chapter+3

One focus of this chapter is on teacher/student collaboration on blogs. The idea of modeling and using our blogs as examples gives the students insight into where we, as teachers, are coming from personally and professionally. As we show them how to set up and post to their blogs we are giving them initiative to share and explore their own and other students' works and ideas from within the classroom. With further exploration they can also collaborate with other global classrooms, students, and teachers. They can also collaborate with scientists, musicians, authors and others around the world who can help enhance their education. It also gives an outlet to students who are not always able to share their ideas vocally in class, yet they can write down their ideas to a blog without fear of embrassment or judgement. When initially setting up classroom blogs, we can use our own blogs to post on what we have read or are currently reading. We can also post and share some of who we are so that students get to know a little about the person in charge of their education. By having the students post comments we are getting them to write down their ideas and at the same time we are getting them used to responding to posts and later posting on their own. Blogging will also strenghten students' reading and writing skills as they strive for proficiency in all subject matters. One of the key focusses in the chapter is on Blog safety. Expecations should be clear and must involve parents and administrators as well as teachers and students and safety precautions must be put into place (classrom password). The learning possibilities of blogging are endless and this technology tool is definitely an effective learning tool for teachers and students alike. Marie

Chapter 3 gives step-by-step instructions on how (and why) to blog. Specifically, it tells readers how to use Blogger a blogging website. It is an informative source to refer to when building a blog. The chapter also mentions how students can build writing skills and that teachers should be knowledgable of what and how they are teaching.

Chapter three had a lot of helpful information for teachers including step by step instructions to follow when setting up a teacher blog and helping students create their own. However the part I found most important and useful was the section on blog safety which discussed the teachers role in the classroom blog as a monitor and facilitator. Blogging is an extension of the classroom therefore the same expectations and regulations behind the 4 walls should be extended to the cyberspace classroom. The teacher's role is not only as a monitor to ensure safety and acceptable use but also a facilitator. According to Richardson the teacher should be commenting and connecting students to students. We have learned that the teacher must model the correct response for the students before they can expect them to do it on their own. Blogging is no different. By teachers commenting on posts and pointing out exceptional posts they are providing a model for other students to follow. Students can learn from these models and in return be confident in creating their own blog.

Hmmm...Chapter three talked about how to make blogs. This was interesting since our assignment was to post on how to make blogs to our blog that we already made. It was fun to see how the directions were laid out there, and also nice to see that the actual doing of the task was as simple as it was supposed to be. I know that helping my students do this in the future will not be difficult because I will always have this wonderful book to use as a reference. -Becky

One important point mentioned in Chapter 3- As teachers we need to get permission from parents of students as well as admininstrators so that everyone is up to speed with our web plans in the classroom.

[|Chapter 3]
Although many children and teens are probably famliar with blogging already, there will always be handful who have never experienced blogging before. As the book suggests, start slow as to not overwhelm and/or discourage them from blogging. Introducing this is world to them will encourage and excite them to explore the various ways to communicate with eachother and many others around the world. At the same time enriching thier reading and writing experience. S. Mesiti

[|WEBLOGS REFLECTION]
Can Weblogs play an important role in my classroom? As I reflect on the use of Weblogs in my classroom; I would say there is potential for this to be a valuable publishing tool. Students who struggle with poor hand writing skills definitely could benefit from the use of logs. Using the keyboard to respond to a writing prompt, would be less stressful than having to write manually with pencil and paper. Students who are not stressed can spend more time thinking critically and analytically writing and reflecting. According to Richardson (2009), students are already blogging, however, only a few of the students are blogging using their sites as places of critical thinking and analytical writing and reflection. As a future teacher, I should model Weblogs as a tool in my classroom; pointing out the appropriate ways to use logs. It will be important to show students why it's important to keep writing and to keep learning. As the book suggested, I would start small by using Weblogs to post homework assignments and class links. After obtaining the proper permission and introducing students to consuming information in different forms, I could have students read and write a response to what they have read. No matter which way I decide to use Weblogs, my role as the "connector," is to make sure students, parents, and administrators are clear about my expectations and the reasoning behind it. Posted by Barbara

[|threepost] @ external link
Blogging, and technology in general, will be a great tool for communicating with our students. When starting out with a class, it will be an important resource for parents and students to connect with the classrrom. As the academic year passes, I think that Blogging can become an integral part of the class discussion. By using podcasts to ask questions or explain concepts, and blogging to discuss these concepts, we can ensure that students are beginning to internalize what we are teaching.

