RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication (Richardson
A blog, short for weblog, is an online journal. It allows writers to communicate a range of topics, links, anecdotes, pictures, ideas, lesson plans… the list is endless. And it lets these ‘bloggers’ communicate these things to a pretty much endless world of viewers.
Together, RSS feed and blogging have formed an information revolution: RSS feeds allow users to quickly and efficiently collect data from blogs and other websites and blogging allows writers to share their thoughts, opinions and experiences with a potentially international audience. RSS feed buttons are attached to almost every blogging platform, completing the circle. With the streamlining of data collection, users gain additional time for data synthesis and analysis.
My First Experiences with RSS Feed and Reading Blogs Setting up RSS feed using Google Reader was easy enough, especially since I had a number of recommended sites to add right away. The more I explored sites, networked through Twitter and searched using my search engines, the more sites I found to subscribe to. I admit that most of what I subscribed to appealed to me professionally, but my husband soon set up his own RSS feed and subscribed to a number of store fliers (those of you who have been reading my blog have probably realized by now that my husband is a flier and sale junky).
Setting up the account and subscriptions was the easy part. Reading
Through discussion with others, I realized that I have the power to be selective. In the words of my prof, “I’m brutal when it comes to reading on Reader. If the title doesn’t interest me, I mark it as read and move on.” I quickly adapted that approach and am enjoying my Google Reader time all the more.
One of my most memorable first reads had me inadvertently stumbling into a debate about the nature of schools. Not surprising, since it was September, and many bloggers and their children were back to school. I read a post on Weblogg-ed, which is a site maintained by Will Richardson. This is the same person who wrote the text that has become a god-send during this course and has literally changed my teaching, so obviously, I was especially interested to read his blog. The first post I read was entitled A Parent 2.0’s Back to School Dilemma. It outlined a visit by Alec Courosa to his child’s first grade classroom. I couldn’t believe what I was reading. Richardson
Then I read the come back, posted by Lee Kolbert on A Geeky Momma’s Blog. Entitled “I’m Not Who You Think I Am,” it took exception to the criticisms Courosa had levied against his child’s teacher and sounded reasonable and moderate. This blog was suggested reading too, and I began to realize that perhaps it was the discourse I was intended to hear and not just the criticism. I decided to keep reading.
A More Experienced Reader As I’ve spent more time with blogs, I have begun to realize that blog posts roughly seem to fall into one of three categories.
#1 Philosophical and Reformist
Proving that the time spent considering my teaching philosophy during teacher training wasn’t wasted, I have seen that many posts seem to center around the ‘why’ of teaching and how that influences the ‘what.’ It is heartening to read personal and revealing accounts of what others are thinking about such topics as being a teacher or what really matters in the curriculum. For example, just before Halloween, David Warlick’s 2 Cents Worth blog featured a post entitled the “Qualities of an Effective Teacher.” In it he quotes commenter Betsy Gross’ definition of an effective educator:
...I believe effective educators must be creative thinkers with an ability to inspire and empower all learners. They must be compassionate, understanding and unwilling to give up on a child. They must be explicit and systematic, yet generously flexible, in their instruction. They must be knowledgeable of subject matter as well as the technologies of the day’s prevailing information landscape. They must be observant of student behavior to identify what each student does and does not understand, and how they can apply what they understand. They must be able to read and understand test data and read the faces of their learners. In short, teaching is a very difficult job and requires many characteristics to meet the needs of diversified learners. Teachers are also among the most powerful people on the planet.
This is an excellent example of the type of inspirational and CHALLENGING posts I’ve read time and again on the various education blogs. These bloggers are not only musing about what educators should be or what school could be, but they seem to be challenging readers to live up to the task. Reading this quote, I find myself challenged to ‘read the faces’ of my students and show compassion and understanding when a child has repeated the same mistake for the 20th time or has been rude to my face. Perhaps firm compassion and understanding, but compassion and understanding none-the-less. It can be a scary thing to publically write of ideals, as so few of us truly live up to all of them. Yet, without ideals, how can we know where to go?In the same vein, Warlick’s post entitled “10+ Ways to Promote a Learning Culture in Your School” suggests things like starting staff meetings with a talk on something you’ve learned, stopping students in the hall and asking them what they’ve just learned or asking teachers to write about what they learned on vacation and post it to the school’s website. While some of his suggestions may seem like a pain (write? Who, me?) and others are not possible in my setting (my school doesn’t have a website) each point does make me wonder, “what more could we do?”
