1.
Definition:
Blog
According to Ann Marlow
Riedling in her book “Reference Skills
for the School Librarian Tools and
Tips (3rd Edition)” a
blog is defined as a “Web site containing
the writer’s or group of writer’s own experiences, observations, opinions,
etc., and often having images and links to other Web sites,” while Wikipedia identifies a blog as a “Truncated form of the expression weblog”
which is a “Discussion or informal
website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal
diary-style text entries (“posts”).
Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order, so that
the most recent post appears first, at the top of the web page.” These posts are available for the public to
read and comment on shared topics of interest like cooking, travel, and even
education. Readers are invited into the
mind of the blogger to see and understand issues through their unique
perspective and, if they like what they find, visitors can follow their
favorites. I view a blog as an informal
discussion group of, sometimes but not always, like-minded individuals who come
together to share ideas, concerns, pictures, videos, and even links to other
blog posts and/or websites. Entries
include, but are not limited to, local and world news/events and also personal
reflections and commentary. The lack of
physical contact and partial anonymity of this community, I think, allows for
more honest feedback and critiques from its members allowing for greater
insight and collaboration than would be possible in a face-to-face framework
and the ability to read and respond from anywhere, anytime is a genuine
plus. In this, members are not excluded
due to work, age, geography, or other constraints which might otherwise impede
their participation.
Some commonalities in
blogs are that they a point of convergence, a place for the sharing of common
interest and ideologies of not just data but also understanding and
insight. They offer anyone an
opportunity to publish their thoughts, opinions, and ideas to the web. Blogs offer the point of view of an
individual or individuals and many take advantage of links to other websites
and social media connections. Only the
blogger can edit their own post, most are updated on a regular basis, are
informal, interactive, educational & informative, and a signature usually
follows each new post. Nearly all blogs are
accessible to anyone around the world, provide a good way to keep current in
your field of study, and most offer a subscription service to enable the user
to receive updates often and to be kept abreast of the addition of any new
content.
Differences among blogs
include the types of blogs such as personal blogs, the most prolific category,
which consists of posts about topics as far ranging as music, family, and
travel to personal health, politics, education, the military, and also sports. In comparison, there are also business blogs
with professionals sharing their expertise in their field of endeavor including
lawyers, doctors, stock brokers, and realtors.
Non-Profit blogs are operated by charities as a tool to educate the
public while also raising funds for their continued efforts. Some blogs are automated with content
generated by computers rather than a real flesh and bone person while others
are private, being accessible only by a select group of friends, family
members, companies, and/or educational entities. Most blogs are suited for individual authoring
while others have multiple authors collaborating together to contribute posts
to their site.
Blogs differ from
websites in that they are easier to create, requiring no prior knowledge of
technologies like Java, html, etc. Blogs
have a less complex structure with designs limited to the templates offered by
the blog provider, are updated more frequently (usually one or more time a
week), and they are much less formal, more personal, than websites. Vlogging is a variation on the theme of
blogging nut instead of sharing your ideas, knowledge, and opinions through
tesxt, a vlog does so through the use of videos. While a variant of vlogging refered to as a
podcast or podcasting is simply an audio recording which is then uploaded and
shared through distributors like iTunes, Zune, etc.
I visited several blogs
including Edudemic, The innovative Educator, ZDNet Education, and Wordpress but
decided on Blogger because I have never created a blog before and, without any
previous experience to fall back on, decided to rely on the site chosen for our
example reflection. I feel certain that
this website was chosen by my instructor through careful consideration and with
an experienced eye which makes it the perfect fit for my purposes.
2.
TPACK
model (Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge)
Content:
If I were designing a
blog for use in my classroom, I would want it to include electronic copies of
their classroom notes and assignments for them to access and review especially
when theirs are missing or incomplete due to absence or other unforeseen events. I would also have links available to my
classroom presentations and Power Points, assignments, upcoming tests, quizzes,
and exams. I’d also like to have a
comments section from which parents and students could give voice to their
questions and concerns about assignments, tests, or classroom activities. I would include weekly problems, based on
released STAAR questions for the students to read, decipher, and solve during
the week. As Punya Mishra suggested in
his 2008 SITE Keynote Address during
the annual meeting of the Society for Information Technology and Teacher
Education (SITE) in Las Vegas NV, March 3-7, I would ask the class to post
their results to the open source online software system Moodle so that they would not be able to see the other student’s responses
until after they had submitted theirs. This would help to ensure that each child was
responsible for reading, understanding, planning, and solving the given weekly
problems and not just regurgitating what another of their classmates had
previously posted, what Mr. Mishra referred to as the “I agree phenomenon.” I would also have to websites like www.ixl.com/math
to give students an opportunity to interact digitally, and at their own pace,
with 3D models to help with their understanding of 7th grade
mathematical learning objectives such as the following:
The student will
demonstrate the use of a problem-solving model which incorporates analyzing
given information, formulating a plan or strategy, determining a solution, and
evaluating the problem-solving process and the reasonableness of the solution.
