Blogging with History

Blogging with History

The purpose and usage of blogging in my classroom will help students reflect on their current level of mastery in my US History class. Each week, I assess students on essential questions that encompass their learning of the week’s objectives. I have decided to implement Blogger where I will have students utilize the site to reflect on their week’s progress towards mastery of the given essential question. In this space, students will have free-range to give their personal opinion on what they struggle with or areas they feel they excelled in. In addition, at the end of each unit students will have an opportunity to look back at their blogs and give a summary reflection on their growth and progress and may set goals for future units. Granting students an opportunity to reflect on their growth will in return offer a reflective space where students can analyze their growth as a student of history as well as develop 21st-Century skills such as blogging. In addition, I would like to have students use Blogger as their personal reflective space while completing their eighth-grade research project. My reason behind using their blogs while completing their research project is to allow for a collaborative workspace for students to work together in sharing ideas or resources.  

Currently, I teach eighth-grade United States History to some of the greatest kids in Watts, California. Teaching in the community for six years of my career, I have seen the growth of technology in our school setting and have experienced how this has empowered students to become more active in their learning. Leveraging my students’ technology skills by having them type their reflections through blogging is a great way to have students find their voice. As I monitor students’ reflections through Blogger, I am able to learn about my students’ internal thoughts which grant me insight into how my students are academically feeling in class. This will better my approach to further becoming a lifelong learner of becoming a better teacher for my students. As students post their blogs, I am able to reply and give feedback as to how I can further help them in my classroom setting. The greater the interactions teachers have with their students through online conversations the more likely students will succeed in class (Harper, 2018). In addition to having an on-going conversation with my students through blogging, it allows a space for students to become proficient in many areas needed in a technology-driven workforce. The more students are actively engaged in blogging with their peers through academic discourse I believe the more involved students will become on greater social topics because they have created a space where their opinion matters and is respected. 

At the culmination of each school year, our eighth-graders do a community-wide research project on what changes they believe should take place and how to bring awareness to problems in Watts such as poverty, immigration, unemployment, and gang violence. Having my students blog their process throughout the project will give them the opportunity to have their voices heard far beyond the classroom walls. In addition, students will be allowed to blog their process and give other students an opportunity to share ideas or feedback before their final presentation. I believe the most powerful use of blogging and other technologies is that it provides a different educational environment that grants the teacher bandwidth to converse with students outside the classroom environment (Harper, 2018). Keeping the learning environment active at all times will give students the extra support they deserve knowing that I cannot reach and support thirty-three students within a given class period. 

            To implement blogging into a classroom setting is as important as setting norms and expectations students should adhere to. As for educators, it is our sole responsibility to explain the type of usage you expect from your students. The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) develops standards for educators and teachers to abide by while integrating technology into the classroom. One standard I believe teachers should use in the beginning stages of integrating blogging falls under the Citizen category. Under this category, teachers are expected to mentor students in safe, legal, and moral actions while using technology which includes social interactions (International Society for Technology in Education, 2019). This standard is pinnacle to integrating blogging and other Web 2.0 Tools into the classroom because of the expectations of students to collaboratively share ideas and information in class. If norms and expectations are not taught correctly, students are therefore not set up for success and educators are now inhibiting that student’s potential at the growth of skills that Richardson (2010) argues they need to continue to be productive members of a working society. Secondly, I believe teachers should create experiences for students that require them to display positive and socially responsible actions online that foster a positive relationship and community (ISTE, 2019). Granting my students space to collaboratively involve themselves in a positive environment enables students to take chances of extending their thoughts or opinions knowing they are going to be respected in the learning environment. Furthermore, this will display specific expectations society has created and will give students an upper-hand at being proficient in 21st-Century skills. 

            As students begin to blog in my class this year, I must hold them accountable for specific expectations. Just as teachers must mentor students on how positive behavior should be display, I believe students should adhere to the same standard. As a digital citizen, students will be held accountable for engaging in positive and ethical behavior when technology is used, including social interactions online (ISTE, 2019). Due to my students interacting with one another to give support and feedback on their final research project, I must make sure students are respecting the learning environment. What this standard allows is for our students to take chances of formulating opinions that may challenge another’s thoughts. Most of the time, our students are timid to speak openly in class but are more inclined to express themselves behind the keyboard and I believe they should be entitled to a respectable environment. Secondly, I feel as students begin to utilize blogging to their advantage, they should learn how to become global collaborators by learning how to use technology in a collaborative environment that includes their peers and other members of society in order to analyze issues and dilemmas from other points of view (ISTE, 2019). Creating an environment where students are actively collaborating with one another will give students the access and skills they will need once they become part of the working class. Collaboration and positive communication is the key to great relationships in and out of the workforce and I believe teaching students collaborative skills will only play to their advantage later in life. 

References

Harper, B. (2018). Technology and teacher-student interactions: A review of empirical research. Journal of Reseach on Technology in Education. (50)3, 214-225. 

Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin. 

International Society for Technology in Education (2019). ISTE standards for educators. Retrieved from https://www.iste.org/standards/for-educators. 

International Societ for Technology in Education (2019). ISTE standards for students. Retrieved from https://www.iste.org/standards/for-students.