Response Blog #1: Lost in the Blogosphere

Well, it's official. I am definitely Web 2.0-ed out! I first heard about Web 2.0 at a department meeting last year. The presenter was showing the department how to use a wiki and how to set one up and briefly touched on some other elements of Web 2.0. I immediately thought that some of these tools were  great educational devices to use in the classroom. But then... life went on. I became inundated with the typical everyday stresses of a middle school and forgot about wikis, blogs, and everything else that had to do with Web 2.0.

However, the idea of Web 2.0 emerged again at the beginning of this current school year.  My school began to stress the importance of incorporating technology into the classroom. I thought: "This is simple. Have the students do a few more web quests, use Power Point for notes, and I should be fine." But boy, was I wrong! After a couple of workshops, I realized that the internet isn't simply an online "encyclopedia" that only has the potential to spit out information; rather, it is like a breathing, living body that provides you with the opportunity to communicate with it, and it will respond back. This was a revolutionary concept for me! It was at that moment that I finally realized the true potential that the internet had and the vast opportunity that it offers a teacher. 

One of the reasons why I decided to take this class was because of that one moment. I thought: "OK, now I realize that the internet isn't just for gathering information... but now what?" I had many moments of feeling overwhelmed so I thought this class would help me out. And it definitely has so far... but I still feel like there is so much out there to learn! So, in order to help me feel more calm, I decided to sort of "focus" on one element of Web 2.0 (at least for the time being): blogs. 

I tend to have my students write a lot in class, sometimes formally (like a 5-paragraph essay) but mostly reflections, reactions, and opinion pieces. I think that blogs would be a perfect tool to use when I have my students write informally. But, my district tends to be very cautious when it comes to using technology, especially for homework assignments and communication. So, in my head... I thought that the first step to having my students start blogging would have to be to set up some ground rules. Bud Hunt, whose blog I have recently been perusing, sets up some great rules for blogging. I think these are perfect, especially for a middle school student who is used to communicating on MySpace or Facebook where spelling, grammar, and appropriateness is seen as being unimportant. Hunt also stresses the importance of thinking about what you are going to blog about before you publish it. Again, what a great word of caution for a 13-14 year old! In my class now, we have discussions on current events and not a day goes by that I don't remind the kids to be respectful of other people's views and opinions. Similarly, the students would need to do that online even though they weren't face to face with the other students. 

So, I have the kids set up with their blogs and have established rules... now comes the hard part: knowing when blogging would be the appropriate tool to use. I think that, in my classroom at least, blogging would be best for current event issues and reactions to class discussions. For example, each day I start the class with a current event topic-recently, the Democratic Presidential Nomination has dominated our discussions! (Side-note: this is a great place to find current events for a middle school classroom) After our class discussion, I could have the students go home and write a reaction to the discussion on their blog. Not only would this carry their thinking outside the classroom, but it may provide an opportunity for those students who aren't that comfortable sharing their opinions in class to express their thoughts.

And the best part about blogging is that other students could comment on the other student's ideas. When time in class is precious and you can't continue a discussion for fear of not covering what you were supposed to, the blog allows the discussion to continue after school... and into the night! I can't tell you how many times I had to stop a really good discussion simply because we had other things to do in class that day. But that doesn't have to be a worry anymore... blogging allows a limitless discussion.

Another thought on blogs in the classroom: will it cause confusion (for teacher and student) or will it make things easier? I am a big fan of correcting things with a pen and paper... this way I can comment, circle, cross-out, and edit all I want. But when reading a student's blog, I fear it might be more difficult for me, as a teacher, to provide meaningful feedback. Moreover, will the student feel more stressed out by using a blog rather than just writing on a piece of paper? I don't know the answers to these questions until I try blogging out in my classroom for myself... and that is what I am going to do!

One final thought: if students are blogging in more than one class, will they become confused with which blog goes with which class? Laura Spencer raises the question as to whether or not the blogosphere is getting too crowded from a business standpoint. This made me think about the educational blogosphere and whether or not blogging would be "worth it" to do in a middle school classroom. Spencer concludes that blogging, like television, is currently going through a change where it is becoming more mainstream. However, that does not mean businesses won't benefit from blogging and should shy away from it. Similarly, I feel that teachers should strive to use blogging in their classrooms even if students are blogging in other classes, which leads me to my final thought:

Sure, we may feel somewhat overwhelmed by the new and fancy Web 2.o but that doesn't mean we should tune it out. As educators, it is our responsibility to stay up-to-date on such things. Not only will our students benefit from it, but we will, too. And so I continue to navigate my way through the blogosphere... slowly, resiliently, and determined to make blogs work in my classroom!