Teaching Algebra1, and the use of Weblogs.
Class: Algebra 1
Grade 10: Graphing Systems of Equations
The blog is worth 20 points and must be four paragraphs. This must be completed by Friday for 1st hour classes and Monday for 3rd and 5th hour classes. You are required to write what you learned about Graphing Systems of Equations in the past two weeks. Your reflections may contain examples, definitions, and or just saying what you learned.You may also state what you understood the most and/or least from the unit, what you thought was a fun activity that we did, and what could have been done differently to help you understand the topic better.
Rationale:
The blog would help to clarify areas that students may not have understood and because it is on the World Wide Web, their contributions can be corrected or verified not just by the teacher but their peers as well.
The blog will serve to archive all their work and will be there for them to review.
Using the blog will also support diverse learning styles as it gives those who are insecure an opportunity to share their ideas in writing (Richardson, 2009, p. 27). This activity will allow me to understand what the students understands or does'nt understand, what activity they learned from the most, and areas that were a problem to them. I will then be able to restructure the lesson to increase learning.
The blog can also be a place where notes or powerpoints that were presented to the class can be downloaded so that students would have it there for review. This will help those who may have questions, but forget to ask during class or just need to see the examples once more.
The blog could also serve as an oppertunity for me to answer questions from the students and their parents about the topic being taught.
Reference
Richardson, W.(2009). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and Other powerful web toosl for classrooms. Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin Press.
