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.
Lorna,
ReplyDeleteI like your ideas for utilizing a classroom blog, for example, having a question page on your classroom blog for students to use in addition to asking questions in class. I love this because not only can you answer questions but your students can also answer each other's questions. Also putting the class notes and PowerPoint presentations on your blog for students to use as a resource is a wonderful idea.
I am wondering, are your students going to be expected to write four paragraphs every two weeks or will it depend on the unit that you are working on? Also, I am no expert and have not tried implementing a classroom blog for myself yet, however, do you think that your students will be able to create four well-developed paragraphs without having more guidelines for what they are expected to produce? Have you thought of providing your students with a rubric? Also are your students going to be required to respond to other students' thoughts and ideas? Again, I think that you have some wonderful ideas for a classroom blog, these are just some thoughts to ponder.
Thank you,
Heather Streb
Heather
ReplyDeleteThis is a work in progress. Thanks for inputting those additional ideas really great. I was thinking about having a rubric but as for the paragraph I wanted them to have the freedom of expression. I guess i could also give them guidelines but not for every assignment.
I have never used blogs in any classroom, as a matter of fact I am not even sure my school corporation filters will allow us to access blog sites, that is something i will have to find out once I get to my new classroom July 21st.
Once again Thanks for the suggestions I will certainly take them into consideration.
Lorna,
ReplyDeleteThis was really well-planned and thorough. I like the fact that the students could access the powerpoint for review. It would be helpful for parents too. I think it would be interesting to find out what helped them and what didn't. I think a rubric might help them to plan their paragraphs as well. It could turn out to be similar to a wiki if they each make corrections to each other's posts.
Nice job! Kerry
Thanks Keke:
ReplyDeleteIt took some thinking as I was a little unsure of just how to set the site up. I will get a rubric together for that blog and yes I guess it would be similar to a Wiki.