Overview of Final Project: My Classroom Blog

For our EC&I 831 Computers in the Classroom course, I created a classroom blog, called Grade 9G Classroom Blog, using Landmarks Class Blogmeister. The original intent for creating this space was for my students to interact with one another via blogs. I also devised the classroom blog to aid with their learning in our Language Arts units.

My experience began when I started browsing classroom blogs on classblogmeister. When I first imagined my classroom blog, I envisioned a site much like Mrs. Cassidy’s Classroom Blog. I wanted to post pictures and videos of student activities in our classroom. I wanted students to blog about what they learned. I wanted students to comment on each other’s blogs as well.

Although the technical aspects of creating and implementing a classroom blog were sometimes trying (like trying to figure out how to embed a video – which I have yet to learn to do on classblogmeister), my discovery learning experience has led me to believe that I came across four major areas I considered to be the barriers (that I hope to overcome in the near future, including future classroom experiences) of creating and implementing such a site: consent forms, time, interaction and participation.

Consent Forms

I created consent forms for students to take home in hopes of hasty replies so we could start our blogging. The first day I sent them out, I got back 3 signed and approved consent forms. I was ecstatic. I thought the others would return the rest the very next day. It took a total of two weeks (including one report card day) to get as many consent forms back for us to start blogging – less than half the students had brought them back that week. 7 students returned their consent forms with their parents/guardian allowing them to participate in the classroom blog and one student brought the form back stating they were not allowed to participate. The following week on report card day, I explained what the classroom blog was all about to the parents/guardians that did show up. I had 5 more students signed up for our blog, including the one student that wasn’t originally allowed to participate. Altogether I have 12 students that were allowed to use the blog, 6 students kept on forgetting to bring back their forms, and 3 other students kept on insisting they weren’t allowed. It may have helped if the 9 students’ parents/guardians (the same 9 students that did not bring any form back at all) had shown up for report card day for me to explain our classroom blog. The students that do not participate in our classroom blog still need to complete the required assignments. The only difference is they have to print it out and hand in their assignments instead of posting their assignments on our blog.

Time

So far we have three posted assignments on our blog and, I tell you, they take up a lot of time to get through one. Each assignment takes approximately 1 to 1-1/2 weeks to complete. We started each assignment in class as part of our Language Arts units (e.i. Romeo and Juliet and “Indigenous Narratives”). After the students had written up their assignment in class using the writing process, students would publish them on the computer using a word processor. Seeing that we only had three computers in the classroom, one computer class out of a six-day cycle, and 21 students that needed to complete their assignments, it was only logical to spread these special assignments out into weekly assignments. I learnt this ”logical” idea after posting the first formal assignment: Finding a song for Romeo and Juliet.

I knew the students would have a blast with this assignment because most of them love listening to music and it would be a perfect opportunity for them to listen to music in the classroom. Well… they couldn’t make up their minds which song they wanted to choose… so, they were constantly searching on YouTube for a song that they believed to be, as I stated, THE SONG for Romeo and Juliet. I cannot stress enough how much time it takes to get an assignment done, especially one I thought we would zoom right through.

Interaction

After many frustrations and wondering why students didn’t interact with one another – it dawned on me – I suppose it is too early on in the game for me to expect too much – after all, it is new to them as well. I remember when I started this class I was a little sceptical about writing and commenting on blogs and socially interacting with people on twitter (which I am still an avid lurker on).

Our classroom blog ended up being a place where students posted their assignments without any of the interaction (i.e. commenting each other) I hoped would be created (online that is). Although at first I was disappointed with the results, there was an upside to our blog – students could read each others’ writings and any links they posted as well. I have seen my students reading other students’ posts and I felt that our classroom blog did serve a purpose – it is on “online classroom bulletin board”: students showcasing and sharing their assignments with other students in the class through the classroom blog. Come to think of it, Mrs. Cassidy’s Classroom Blog is the ultimate “online classroom bulletin board.”

Participation

Although I have 12 students on board for our classroom blog, not all have posted assignments to our blog. I do not want to say much about this subject because I think that a lot of the missing assignments have to do with the irregular attendance in my classroom. As these assignments require the five stages of the writing process (brainstorming, rough draft, revising, editing, publishing, PLUS posting), time and attendance play major factors on whether a student is able to complete an assignment or not. So for the most part, students get partial marks for the works they have done in class.

 

So, that is what I have experienced thus far on my final project for this class. I say thus far because I am going to continue with my classroom blog – just maybe learn more from it and keep improving upon it as well. Again, I would like to mention that I would like to expand my classroom blog to include much more bulletin board material as Mrs. Cassidy has done with hers.

p.s.

Please leave any comments on what kind of improvements I can make if you have any ideas. Thank you!

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