At the last minute, I excised this from one of my comments and said something more innocuous.
"If proofreading were medicine, your posts would need an EMT."
But I WANTED to say it....
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Monday, January 24, 2011
Reflections on student blogging
I am looking back on a three week class that I have just finished teaching, and in which I required my students to blog. (for reference, these were high school boys in a computer class.) Some, but not all, were asking a credit towards a graduation requirement. So, as I compile their grades, I am left reflecting on how blogs worked in my class.
I required the students to blog every day, about what was going on in my class. What they were learning, what they thought was interesting, what they struggled with, what they'd like to know more about. Then, when they started on a project, I asked them to blog about their experience with the project, including what was working, what wasn't, what their plans and surprises were, and what they were working towards.
As a teacher, perhaps I should know better, but I was surprised by how my expectations didn't align with what I got from the kids. Certainly, they participated, and some did quite well, but there were some disappointments, and it is human nature, I guess, for me to dwell on them.
Often, I got pro forma comments. "This is what we were taught in class today." Many students were reluctant to reflect on the class, but rather seemed to just report on it, even after feedback and suggestion with leading questions. ("What was your impression of what was effective -or not- in the class?" "What ideas are you starting to have about the project you are about to do?")
Perhaps expecting teenagers to open up on demand is too much, but a blog that reads like a book report is pretty boring. Still, I can see a student who feels he has something negative to say being pretty reluctant - we've trained them to hold back.
It was also surprisingly difficult to get students to read and comment on each other's blogs. Again, they seemed reluctant to share or give each other feedback. There were exceptions, of course, but it was surprising how resistant they were. If we couldn't even comment on each other's, I didn't see how they would be able to give each other feedback much.
To some extent, I wonder whether this experiment didn't work because it didn't have enough time to work. Maybe once they got into a rhythm, my boys would have opened up and had something to say. Maybe e problem was that they resented being made to blog. Does blogging have to come from the heart to work?
I don't know. It leaves me thinking about what to change for next time.
I required the students to blog every day, about what was going on in my class. What they were learning, what they thought was interesting, what they struggled with, what they'd like to know more about. Then, when they started on a project, I asked them to blog about their experience with the project, including what was working, what wasn't, what their plans and surprises were, and what they were working towards.
As a teacher, perhaps I should know better, but I was surprised by how my expectations didn't align with what I got from the kids. Certainly, they participated, and some did quite well, but there were some disappointments, and it is human nature, I guess, for me to dwell on them.
Often, I got pro forma comments. "This is what we were taught in class today." Many students were reluctant to reflect on the class, but rather seemed to just report on it, even after feedback and suggestion with leading questions. ("What was your impression of what was effective -or not- in the class?" "What ideas are you starting to have about the project you are about to do?")
Perhaps expecting teenagers to open up on demand is too much, but a blog that reads like a book report is pretty boring. Still, I can see a student who feels he has something negative to say being pretty reluctant - we've trained them to hold back.
It was also surprisingly difficult to get students to read and comment on each other's blogs. Again, they seemed reluctant to share or give each other feedback. There were exceptions, of course, but it was surprising how resistant they were. If we couldn't even comment on each other's, I didn't see how they would be able to give each other feedback much.
To some extent, I wonder whether this experiment didn't work because it didn't have enough time to work. Maybe once they got into a rhythm, my boys would have opened up and had something to say. Maybe e problem was that they resented being made to blog. Does blogging have to come from the heart to work?
I don't know. It leaves me thinking about what to change for next time.
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