January 28 2018

Why Blogging? A reflection of purpose

Why Blogging?

I utilized blogging as a classroom learning tool a number of years ago. I began the journey back then, having read a great many articles on the subject of blogging and its use in education.  I was tremendously excited and enthusiastic about the topic. I was also in the process of obtaining my online teaching certificate and created this professional education blog as a component of the class.  I will say that after the class was over , a bit burnt out from the workload,  I found no pressing need to continue to communicate online using a blog medium. So yes, a large portion of the info here is older (2014). I couldn’t, however, bring myself to simply trash it! I felt and still feel the road was insightful and valuable. After all, it is  technology and I’m still a tech teacher and now, almost 4 years later,  I am finding myself revisiting this tool with new enthusiasm.

Technology: it’s safe to say, is here to stay. With so many social media platforms to choose from – from Facebook to Snapchat to Twitter –  every generation and profession seems to have it’s own specialized platform for communication. As a teacher we try to integrate technology as part of the overall learning experience. It is, after all, the method the younger generation of learners prefers to to use when absorbing information – everyday – all the time! It’s fast , it’s easy, and it’s convenient! It easily lends itself to the continual pursuit of knowledge and a life-of-learning.

So, as a winter Professional Development project, I decided to resurrect my class blog as a means to entice my students to get more involved both in class and with their learning as a whole. I have given  it a fresh new look and am excited to see how a whole new group of students will respond to using blogging to communicate in and for class. Instead of fighting the masses to stop texting and put their phones away (which I will continue to do), I want to provide an alternative means to communicate; a professional tool to share information online. A future goal would, of course, be for them to fully embrace the medium and continue to utilize  the tool. We just don’t have enough good writers these days! Feel free to check out my class blog and be sure to review our Safety tips page for class blogging guidelines.

Following is a list of what I believe are the top 5 reasons  for using blogging as a learning tool.

1. Engagement
2. Reflection leads to deeper learning
3. Authentic audience
4. Improved writing skills
5. Improved communication skills

I will be posting more information on each of these top 5 reasons over the next few months. I hope that you will agree the benefits are well worth the effort. Feel free to join us if you’d like, I’d love to hear your feedback and opinions. You can easily follow this blog by signing up for an email subscription at the bottom of our home page. A notification of All new posts and comments will automatically be sent to your email address. (You may unsubscribe at anytime.)

Thanks for learning and communicating through blogging with me!

Mrs. C

If you are curious about the History of blogging and it’s use as a business tool, A brief article  by Randy Duermyer @ the balance, Home Business presents a nice overview.

If you are curious about me , and would like additional information, you can find a brief bio on the About page at the top right of the home page.

January 20 2018

2018 New Year – New Adventure

January 20, 2018- a fresh New start to a New Year!

As I relaxed over the Holidays these past few weeks, I reflected on the current state of student engagement in my classes. The semester was coming to a close and I had seen a tremendous drop in student interest and engagement in many of my classes. And , of course, I wondered what I might do to change it. Then I stumbled across a notice for a 10-week course on Better Blogging with Students from Edublogs. On pure impulse, I signed myself up! I have dabbled a bit with blogging on both the personal and professional level. Even hosted a fairly successful class blog in my previous school district. This fall, when setting up the web pages for my co-curricular club (FBLA) and our Student Store ( The Spartan Market) , I discovered my prior experience to be very helpful. Dashboards and widgets and WordPress! EduBlogs! Been there, done that! Yes, I had done this before!!!! Student blogging just might be the solution that I was looking for. It would all come back to me, right????

Fast Forward to Week One: OMG , what the heck was I thinking!!????

Yeah, I’d kept my Edublogs accounts. Paid that small fee each month without even blinking an eye. After all that hard work, I just did not have the heart to shut it all down.  Class blog, 30+ student blogs, this teacher blog ; all still here, frozen in cyberspace, as if it were still the end of semester 1, 2014. Yup, threw myself right into the deep end of the pool. So before I could make that fresh start, I  had some blog clean-up to do.

  • First I removed most of the student blogs from my class blog and selected a newer  modern theme.  In my stumblings, I discovered a great little edublogs article about how to best do that ( I think I deleted some of those guys which is not recommended- Oops- Learning curve). I did save a few good examples for my future bloggers to view. I then had to reconfigure the menus and widgets to fit the new theme. Progress was stalled as I contemplated what background picture I wanted to represent my class….decisions,decisions; size, pixels,is it mine or someone else’s work? Resurrect Creative commons and proper online publishing etiquette, learning curve, learning curve, learning curve.
  • Once I was (somewhat) content with my class and student blog progress, I decided to take a look at week1 tasks in Better Blogging.
    • What Is A blog?
    • Why Edublogs /CampusPress/ WordPress?
    • What Are The Benefits Of Blogging?
    • Why Do You Want To Blog?
      • 1) Who will your audience be?
      • 2) Who will be writing on your blog?
      • 3) How will blogging be integrated into your classroom program?
      • 4) Will your blog be public or private?
      • 5) What makes a high quality classroom blogging program?
    • Your Task and (let’s not forget)
    • Join the Facebook group

Seriously ,  I am a high school teacher at the end of a semester, with students failing and final exams and grade recovery work and blizzard bag assignments and  prep for next semester’s all new classes . Holy cow, people I do not have time for this!!!!!

But I am determined to forge ahead, let’s go back to the task at hand.

  • Our task for this week was to post an answer to a question or two (from above), connect with fellow classmates, comment to other posts here and there. This I can do, this I like most amongst all other online experiences. I find posting and commenting on other posts a very rewarding experience and where, for me, (during my online post-graduate work) the most learning occurred.
  • It was there in the hundreds of posts and comments ( literally) that I discovered my inspiration.  A classmate, teacher and fellow blogger had posted a comment and shared a link to her blog, where she was sharing the “Better Blogging” experience. Brilliant! That was it. Now I had something to write about. So Simple, why hadn’t I thought of it? After all,  my goals, like many others’ in this course, were to:
    • Revamp and introduce my class blog to a new set of students,
    • Add consistency and purpose, and
    • Be a better blogger.

Just a bit more work to do. Week one continues with a brief revamp of ” Innovative Learning with Mrs. C.

  • Final task of the week, revamp my professional blog site by recategorizing old posts, which entailed reconfiguring menus and categories and some juggling of widgets. This is not complete. I am still considering a new theme but have not made any final decisions. I am content with a Work-In-Progress status for now.
  • Of course to be a better blogger and good teacher, we must “walk the walk”. ( thank you classmate – identity lost in the vast comment stream). There is no better  lesson  to illustrate  blogging  than modeling the experience, presenting an example and setting expectations.
  • SO Lastly, as the sun sets on this semi-warmer Saturday afternoon in January, I have finished writing my first blog post in almost 4 years.

Let the New Adventure begin!

🙂 Mrs. C.