During the course of this class I was required to post to a blog to interact with my teacher and classmates, as well as anyone else on the internet. Through the use of blogging I have found that the process is not as bad as I initially thought it would be. I have a blog for my students and parents for my Language Arts class. I must admit that I didn’t maintain it as often as I wanted to, but that was not the case for this course.
I was given the opportunity to post weekly and receive comments from visitors and other classmates in relation to the weekly topic. At first, I was uncertain that I would be able to post on a regular basis but once I began it was relatively easy. I actually enjoyed posting my thoughts about the readings and discussing them with others from the class – even seeing what the instructor thought. I liked blogs rather than the course discussion boards because I wasn’t intimidated with all of the threads, waiting for the teacher to create a post to which to respond. When using the LMS, I always got bogged down and confused about who said what and if I responded to the initial post of one of the replies. I defiantly prefer the use of a blogging platform. It just seems easier to me. I also liked using the RSS feed from my classmates blogs to know when they posted new content on their blogs. It was really convenient to be notified and having the ability to reply to them on the go.
I felt that through the blogging process, I was able to dig deeper into the content. I also thought it was a great idea to be given generalized yet specific questions to ponder about then respond to without requiring students to be locked in to responding to questions but by allowing the students to respond with their thinking and their ideas. All of the readings were thought provoking but the one that stood out above the rest were on the topic of “Letting Go.” As a teacher in the 21st century we must allow the students to do the heavy lifting and stop holding their hand through the academic process. We must be there for them to support them in their quest for understanding and knowledge. We must aid them but we must also know when to let them get messy and make mistakes. Learning has its challenges, its victories, and its defeats. Everyone will not master standards on the first attempt, but we must give them opportunities to make those mistakes in a safe environment.
I see the value in blogging. As a current teacher I have always turned my comments off for my readers and visitors, I believe now I will open my comments up and allow visitors to post but I will moderate each post. I now see that people should have the opportunity to ask questions and respond to my thoughts, it’s an important part of learning that I have missed out on.
I was given the opportunity to post weekly and receive comments from visitors and other classmates in relation to the weekly topic. At first, I was uncertain that I would be able to post on a regular basis but once I began it was relatively easy. I actually enjoyed posting my thoughts about the readings and discussing them with others from the class – even seeing what the instructor thought. I liked blogs rather than the course discussion boards because I wasn’t intimidated with all of the threads, waiting for the teacher to create a post to which to respond. When using the LMS, I always got bogged down and confused about who said what and if I responded to the initial post of one of the replies. I defiantly prefer the use of a blogging platform. It just seems easier to me. I also liked using the RSS feed from my classmates blogs to know when they posted new content on their blogs. It was really convenient to be notified and having the ability to reply to them on the go.
I felt that through the blogging process, I was able to dig deeper into the content. I also thought it was a great idea to be given generalized yet specific questions to ponder about then respond to without requiring students to be locked in to responding to questions but by allowing the students to respond with their thinking and their ideas. All of the readings were thought provoking but the one that stood out above the rest were on the topic of “Letting Go.” As a teacher in the 21st century we must allow the students to do the heavy lifting and stop holding their hand through the academic process. We must be there for them to support them in their quest for understanding and knowledge. We must aid them but we must also know when to let them get messy and make mistakes. Learning has its challenges, its victories, and its defeats. Everyone will not master standards on the first attempt, but we must give them opportunities to make those mistakes in a safe environment.
I see the value in blogging. As a current teacher I have always turned my comments off for my readers and visitors, I believe now I will open my comments up and allow visitors to post but I will moderate each post. I now see that people should have the opportunity to ask questions and respond to my thoughts, it’s an important part of learning that I have missed out on.