Take 5---Thoughts about blogging in Spanish class
After our meeting the other day I spent some time thinking about how I could use a class blog to benefit the students. I even asked my classes what they thought about blogging. Some of the students really liked it, but I was very surprised to hear many of them say that they didn't like it, that it was being overused by teachers and that they would rather hand in a piece of paper with the assignment written on it. Well, maybe they need a little more education on the power of blogging! Anyway, I think a class blog would be very helpful in Spanish to emphasize culture by setting up a link that the students could visit and respond to. I think I'd like to start out slowly by offering extra credit (which I don't usually do) for any students that respond. Also, I really liked the idea of a student being a scribe for the class and would like to try that idea.
posted by 21cmelin at 11:06 AM
2 Comments:
As I think we stated pretty clearly in our session, blogging is not the end all or be all of teaching. We shouldn't be blogging just to blog, but only if it is a meaningful and relevant activity for students. Only if it enhances an existing lesson or allows us to do something we couldn't do before that helps students learn.
Having said that, I think that when used correctly, blogging can be a powerful tool in our constructivist toolbox. I think I would ask the students that didn't like blogging why they didn't like it. They may have some really legitimate issues that we should think about. They may also dislike it because it takes a lot of thinking and hard work. As I've said on other c2 blogs, if they said they were tired of reading (or writing), would you not do that in your classes?
Blogging - Read. Think. Write. Repeat.
I think that can be valuable in all classes when done in a meaningful and relevant way.
It might not be blogging they don't like, but the type of blogging they've seen that they don't like. And some have admitted to me that they see the work they turn in as easier to do because they are more "fearful" of peer review of what they think than of how a teacher grades.
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