Likewise, posts on the problems in education abound. Following Edutopia using my RSS feed, I can see a stream of Tweets about conferences and other links to education reform. In addition, I encountered this:
“We’re not really motivated to learn to gain knowledge,” Ranganathan said. “We just want to memorize it and get a good grade and get into a good school.” … “Especially after the final exam, you just forget it afterward.”
(Richardson
This quote, taken from the movie Race to Nowhere and provided by Will Richardson in his blog Webblog-ed, addresses the problems with standardized testing and the rote learning of facts. From testing to technology in the classroom, there isn’t much that escapes the attention of education bloggers. And maybe it shouldn’t. In my undergrad years I had a TA who once carried on about the value of dissent in our society. He mused that without dissent there could be no change. Playing nice only supports the status quo whereas dissent brings into focus the problems in a system and forces at the very least a closer look. I personally dislike public dissent, especially that which is proffered without an eye to providing suggested alternatives. Complaining for complainant’s sake only produces hard feelings. However, I can not deny that respectful dissent with specific, constructive purpose and concrete alternatives to current practices is necessary for growth. #2 Technology in the Classroom
I suppose that it only makes sense that those who blog should also have an affinity for technology. If not, then their writings would likely be in journals in their top desk drawers (like mine were) or sent to journals or magazines. However, the extent to which so many bloggers are posting time and again about technology in the classroom is astounding. Numerous posts are a general outcry for the inclusion of technology and websites in the classroom so that students do not feel the sense of isolation from the ‘real world’ that they currently feel.
Doug Johnson’s post on his Blue Skunk Blog entitled, “Dear Students, please lead a thoughtful revolution” (November 2010) sums up this outcry well. Having been asked to address the Student Advisory Council about the future of technology in his school district, Johnson states his intentions to advocate for a “1:1” ratio of students to computers, stating that he hopes for “every student (to) have an individual computing device - a laptop, netbook, tablet, or some yet to be invented thing-a-ma-jig that will link wirelessly to our school network and the Internet” (Johnson, November 2010). In providing students with access to technology and accompanying education on how to use it, Johnson hopes that students will graduate with skills ranging from being able to “find and evaluate information that (they) can use to solve real problems” and becoming more “self-directed in (their) education” to “understand(ing) and practic(ing) global citizenship” (Johnson, Novemeber 2010).
What is interesting is that Johnson is quite careful to state that technology on its own can’t provide a better education. This seems to be in direct antithesis to the point of the video he embeds in his post. (I’ve embedded the same video below).
Having just last night gone to a local electronics store to price out an IPad, this video was particularly interesting to me. At first, this video seems to indicate that teaching could be done directly through the IPad, rendering class time unnecessary. This is likely a scary proposition for many teachers. Yet, if you look at what the IPad is providing, it is all supplemental to the initial teaching. Students are testing what they’ve learned using the quizzing function and being provided with INSTANT CONTROL OF ERROR, so that mistakes do not become ingrained and need to be unlearned, like relearning how to spell onion o-n-i-o-n after spelling it oinion for years. In addition, studying becomes social and portable, which means it is more likely to be done, and guest lecturers (or perhaps replays of your own lessons) can be accessed for further instruction. The initial teaching is not irrelevant, rather the technology entrenches, enriches and expands the initial teaching. Overall, his post does a great job of arguing for technology in the classroom.
Other posts give more specific examples of technology use in the classroom. These are the posts that appeal most to me, as I am already a convert of including technology in the classroom and I am now looking for specific ways to do this.
