Focus Question
How can teachers use a website or blog to improve teaching
and learning?
Teachers can create a blog account that would allow students
to become actively engaged online. Teachers can pose questions and ask students
to respond. This allows for online discussions to take place. Blogs are a great
way for English teachers to promote literacy learning through writing and the
analysis of language. Blogs are also a great way to make parents feel involved
and connected. These blogs are able to update parents and share what is going
on in the classroom. As well as staying connected with the parents it also
allows teachers to communicate with other teachers. This way teachers are able
to support one another and ask question. Blogs are great and should be
incorporated into the classrooms to improve teaching/ learning!
Photo Credit: Paul T. McCain
Summary
Chapter eight starts off by focusing on how teachers can
communicate electronically. As a teacher the major components of communication
that are used are: classroom websites, email, instant messaging, discussion
boards, blogs, and wikis. They each have their own purpose, but are all as
equally important. There are two different types of communications, Synchronous
and Asynchronous. Synchronous communications occur in real times, as with cell
phone conversations or instant message exchanges. Asynchronous communications
involve a time delay, i.e. email messages, threaded discussions, or blogs. Incorporating
electronic communications in the classroom is very important for success. This
allows for teaching interactively, sharing info, building learning communities,
publishing student work, and energizing student writing. Email may be the most
useful communication tool for teachers, because it has its own built-in recordkeeping
system. Everyone involved in the emailing is accountable for anything he/she
says. Email is consider to be more proper in the school setting compared to
instant messaging which provides immediate feedback. With Email you are able to
spell check and create a thoughtful reply as instant messaging most people tend
to use “textspeak”. Textspeak is abbreviated collection of symbols and letters
that are used for quick communication. Blogging is an immensely popular online
activity. Reading a blog can be best described as reading someone’s journal/
diary. Blogs are great to incorporate into the classroom because, it enhances
student learning, promotes student/family communications and professional
networking. It is important to keep in mind the four key designs when creating
a teacher blog. The key designs are: content posting, reader response,
audience, and authorship. Wikis have also become a popular online learning
tool. In schools, wikis allow students to use technology in meaningful ways,
collaborate with peers, synthesis and explain content, publish their writing,
and receive feedback about their learning both inside and outside the
classroom. Wikis are great because they allow users to edit the same webpage.
This method of blogging has greatly grown over the years.
The video below shares 10 reasons why students enjoy using blogs. Some of the examples they use are ones the book uses as well! In the video each student states why the Blog is benefitical to them.
Tech tool question
The tech tool link I checked out was "Go Daddy". Go daddy is
an online site that allows users to create their own websites and host their
own accounts. This site is used mainly for business purposes and costs money
depending on the package that’s purchased. There are positive feedback comments
on the home page from active users of the site. The site seems very user
friendly and is very bright and colorful
which is engaging for any user online.
APA:
Great find on that video! :) Since I have you blogging for this class, you might realize my bias towards its importance, as well. I do wonder if email is very effective in communicating with students as I have found most find it 'dying' and rarely go to their email accounts - texting instead. If the receiver doesn't 'receive' the message, is it good communication?
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