I
would use a blog in my classroom to share extra resources my students could use
to further their curriculum learning. Parents and students often ask for ways
to practice or received help outside of the classroom. In this blog, I would
share weekly resources that align with the curriculum being taught in the
class. I would use it to post the resources, and the students could comment on
my post about the resources they tried and their opinion on them. By having the
students post on my blog, it would let me know what students tried the
resources and how helpful it was to their learning.
Blogs are an excellent tool for education
because it gives teachers and students a space to share ideas. It allows them
to learn how to communicate and discuss through technology. Blogs provide a
form of communication on a topic that can reduce anxiety and reinforce student
understanding, encourage critical thinking, create peer interactions, and
promote natural connections to classroom experience (Marshall et la., 2019). It also teaches students proper etiquette and grammar to
post online (Laureate Education, 2015).
I
am starting my ninth year teaching eighth grade algebra. I hope that my blog
will allow students to break through the stereotypes of learning math. “Not to
be too general, but in popular culture it’s usually a given that mathematics is
nearly impossible to understand, it is boring, and it is lacking in innovation,
“(Hobbs, 2010 p.170). It will give
students extra resources to feel more confident in the curriculum and help them
enjoy learning math using engaging web tools.
Two
International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) standards met by
students while blogging are Digital Citizenship and Creative Communicator.
Blogs will guide students to learn how to manage their online identity and
engage in positive and safe behavior while using it (ISTE, 2016). Two ISTE
standards that are met by teachers are Learner and Leader. When teachers are
actively reading blogs, they are learning new ways to improve student outcomes.
They are continually learning from other educators to grow in their practice.
When teachers are posting on their blogs, they are leaders in education. They
empower others to learn through technology and use it to meet the diverse needs
of their students (ITSE, 2008). In
conclusion, both the teacher and the student can learn and grow to be a
successful learner in the 21st century.
Resources:
Hobbs, R. (2010). Voices from the Field: Math Goes Pop: Making the
Media and Mathematics
Connection. Journal of Media Literacy
Education, 2(2), 169–176.
International Society for Technology in Education (ITSE). (2016).
Standards for students.
Retrieved from https://www.iste.org/standards/for-students
International Society for Technology in Education (ITSE). (2008).
Standards for educators.
Retrieved from https://www.iste.org/standards/for-educators
Laureate Education (Producer). (2015). Spotlight on technology: Blogging in the classroom
[Video file].
Baltimore, MD: Author.
Marshall, A. M. S., Lane, S., Ruiz, R., & Sweet, S. (2019).
Online Discussion Blog
Assignments: Design
Implications for Teacher Education involving
Mathematics. Journal of Computers in
Mathematics & Science Teaching, 38(4), 321–
335.
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ReplyDeleteI am also a math teacher and I love your idea of using a blog to post extra resources for your students. In addition to having your students post about the resources they tried and their opinion about how they worked, you could also have them post about which specific problems from the homework or classwork that it helped them with. Other students would then be able to connect which strategies or resources to use more easily. You could even have parents comment on which resources helped them the most.
ReplyDeleteIt may be challenging to get students to use those resources, but one way to motivate participation may be to make a game of it. Whoever uses the resource and posts about it gets 5 points and gets a bonus point for anyone that uses their suggestion (like a referral fee). But everyone can get their own points for using the resource and posting about it. At the end of the week or end of a unit, whoever has the most points gets a small prize. This could be a great conversation starter.