One of the first such posts I encountered was from A Geeky Mamma’s Blog. Kolbert was reviewing the IPEVO document camera. Of course, this led to the question, “What’s a document camera?” Her post included a description of the camera and her reasons for liking it (low price, size, ease of use and clarity of images). She also suggested that the camera was “perfect for science experiment demonstrations, any dangerous demonstrations or where supplies are limited” (Kolbert, September 2010). I didn’t exactly consider buying the camera because I don’t have a projector. However, this post allowed me to dream about what I could use in the future and start to plan what I need to acquire to get there. Currently, when I want to share something with my students, I either have to print it out and give it to them or make an overhead. If I want to share from the computer, we all have to gather around one computer and look at the tiny screen. (I’m not kidding! We do this all the time, even in the computer lab as there is no projector there either.) Thanks Kolbert, for helping me start to put the pieces together. I know my winter break will be full of research on how to get a projector.
Posts on technology and how to use it in the classroom are everywhere:
- Kirsten Winkler of Edchat posted recently that Facebook has linked with Livestream, allowing people to produce their own shows on Facebook (Winkler, November 2010). Teachers can take advantage by streaming lessons live on their Facebook page for students to view.
- Stephen Abram, author of Stephen’s Lighthouse blog, has taught me about QR codes (those black patterns arranged in a square that you can scan with a smart phone or other device to reveal additional information) and Netflix in
Canada - Buffy Hamilton, the Unquiet Librarian, has me thinking about using Skype as an interviewing tool, as she did with author Allan Stratton (
Hamilton - Judy O’Connell has me really wanting an IPad after seeing a preview of Bram Stoker’s book Dracula on the device (October, 2010). Her ‘Student Tools - Let them Fly’ section lists a myriad of sites offering tools for students to accomplish what they want to do. Highlights include links to sites like http://www.soundzabound.com/ (a royalty-free music site), http://classtools.net/ (lets teachers create their own games, quizzes, etc. for their blogs) and a number of blogging platforms.
Finally, “
#3 Comments on Current Educational Trends
Many posts also take up debates on current trends in education. Obviously, educational reform, educational philosophy and technology in the classroom constitute current trends. But there are others. From detailing webinars and conferences to debates on whether or not to spend money on books or technology in the library and the appropriateness of ‘friending’ students on Facebook, if it’s happening out there in the educational world, someone is blogging about it.
Take this cartoon, reproduced from Kolbert’s blog:
(Kolbert, 2010).
I was warned during teacher training not to let parent’s expectations factor when assessing and grading students. It’s true that keeping parents happy seems to be a trend in education recently, so it’s not surprising to see bloggers blogging about it. Want to know what the latest trends are in education? Look no further that Twitter and education blogs.
RSS in the Classroom
While subscribing to blogs makes up much of what I used Google Reader for in the classroom, there were also some other great sites that I subscribed to.
- World News for Children is an audio podcast produced by the BBC. It delivers radio quality news for children on current topics. Initially, I went to http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/wnc, then I set up the RSS feed and the new podcasts come to me.
- http://www.sciencefix.com/ is a site that contains, among other things, videos of science experiments. My RSS feed captures the new additions and sends them to me.
- Just One More book is a site that offers podcasts of reviews of literature. It can be found at http://www.justonemorebook.com/, and you can subscribe to have new additions sent to a Google Reader or other RSS account.
- YouTube also lets users subscribe. Type in a channel or user you want to follow into the ‘add a subscription’ box and you will be notified of future posts. I subscribed to CATvolution after watching the YouTube video on the Air Car.
My Classroom Blog
With the creation of a blog to showcase my own work, it wasn’t too much of a leap to starting a classroom blog. Among classroom or student blogs, four basic categories can be distinguished: the classroom news blog, the mirror blog (featuring student reflections), the showcase blog (featuring student work) and the Literature Response blog (Zawilinski, 2009). Without fully intending it, my classroom blog is a combination of the news and showcase blog, although, the fact is, it has morphed into an entity of its own since I first launched it. It can be viewed at http://www.divisionfourclasswebsite.blogspot.com/.
The learning curve has been steep with the creation of the blog. I have found that some things I thought would be a problem were not, yet problems have cropped up where I thought there would be none.
Problems I anticipated
First, I anticipated some administration resistance, because I was the only one in the school planning to set up a blog and because of the ability for parents to comment in such an open forum. In actual fact, my principal was all for it. Interestingly, I came across an article outlining how one district had mandated that all teachers needed to use blogs to communicate with parents. The author clearly pointed out how the blogging seemed inauthentic and shallow as a result, and stated that,
If you want classroom technology to be used in imaginative and effective ways, you have to let teachers discover those methods on their own. You cannot force innovation.
