In our EDTECH 597 class, we were asked to prepare a letter and proposal for using blogs within the classroom. Here is what I was able to come up with.
111
Blah St.
Some
town, ID 83699
June
24, 2013
Nampa
Christian Schools
439
W. Orchard Ave.
Nampa,
ID 83651
Dear
Mrs. Vermillion:
I
am writing in regards to implementing a blogging program in the sixth grade
program. The program will allow students to publish their work for a greater
audience, as well as provide opportunities for peer review and reflection.
This
program will further utilize the new technology we will be receiving this year.
Students will already be familiar with the Google Chromebooks, allowing for a
smooth transition into using them for writing.
By
having the opportunity to blog, I believe students will develop greater
writing, editing, and interpersonal skills. Include in this proposal will be
reasons for how these goals will be met.
Sincerely,
Nathan
De Groot
In order to blog within the
classroom, a blogging tool will need to be used. Blogger would be a sufficient
tool to use for blogging. I believe this to be a good choice because it is
developed by Google. The students will already have Google accounts for using
the Chromebooks, making the implementation of Blogger very simple. Blogger also
is an easy-to-use tool, requiring very little learning time or time spent on
technical difficulties.
The students will not have their own
blogs; rather, we will have a class blog to which all students will be able to
post. This will allow the blog to be monitored more closely by me as well as
other students. The students will also spend less time trying to find other
students’ blogs, and it will decrease the chance that students could stumble
upon inappropriate content by limiting the blogs that can be viewed.
Student privacy is a concern for the
school and parents. Because of this, pseudonyms will be used for the students
who are blogging. I will have these pseudonyms matched with the actual students
to monitor blogging involvement and progress. By blogging in this method,
people who are viewing the class blog will not gain additional information on
students. Privacy between students is also maintained, which will help develop
a positive learning community due to anonymity of the posters.
The main purpose of the blog is to
create a classroom community to share written ideas. Prompts will be given
weekly and students will be asked to respond to them. The prompts will
incorporate curriculum from multiple subject areas. By using blogs to write,
students’ ideas will be accessible to the whole class at any time. Students
will also respond to their classmates’ postings, creating opportunity for
discussion, especially for students who are not vocal.
Throughout the year, students will
work together to develop a project which will be shared via the blog. Using the
blog in this manner will allow for the development of project ideas and an opportunity
for feedback before completing the project.
Typical writing sessions or typing
could allow these ideas to happen, but they would not be as efficient as
blogging. Using a blogging tool, students’ ideas are immediately shared with
the whole class. The content and ideas that are discussed can also be shared
with others outside of our classroom community, such as parents or classes
working on similar topics.
As with all internet activities, it
is important that students conduct themselves in an appropriate manner.
Students will not be publishing personal information, such as age, gender,
family names, etc. It is also important to develop a safe environment for
posting and sharing ideas. In order to address cyber bullying, we as a class
will develop rules for what would be appropriate and inappropriate for
discussion. Before blogging, we will view several sites that offer definitions
and rules for netiquette, manners for conducting online discussion.
As you can see, the use of blogging
will greatly incorporate the new Chromebooks that will be distributed to each
classroom. Students will already have accounts to log into the blogging
platform. Students will also develop computer skills and writing skills.
Monitoring of the program will be done by the teacher and can involve other
members as well. I hope that you consider the benefits of blogging in the
classroom and allow the sixth grade class to implement this into the curriculum
next year.
