead of the game!
ReplyDeleteI like your current events idea! That's a great way to give this kids exposure. A Class blog is also just a neat way to post resources and things. You could post links to pages like wordchamp and spaleon just so the kids aren't always searching.
ReplyDeleteAnother thought would be to write a entry yourself in Spanish and then leave comprehension questions to start working on reading interpretation in Spanish.
I love your current events project. It is such a great way for all students to get involved with LOTE. I love that they can do this on their free time and really take the time to look up important spanish current events.
ReplyDelete