(Bushweller, 2006)
I realized that perhaps the lack of top-down directives ordering the use of technology such as blogs was likely the result of respecting our professional autonomy, rather than a lack of support for use of tech in the classroom.
In addition, I anticipated that I would not get permission for all students to use the site. I sent home a fairly detailed notice regarding the blog along with a permission slip asking for signatures giving students permission to do three different things: contribute to the blog, post work to the blog and have pictures or videos of themselves posted to the blog. (I have reprinted the notice and permission slip on the page with the same title. Click the link to the right.) I split the permission slip up in this way in anticipation that some parents might be uncomfortable having work or pictures/video published, but would still like their child to contribute to updates to the blog. What I found was that 22 out of 27 students returned permission slips allowing them to do all three. This was a shocker. I really hadn’t anticipated such a high percentage of students being allowed to post work and pictures/video. In addition, of the remaining 5 students, no one asked to be omitted entirely from the project. Each of these 5 students were allowed to at least post updates to the blog. What was even more interesting was that 2 of the 5 students who had permission limited to posting updates had their parents revamp their permission to do all three things later in the term. (I suspect that the recent video assignment probably produced a change of heart.) Of the remaining 3, two students have voiced that they themselves were the ones to decide that they didn’t want their work or pictures/video on the blog.
Finally, I anticipated that there could be the occasional negative comment from parents or even the general public regarding the blog. In an informal survey of school superintendents, it was found that many chose not to blog as a result of previous negative comments on blogs or due to the fear that “they would never be able to manage comments posted by members of the public and would end up in perpetual debate through the blog (Rochelle, 2009). My fears were similar, however, unfounded. By setting the parameters early about what is and isn’t acceptable, and through the good fortune of working with a group of supportive parents, I have found that all comments posted to the blog have been relevant and positive.
Problems I didn’t anticipate
Problems I didn’t anticipate
While it is true that there haven’t been any negative comments, unfortunately, there have been quite few comments at all. I have a couple of students who are following the site or who have commented, but that’s it. I worry that this reveals a problem I hadn’t anticipated – that relatively few parents are accessing the blog. Some students claim that their parents can’t find the site. I have sent home the URL several times and given out my email so that I can send a link, but I suspect that this continues to be a problem. In the future, I believe that spending more time promoting the website will lead to more wide spread usage and visits from parents. Closer to the end of the term I plan to send out a quick questionnaire asking parents about the blog. (The questionnaire can be found on its own page. Look for the link to the right). It is my hope to gain insight into what is working and what needed to be revamped.
Before I started the blog, I was concerned that I wouldn’t have time for it. I was given the sound advice to, “just build it into my day” (Branch, 2010). I started the blog with the intention of building it into my day by having a new student post updates each day. This way, the students will learn about summaries by summarizing our days and they would do all the work. All I would have to do is give each student 10 minutes at the end of the day, about the same amount of time I would give students to fill in planners and stack chairs. There were a few problems with this plan. First, by the time November hit, the class was busily trying to finish up projects and that last 10 minutes became quite precious to some. We started to go several days between student updates, and I often filled the void. Also, many students seemed unclear about what they should post. A few sentences were all some of them posted. Others could only recall their favorite parts of the day (like PE or recess) and had difficulty with the summaries. Virtually everything was text. Even when I suggested the use of pictures to document the day, this was hampered by the fact that we only had access to the school’s camera, which meant borrowing it when it wasn’t in use, then returning it to the secretary and waiting for her to upload the pictures and email them to me. This was eventually solved by bringing my own camera to school for students to use. More than anything, I sensed that students were not focused on creating updates at the end of the day. They knew it was home time and were more worried about making it out of the class on time than about what to write or display. I realized that I had built the blog into my day, but at the wrong time and in the wrong way. Upon reflection, next year I plan to:
1. Spend the first 2 or three weeks creating posts of my own. In doing so, I will create examples of what I want the students to do. Many students are visual learners and having an example to follow is invaluable.
2. Each student would be responsible for posting on an entire week, not just a day. This will provide more opportunities to highlight interesting events.
