As part of an online class I am taking I have to start a blog. I started this blog in 2006 and made three posts which I have just deleted to start again. I am really interested in this Web 2.0 class but the amount of reading has gotten out of hand. The teacher says read the first articles and then skim the rest. I find it too interesting to just skim so I have gotten behind. I must hurry up but there is so many of her resources that fascinate me that I just can’t hurry.
If I can learn how to keep a blog, maybe I can get some of my teachers interested in starting one to keep their students and teachers informed about what is going on in their classroom. This is rather scary because it puts the teachers’ classes out there in a very public arena. What if a parent disagrees with a lesson and adds a comment to the blog? How does the teacher respond?
I don’t have an answer to how the teacher should respond, but isn’t it time we as educators start realizing how much students can benefit when their parents are aware of what they are actually studying in class? Doesn’t it feel good when one of our colleagues comments or connects to something we are doing? Conversations, discussions, disagreements… it’s part of how we learn.
I agree, parents need to be really involved in their child’s education and a classroom blog is a wonderful way for them to be involved. We certainly do learn by conversations, discussions and disagreements. The more we communicate, the better we understand each other and why we do (and teach) what we do.
I think you really need to be honest, and have a firm belief in what you are saying… but also be willing to admit you might be wrong. The beauty of blogging as a tool (for me) is the high level of transparency it affords. It allows you to justify certain texts or lessons in a way that “traditional“ methods never can.
You should try to read as widely as possible, and comment just as often. That is how you build up your knowledge and audience… and also, your enjoyment!
It might be valuable for you to read a recent post by Karyn Romeis which goes into why and how people started using social networking tools as well as inviting people to outline what they have got out of using those self-same tools.
Good luck with the course, and I’m looking forward to reading your thoughts!
Oopsie… I forgot to include the link to Karyn’s post. Here it is:
http://karynromeis.blogspot.com/2008/05/so-how-did-you-get-started-and-what.html