Taking a Moment to Reflect
Viewing the different blogs in my group, I did not find any part that should have been changed or revised. Like I mentioned above, each person, although joined in the same group, had a chance to "decorate" their own blog. How much they wrote, the colors they added, and the pictures they added resembled each person. I also think that the idea behind the 3 different posts should be kept the same as well. I also liked how the groups were paired depending on the grade level they wish to taught.
As stated, I did not find anything wrong with the blogs. I think as college students, Blogger.com was a good website to use, however, for younger children, and even high school, I do not think a website like Blogger.com should be used in the classroom. The reason being that it is a public website and people can create any type of blog they wish. This causes the problem of students reading about things that would be inappropiate.
The best of the whole blogging experience, was being able to explore my classmates blogs and see how they set up their blog site. I think that all 3 of my group blog memebers had used different templates to showcase their postings. The majority of the students that I had viewed also had written an average amount in regards to their classroom activity. Going to my dashboard, it was easy to see how many posts were made in each blog and it provided easy interaction and exchanges between the students. With the teacher mentors it was confusing in the beginning because I did not understand where I was supposed to make my comments to them. It was not rocket science, so I did eventually understand how to interact with my student and teacher mentors.
Once I did learn how to communicate with all my team and group members, I found the whole experience valuable. The one thing that does stand out from this experience would be my communication with my teacher mentor and student mentor. Both my teacher and student mentor really dug deep throughout my whole classroom activity. I was amazed at the amount of time and genuine feedback they gave me. The best part was when I was questioned about my thoughts or opinions regarding things that I had posted about real life and just reading the positive comments about teaching and growing as a person in general.
Initially I knew I would function perfectly fine in this context. I only hesitated about the other people that I was going to be communicating with. I was able to read about other people's thoughts and way of life, which in turn, led me to share my personal stories and how I related to something. After realizing that everybody was looking for feedback and suggestions, I was able to function very well in the setting. As the experience progressed, I looked forward to communicating with my mentors and classmates each week.
In this experience, I continued my role as a student, yet somewhat played a role of a teacher. From this experience, I think that teachers should have the exact role of what my teacher mentor played. She analyzed my ideas and then sought further detail. Her major role was encouragement and open ended questions. As a student, I loved the challenge and thought process I went through. Inching a little bit further, I also believe that students should have the role of a teacher as well. Throughout the experience, reading the other student's comments, also made me think, but sometimes they also asked questions.
From this assignment, I have realized that there is an educational value inside and outside of the classroom. Inside the classroom, blogs help students open up to each other by providing a place to discuss feelings and share stories about themselves. It also assists the student in higher level thinking when questions are provided about a certain subject or topic related to learning. Inside the classroom, blogs can also help teachers in getting to know their students and communicate with their parents (if a parent blog is set up). Outside the classroom, blogs continue to provide students a form of communication. This helps students develop the necessary skills to talk with other people and share their thoughts about life in general.
No matter what grade level is taught, blogs can be integrated in the classrooms. The question of course, is how much integration in each grade. In my opinion, I believe that blogs can be used by parents and teachers in grades k-3, and then 4th - 12th graders are able to be involved with the blogging experience. At the lower level elementary, the students are just learning how to read, write and know how to operate computers. I think blogs would make learning more difficult for them at that age. As for the upper level elementary and middle school grades, I think blogs can be helpful in small classroom discussions of language arts classes. Once a student gets into high school, blogs can be used to have group discussions about selected readings or poems and even discuess every day issues, such as politics.
With that said, as a future teacher, the only concern I have is the content that some kids may write in their blogs. The instructions and expectations will have to be very explicit and enforced so that ideas or comments that are said do not involve inappropiate language or gestures. Another issue may be the parents approval of their child using the internet. A private, educational blog will definitely have to be used. The blog site that is currently being used is not appropiate, or safe for students not graduated.
In response to the concerns of teachers and parents about blogs, I think the school administrators should have a right to access the blogs periodically and check on what is being posted. I also think that parents should be encouraged to look over their child's work from time to time and read over the class discussions. I also think that parents should have the option of joining the discussion, or at least make comments on what the students write in the blog.
Reflecting on my blogging experience and mentoring experience, I was surprised at the quality of communication in the blogs and comments. Before this blog, I did not have the knowledge or understanding of blogging. I learned quickly and I was also able to communicate well with my mentors and fellow classmates. From the start, the posts that I read contained a lot of reflection and individuality. I also noticed that people were open to suggestions about their activity which made writing comments, a lot easier.
In conclusion, this blog taught me the benefits of reflecting on anything and everything that happens in my life. I learned that I have what it takes to be a teacher and the determination and creativity to teach students using a variety of tools. Although my goal is to teach math, I have learned that blogs would be more benefitial in writing classes, like english or history. By learning how to operate a blog, I have learned that I learn quickly and can communicate well with others. My mentors really helped me in developing my classroom activity and encouraging me to think more thoroughly.