3. I would call the posts ‘school news reports’ and not summaries. I think the term summary made students think that they were to capture events in as briefly as possible. To the contrary, I want students to make the events come alive. Given an entire week to chronicle, I am hoping that each student will become a reporter, carrying around a note pad and camera to each event, in hopes of capturing a photo or a story.
4. I need to adjust the due date of the post. Posting at the end of the day doesn’t work. Posting on Friday mornings would omit Fridays from the posts, and many of the news worthy activities in our school occur on Fridays. Posting on a Monday means waiting through the weekend, and weekends are a time when many would check the blog. I am lucky enough this year to have a prep Friday afternoons. Perhaps I can build in posting time during the prep.
The future of blogging in my classroom
One thing’s for sure: I will continue to maintain a classroom blog in the future. Once the problem of viewership is dealt with, I think that a classroom blog has the unique ability to bridge the gap between school and home. As a working parent myself, I have often felt cut off from what my child is doing in the classroom. ‘Fine’ and ‘nothing’ are the only answers I ever seem to get from my boys when I ask about how their day was or what they learned. I was first attracted to setting up the blog so that parents could venture into our classroom and see that, while all is fine, we certainly aren’t learning ‘nothing.’ This is what will keep me blogging.
Later this school year I plan to introduce book reports to complement our Literature Circles, Habitat videos in science and, possibly, Glogster posters. All of this will go onto the blog.
Next year, I am hoping to branch out into having each student create and maintain his or her own blog. The true power of the blog seems to lie in its ability to let students communicate with others by posting their own ideas and work. No matter how much I try, this year’s class blog has my personality all over it. The student’s personality is relegated to the background. In addition, I am the one doing most of the ‘tech stuff’ when posting. It is my hope that creating individual student blogs will allow students to learn valuable tech skills, as well as maintain a record of their learning and develop their voice when writing for large audiences. The class blog will continue to function as a source of information and news reports on school business, while student blogs can be a more subjective record of individual journeys through school.
References:
Abrams, S. (2010). QR codes infographic. Retrieved from: Abrams, S. (2010). Netflix & Libraries. Retrieved from:
Branch, J. (2010). Personal correspondence.
Bushweller. (2006, November). CLASSROOM TECH: Thou Shalt Blog. Teacher
Magazine, 18(3), 45. Retrieved November 23, 2010, from ProQuest Education Journals. (Document ID: 1182063871).
Hamilton, B. (2010). Literature/inquiry circles meets research: author allan Stratton visits
the unquiet librarian via skype. Retrieved from: http://theunquietlibrarian.wordpress.com/2010/11/03/literatureinquiry-circles-meets-research-author-allan-stratton-visits-the-unquiet-library-via-skype/
Johnson, D. (2010). Dear students, please lead a thoughtful revolution. Retrieved from:
http://doug-johnson.squarespace.com/blue-skunk-blog/2010/11/21/dear-students-please-lead-a-thoughtful-revolution.html
Kolbert, L. (2010). I’m not who you think I am. Retrieved from:
Kolbert, L. (2010). The IPEVO document camera at $69.95. Retrieved from:
O’Connell, J. (2010). Sink your iteeth into Dracula. Retrieved from: O’Connell, J. (2010). Student tools-let them fly. Retrieved from:
Rochelle, N.. (2009, August). To Blog or Not to Blog? School Administrator, 66(7), 17-
19. Retrieved November 23, 2010, from ProQuest Education Journals. (Document ID: 1810719721).
Valenza, J. (2010). Apps for student teacher librarians. Retrieved from: Winkler, K. (2010). Host your own show (classes) on facebook with livestream.
Retrieved from: http://www.kirstenwinkler.com/host-your-own-show-classes-on-facebook-with-livestream/
Warlick, D. (2010). Qualities of an Effective Teacher. Retrieved from:
Warlick, D. (2010). 10+ Ways to Promote a Learning Culture in Your School. Retrieved
from: http://davidwarlick.com/2cents/?s=10%2B+Ways+to+Promote+a+Learning+Culture+in+Your+School
Wikipedia. (2010). QR Code. Retrieved from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QR_Code
Zawilinski, L.. (2009). HOT Blogging: A Framework for Blogging to Promote Higher Order Thinking. The Reading
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