Blogs

What are Blogs?

Blogs are a form of written communication to the public on a variety of topics; such as food, travel, social, or even current events. These postings are taken place on a website run by an individual or a group that share the same ideas. They informally publish daily, weekly, or monthly updates on certain topics and they are displayed in reverse chronological order. They are like journal entries on a certain topic. Blog websites are available and are usually free to create, but you can always make an upgrade to a premium account to have access to more options for a fee.

Common features found in Blogs!

As I visited several blog sites, I came to the conclusion that they all share certain similarities. For instance, respectufulinsolence.com, theinventory.com, and engaget.com all inform their audience on a certain topic, from vaccines in scientific environment, organizational skills, to current events in the social world. These three blogs updated their audience daily even by the hour, always displaying their latest entry first. At the end of the posting they had an option to share their blog through Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter. Lastly, they included the section where you can comment on the blog.

Websites vs Blogs

A website is stationary while a blog is more bold and interactive. Websites do not necessarily get updated often, and they incorporate pages with information on content; whereas, blogs, as previously mentioned, are updated frequently on a certain topic. Many websites have started to integrate the blogging component to take advantage of this avenue to promote or raise awareness to their product or service.

Affordances that blogs entail!

A key affordance for blogging is creating a reflective learner. Blogging promotes, "Voice," individuals can document in written format and share what they know about a certain topic and expand from there. The frequent updates is an another affordance for blogging, this will create an individual an expertise in their topic. However, it does lack the affordance for creating a well rounded community of learners. Since, the postings are from an individual, it only entails his/her perspective. This is a drawback if you want to create a platform of dialogue. Discussion boards on the other hand, are formed from multiple users giving insights on a certain topic and you have the ability from learning from each other, it brings individuals together fostering a community of learners.

Integrating Blogs to Support Learning

I am currently a 5th grade teacher at Patricio Perez Elementary and I teach ELA and Math for my group of students. I decided to design a lesson that would integrate our Reading and Writing TEK to create a blog.

Our students recently learned on procedural texts; specifically on making a bento box. In the past each student would bring in food items from home and create it, then they would write their procedural text. This resulted in the usual paper/pencil activity and just be seen by me the educator.

Japanese Bento Boxes

My new activity will be comprised of the following:

Content:

I will use TEK 5.18 (Writing)- Students are expected to write an expository and procedural texts to communicate ideas and information to specific audiences for specific purposes.

TEK 5.24 (Research/Gathering Sources)- Students determine, locate, and explore the full range of relevant sources addressing a research question and systematically record the information they gather.

Students will create a procedural text, explaining how they designed their bento box. Students will now be reflecting each step of the way and placing it on a blog. They will be able to be more creative since now they will have the ability to take pictures or videos and include them in their blog. Most importantly, students will be able to visit each others blogs, share thoughts and interact with the published content. They will internalize the lesson with a deeper knowledge on what is a bento box and how they differ between classmates. A second part of the unit will be to research on bento boxes used with other cultures and blog on key differences on their type of foods they included in their bento box. Students will be analyzing and constructing meaning, placing them at the higher levels in our Bloom’s Taxonomy.

Pedagogy:

This semester I started with my Masters Program in Educational Technology and Library Science, and a lot of our learning is through the Constructivism Theory. Which in turn is what I want my students to start practicing. When my students reflect in their own learning and display it on their blog, I will be transferring ownership and letting them construct new knowledge as they explore the concept further. By allowing them to compare and contrast other bento boxes from other cultures they will be generating new knowledge and applying it to real world connections.

Technology:

By selecting blogging as the tool for technology, it provides several affordances. To begin with it promotes the affordance on learning being ongoing. Students will be reviewing each other blogs and since they are updated frequently, learning about procedural texts and bento boxes will be internalized. They will be able to see the sequential order that everyone is using in their blogs. Another affordance the students will take advantage is, enhancement in their communication. Writing and using grammatical structures is just a component, however, being able to communicate with their peers on their products is moving up in the Bloom’s Taxonomy, they will be able to comment and evaluate each other’s works.

Obstacles we might Encounter!

The only obstacle I foresee is time. However, it is something that we as educators can control. According, to our scope and sequence from our district, procedural texts should be taught in a weeks period. This unit would not be able to be completed in such a short time frame and be effective. With this is mind, I would teach procedural texts and creating a blog during that week. Students would take ownership and get a more in depth study with bento boxes during a course of several weeks. In this way students can explore the topic and become experts on their learning. Blogging is a critical tool and should be used despite time constraints, students get to reflect, read each other blogs, critique, comment, and most importantly internalize learning.

#perspective #outlook #newlife