Examples would include:
·
Which (x) satisfies an equation? (7-N.2)
·
Write and solve equations which
represent diagrams (7-S.4)
·
Does (x,y) satisfy the equation? (7-U.1)
·
Similar Figures and indirect measurement
(7-X.13)
·
Area of compound figures with triangles,
semicircles, and quarter circles (7-AA.12)
Students
will use and create representations to organize, record, and communicate
mathematical ideas.
Examples would include:
·
Graphing proportional relationships
(7-K.5)
·
Solving word problems involving
two-variable equations (7-U.4)
·
Finding missing angles in triangles and
quadrilaterals (7-W.6)
·
Surface Area (7-AA.8)
·
Interpreting circle graphs (7-BB.7)
Students will apply
mathematics to problems arising in everyday life, society, and the workplace.
Examples would include:
·
Understanding integers (7-B.1)
·
Maps and decimal distances (7-E.10)
·
Scale Drawings: word problems (7-J.7)
·
Percent of Change: word problems
(7-L.10)
·
Unit prices with unit conversions
(7-M.4)
·
Finding percent: Tax, discount, and more
(7-M.6)
·
Making predictions (7-DD.4)
·
Probability of independent and dependent
events (7-DD.7)
Pedagogy:
These lessons,
especially the ones accessed through IXL website, would give the students an
opportunity to experience the mathematics discussed and practiced within the
confines of the classroom in a new and innovative new way. These model simulations would allow the
students to interact with the curriculum in ways that would not be possible
within the physical and monetary constraints of our classroom and educational
system. They would be active participants
in their education, able to act on these virtual problems, experimenting on and
with possible solutions to each stated problem.
The incorporation of these simulations is to improve a student’s
understanding and comprehension of a given curriculum. Instead of being passive observers, they
“construct understanding” for themselves through these virtual
interactions. I believe this approach
would be known as Constructivism (Duffy and Jonassen, 1992).
Technology:
Each
student would need access to a computer, either at school or home, with
internet access in order to actively participate with the classroom blog as
well as some rudimentary understanding of the keyboard, its functions, and some
level of typing skills. Online, students
would be required to read and follow directions to interact with the presented
information represented through text, diagrams, pictures, and interactive 3D models.
3.
& 4. Other uses for this technology
within the learning environment. Possible obstacles?
A classroom blog can act as another avenue of
communication, besides e-mail and phone calls, between parents and teachers; as
well as, providing students a safe venue to post questions about confusing or
difficult material. One possible
drawback would be that the same students who would hesitate to ask questions in
class would also be apprehensive to discuss them over the blog without some
kind of anonymity. Another issue is
cost. Many of our students come from an
economically disadvantaged environment in which all available resources are
expended on essentials like food, clothing, and shelter with very little if
anything left over for technology or internet access. In our district they are attempting to overcome
this problem through massive expenditures of bond monies geared towards issuing
an iPad to each high school student to keep and use throughout the school year. With free Wi-Fi readily available in many
restaurants, coffee houses, and at local libraries these disadvantaged students
are being given many of the same opportunities as their more affluent
classmates.
REFERENCES
Blog. (n.d.). Retrieved November 12, 2016, from
https://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/blogs
Duffy, T.M., and Jonassen, D.H. (1992).
Constructivism: New Implications for educational technology. In Duffy, T., and
Jonassen, D. (eds.) Constructivism and
the Technology of Instruction: A Conversation, Erlbaum, Hillsdale, NJ.
Mishra, Punya, & Koehler, Matt J., (n.d.) Thinking creatively: Teachers as designers
of Technology, Pedagogy & Content 2008
SITE Keynote Address. Address presented at the Society for Information
Technology and Teacher Education (SITE), Las Vegas, Nevada.
Riedling, Ann M., Shake, Loretta, & Houston,
Cynthia (2013) Reference Skills for the
School Librarian Tools and Tips (3rd Edition). Santa Barbara,
CA: Linworth, an imprint of ABC-CLIO, LLC.