If not for this class it would have been a long time before I thought about becoming more comfortable with these techniques. The book has helpful resources and links to explore. Upon review of the chapter I realized several very important things. If you want your students to actively participate in something that can truly enhance their learning, you must first provide a good example and lead by that example. It is becoming more prominent in many households ( including my own) to check email as frequently as you check your voice mail. If we can get students and parents to interact using weblogs as frequent as email, we will become more efficient and effect as a community. By using weblogs we are creating a new genre of text for students to read. This is a great way to connect, and if done properly safe and fun! Posted by Mary C at [|7:29 PM]

Chapter 3 was extremely informative about blogging. The various techniques that he described will be most bebefical for my future students. Blogging in the classroom will become an everday occurence and become second nature not only to my students, but for me as well. Thank you Mr. Richardson for helping me to get technology into my lesson plans and classroom, thus getting my classroom connected to the blogging world at large!

One of the things I liked most about the information in Chapter 3 was the suggestion for teachers to post a question of the day for our students to reflect on based on waht was discussed/learned that day, and answer on their blogs. He suggested that we model the responses that we would expect from them and to make sure that the questions are provocative enough to stimluate a good response. This encourages connective writing and will help students to understand the benefits of the blogging process.- Sue C.

This book is an amazing guide to get started in the mainstream of technology, more specifically, to use technology as an amazing tool to teach! Chapter 3 is when the author really dives into the meat of technology. He teaches the reader a step by step process of how to set up the most basic of teaching technology, which is the blog. He describes where one can go to to set one up and goes over some basic topics like safety, how much information a site can hold, and monetary features that some of these systems have. The book is really geared towards an individual who has had very little to no exposure to the technology that people are using daily. For those of you who are more fluent in this type of technology it is a easy read that may introduce something that one can add to your repertoire of skills that is already possessed! I suggest to check it out especially the links that the author provides to show his audience what one can do with this knowledge in the classroom. What do you think? - Bill V.

In chapter 3 it mentioned that inorder for teachers start to introduce blogging they need to do alot of practices themselves. I for example need to be much more comfortable in designing it. The text book provided lots of resource and also an excellence refernce to have for future use. The step-by-step direction starting page on 48 to 53 are a great help.

In chapter 3 it discusses a few areas of interest to me most important is safety and teacher/student collaboration. Blogging, wikis, and online chat rooms are still new technologies that are yet to be regulated by law. The scary side of this technology is you are unable to see who you are communicating to and there are no security systems in place to determine this. Accessing tools like blogging and wikis in the class can enhance student learning and achievement. There has to be clear communication with parents on how to use and regulate these tools for their student's safety. This way it becomes an effective tool in and out of the classroom. Blogging also opens up the classroom beyond the four walls so students can gain insight from individuals around the world, for example authors of books they are reading. When students display their work on line teachers,students and professionals in that particular concentration can give valuable insight into the students work. Teachers can use these tools for assessing students work.I feel these tools would be an asset in a classroom with proper safety procedures implemented. Marissa Lopes

Chapter 3 is my favorite chapter so far in this book. For me, it allowed me to understand that we do indeed need to start small and keep practicing until we feel comfortable before blogging with students. The first thing that came to mind as I read this chapter was that I felt that this should have been the first chapter in this book. I totally agree that the information found on pages 48 through 53 are a great help. Now that I understand how blogs work and how useful they can be, I am able to understand the impact technology will have in my classroom. Thank you to JWU for providing this class in our educational experience in the MAT program! Kerrie Brown

Chapter 3 is one of my favorite chapters so far. It encourages teachers to model and learned the took for an effective, successful blogger. And to be confident in her tools. It talked about the important of being persistant with the rool and picking up with the learning and the writing. Also, how to publish your work and how to be effetive in the educational setting. This chapter educated you on how you as a teacher can create post and an understanding of the process. To be a good blogger you have to monitor before you publish the students work for security reasons, but just as anything, there are risks for everything you do. But with good communication and hard work, it can be done! Adelina Mendez

