Purpose of Blog in Classroom:
Blogging within certain content areas may deem more acceptable than others. In my current position, as a PE and Health teacher I cannot wrap my mind around wasting valuable class time to allow for a blogging experience. Students need to be active in PE. Therefore, if blogging was a requirement, it would be an at home assignment for students to complete. However, within the health curriculum, students would be able to utilize their time in class to blog as I have them do now. Students currently write in a blue journal for the first 5 minutes of class regarding a topic of their own or a given prompt. This provides students with an opportunity to relieve stress (one of the topics covered) or express their current issues/feelings etc.
Currently, I teach high school PE/Health under what we call "Wellness Education." Within the students wellness education programs, they learn about physical education skills, sports, fitness, and different movement patterns. The health education students receive promote healthy nutrition strategies, stress management, bullying and much more.
The wellness program encourages and promotes lifelong physical activity in hopes of creating students who enjoy participating in activity now and later on in their life. My students are freshmen and juniors who are fully capable of blogging as it would allow for differentiated approaches with keeping the space casual. I would be incorporating blogging in the health education cycle and encourage students to use it as a form of stress management. Although coping with stress can take place in many forms, I feel as though students who are provided with a safe place to blog and de-load will be a great experience.The benefits of blogging for stress relief definitely outweigh the drawbacks. Blogging helps decrease stress through social interaction with others. ( Lukas n.d.)
The technology standards for both students and teachers challenge both groups of individuals to implement and utilize technology within a specific setting. Using a blog to reach these standards is a great way to go about doing so. Since the students will be blogging in their own personal space, the standard being met is ISTE 6: Creative Communicator (ISTE 2016). This standard will be met because students will be communicating clearly and expressing themselves creatively through the use of their own personal blog. The second technology standard that students also meet through the use of implementing blogging in such fashion would be ISTE 2: Digital Citizen (ISTE 2016). This standard is being met through the use of an online forum ( blog space) that promotes and requires students to abide by the rights, responsibilities and opportunities provided in the digital forum.
Implementing the blog also meets standards for teachers who are providing an educational experience. The first standard that this meets for teachers is ISTE 3: Model Digital Age Work and Learning (ISTE 2008). This is met through providing weekly samples of blogs for students to appropriately model after. The second standard that this meets for teachers is ISTE 2: Designing and Developing Age Learning Experiences and Assessments (ISTE 2008). This is met through providing a safe, comfortable blog space that utilizes technology integration rather than a simple paper and pencil assignment.
The use of blogging can be utilized as an educational tool for students in many settings. Within the Health Education setting, it can be utilized to promote stress management skills and the ability to appropriately express feelings/expressions/ideas on topics.
References
International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE).
(2016). Standards for students. Retrieved from
http://www.iste.org/standards/standards/for-students-2016
International Socitey for Technology in Education (ISTE).
(2008). Standards for teachers. Retrieved from
http://www.iste.org/standards/standards/standards-for-teachers
Lukas, J. (n.d.). Coping through blogging: A review of studies on the potential benefits of weblogs for stress reduction. Retrieved January 20, 2017.
Good job on creating your blog. Two points I would like to suggest for enhancing your blog is to add a picture, and remember to use APA styles for peer reviewed articles or citations. Similar to Kathy Martin, 6th grade teacher, possible challenges you may encounter are students who “don’t know how to appropriately answer a question” (Laureate Education, Inc., 2015c). In addition, finding time to monitor students learning and behavior. However, you can overcome by “teaching what’s the proper etiquette and make sure that they proofread” (Laureate Education, Inc., 2015c). Best wishes on implementing blogs into your health education class.
ReplyDeleteReference
Laureate Education (Producer). (2015c). Spotlight on technology: Blogging in the classroom [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.
Make sure you teach your students about the proper use of a blog before sending them off to create one. I think you need to be specific about the format that your students should use and the information they should and should not include. Remember, Even Will Richardson said it in his book Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms "Journaling is not blogging." (Richardson, 2010).
ReplyDeleteThe purpose of a blog is to be able to communicate with others to enhance your learning, not to jot down your own ideas. I would encourage you to open up this experience to allow others to respond to how your students are feeling as many of them are probably stressed about the same things.
Reference
Richardson, Will (2010). Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms. (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
I think a blog is a great way for your students to express themselves and present new knowledge. I teach kindergarten so I don't have the option to create blog assignments for them to do independently, so I'm a bit envious of your ability to do that! Working with high schoolers, I think it's important to help students understand how to share things appropriately on the internet. We do digital citizenship lessons K-12, and I think it's especially important for high school students to learn to use technology safely. If you're interested, check out commonsensemedia.org. I think there are a lot of opportunities to incorporate blogging into your health program. Will Richardson points out that blogs are powerful not because the writing is brilliant and the ideas are new, but because of the personal stories and perspectives individual bloggers bring to the table (Richardson, 2015). Helping students to see their stories as important would hopefully be a great motivating factor for them to continue blogging in and outside of your class. Great post!
ReplyDeleteRichardson, W. (2015). From master teacher to master learner. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press.