I currently
teach 4th grade. I teach only Reading and Science to all 44 of my
students. I currently use images as a
part of my reading class. When the students come into my room they will look at
the image of the day and depending on the skill we are working on, they have to
give me some information. They might have to make an inference based on the
image, tell what the Author’s purpose was, make a prediction about the image,
or many other things. We then share our thoughts about the image of the
day. I think it would be beneficial to
put the image on the blog and the students can comment instead of share with
the class. I feel like this would be beneficial to the lesson because the
students could do it before or after class and this might actually park some
interest between student’s comments. They will start having conversations with
each other and expanding on what others have posted.
In Science, I think I could use the
blog for multiple things. I could post assignments, pictures of what the
students have done, and even student created videos. The one thing that I think
I would like most about using the blog during my science class is for
communication. I like to show different vodcasts throughout the year that are
experiments related to our topic at that time. I could post the vodcast to our
blog and then have the students respond to it on the blog. They could post
questions that they still have and other students could answer their questions.
To me, this is a great way for students to collaborate and work together when
they cannot always physically be together.
The true potential of blogs in
schools comes when students and teachers use them as publishing tools
(Richardson, 2009, p.43). This is
ultimately my goal, to have students publishing work and research on the blog.
This is not something that I will start with, but this is something that my
students will start doing once they are comfortable with the blog, how it
works, and my expectations upon them publishing their work.
Resources
Richardson,
W. (2009). Blogs, wiks, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms
(2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
I really like the idea of students answering each other's questions. I think the best way to learn a subject is to have to explain it to someone else. They will be writing, learning science, and using what they have learned in a constructing way. These are great ideas!
ReplyDeletelearned a lot from reading your post this evening! First, I have never heard of using images to teach reading strategies. Very clever! Is there a certain book or blog that you use as a reference tool or is this something that you create on your own each day? Having the image on the website for students to discuss their various thoughts allows each of them to have a voice in the classroom. Often, I know that I do not always have time to call on each student during my mini-lessons and therefore do not hear everyone’s thoughts but the blog would offer that opportunity. Also, I did not know about vodcasts! I had heard about podcasts before but actually had to look up what the difference was (assuming it was a video but had to make sure). Do you make the vodcasts yourself or do you use a particular site? Thank you for the great information.
ReplyDeleteI actually use Pinterest for my images, that is where I got the idea.
ReplyDeleteFeel free to follow me or any of my board for the classroom. My screen name is Haley VanGotten Ellison.
I do create all of my vodcasts myself, we just use our classroom video camera.
I'm glad you enjoyed my post.
Haley
Haley,
ReplyDeleteI like the idea that the students have to write their comments regarding the image and communicate with their peers in writing on the blog. I feel some kids today take many shortcuts when they are writing. This is an attribute inherited through texting. These activities should really enhance their writing and also give you the teacher the opportunity to grade their work and provide feedback about their work. Like Ariel LoGrasso, this is the first time I have heard of teaching reading using images. A truly ingenious idea! I love your post!