I found Chapter 3 of our textbook to be very interesting. I think that Will Richardson brings up a good point when he says that blogging makes writing a daily part of his life. For students, the more often they write, the better writers they become. If they have the opportunity to write on a daily basis, and usually about a topic of choice or at least be able to give their own opinions, they will become more interested in it. It will also give them a chance to be able to better edit what they write. Another important part of this chapter involved how teachers need to model "good blogging". This means that teachers need to be conscious of the type of wording they choose, as well as modeling the proper way to keep confidentiality about somethings. It is crucial that teachers are constantly reminding the students about blog safety and are monitoring what is being said back and forth between students. Teachers need to learn when to intervene as well as the proper way to do so. This chapter also gives very user friendly step-by-step instructions on how to set up a blog. While I find the process to be simple, many children may need explicit instructions due to lack of exposure to computers in general. I think it is important to show students how to customize their posts, with colors, different fonts, pictures, etc. It gives them a chance to show their true colors, as well as establish their own identity on the web.

Sorry I messed up your color above- like chapter 3 says, I could stand to practice this tool before I use it with students- but that's what this is for, right? I thought ch. 3 was a great help as a reference to the nuts and bolts of blogging. As the chapter describes and our class experience proves, blogging is a special communication, collaboration, and creativity enhancing tool. This chapter gave many insights to its application to the classroom. I appreciated how Will explained the various uses of blogs in simple, clear language. For me, as an admittedly awkward computer user (I have two left thumbs), the necessity of using these tools presents a daunting challenge. That is why I am thankful for Will's book and this class. The book is a concrete resource I can refer to in preparation for my future classes which will invariably include web 2.0 tools like blogging. This class has introduced me to these tools and has offered me the chance to practice using them. I officially renounce my Luddite membership! I am now a citizen of the cyberverse! Chris

[|elterhan] There was a particular line in this chapter that really struck me. "It's well and good to encourage and teach our students to blog, but they will surely give it up at the end of the semester unless we've shown them why it's important to keep writing and keep learning. (No pessure.)" I think it really struck me becasue it was a question I had already asked myself. I knew I had to embrace the usefulness of blogging before I could teach (or convince) anyone else. In the past week, I have had seen many examples of the usefulness of blogging. Radio stations have blogs, schools have blogs, my friend who is a writer has a great blog. They are everywhere! And they are useful. The CDC posted information on their blog about the recent peanut butter contamination problem. It was a quick way to disseminate useful information about a serious problem to a large audience and get immediate feedback. So, like the Internet and iPods and the iPhone, I think blogs are here to stay and the possibilites for their use is limited only by the constraints we ourselves put on them.

Chapter 3 Summary: Chapter 3 was about teaching first yourself and then your students how to create a blog. It was a good refresher since we already have our own. It gives some great tips on different ways to set up the classroom blog, what you as a teacher may want to use a blog for, how to teach your students about it, and also gives some tips about how to keep things safe for your students. The other thing it mentions is that having a blog is also a good way to involve parents in what their children are learning and doing in school. Blogging is fun, its easy, and it is a great tool when used correctly to enhance classroom participation and activities. ALICIA

During this class I learned about several technology tools to use in classroom. My favorite was how to create a blog, and how to use it in classroom. I beleave that this a great tool to get students' motivation to do something different more interesting and vivid. Blog can play an important role in our classroom. It can make our practices as teacher more eeffective.

"just as writing teachers should write, and literature teachers should read, teachers who use blogs should, well, use blogs." i found this to be a very interesting part in chapter 3. i totally agree with will richardson about this point. the whole idea of putting yourself in the student's shoe is the summative of this chapter. if we want our students to learn from blogs, we have to experience that learning firsthand. . this chapter talked about starting with posting on others blog, then starting small and write about meaningful or important things u read about. prepare a class blog and so on. i had an issue about the safety of blogs and chapter three addressed this.

I stand by my opinion that the blog is the best, most useful, and simple web tool that we learned about in this class. Chapter 3, as stated above (more than once...), was the low down on weblog creating, teaching, and using. One thing I happened to like was that Richardson sis mention to consider to level of internet access at the school and at the students' home. 80% of homes apparently have internet access, but it is definitly an issuse for planning to incorrporate web tools. -KatieMonster