So, this Tuesday I am introducing a double-entry journal assignment to my class. We have several chapters to read in our book about the Salem Witch Trials (A Delusion of Satan), but I'm not assigning another paper prompt until we get to the last chapters a couple of weeks from now. I thought a journal assignment was a good way to have the students engaged in their reading and, let's be honest, to ensure that they do actually read chapters that don't have a specific purpose in a paper.
Now that I've been working in my own Digital Writing (DW) course, I realized that this would be a chance to incorporate a classroom blog. The problem is that I only see my students for 2.5 hours a week during which we do a lot of peer review and writing work. I'm not sure I can justify spending time in class teaching how to blog for those who are unfamiliar. Moreover, I'm only beginning to understand some of the technologies myself, and I'm just not sure I have the time to set up a classroom blog in the next two days. I've come up with the alternative idea of having them keep a manual (or typed) journal and then post one of their ideas to the course conference I have set up on First Class.
I feel a bit dejected that I missed a chance to incorporate a blog into the course, but at the same time, I keep thinking of a discussion we are currently having in the DW course. What about digital writing makes our teaching different? Would students actually learn more about the subject matter if they blogged rather than using a journal? Am I just using the same teaching method in a different forum if I require a blog instead of a journal? Will the postings to the course conferences replicate the dialogue a blog often invokes?
I think in this instance, I'm dejected because I am so excited to use some of the new technologies I am learning, not because I think my instruction or intended outcome will be much different with the blog. At the end of the day, I care that my students are writing and learning, and I need to bide my time until I am fully prepared to introduce a new medium. The day will come... but, unfortunately, it won't be Tuesday.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
First of all, big kudos to you Carrie. The fact that blogging occurs to you as an option for this work is evidence of an evolving mindset. One of the biggest challenges I see with technology integration is teachers' merging technology and teaching practice, so it's not "How can I use technology today?", but rather "Oh, technology X is a good fit for what I want to do with students."
ReplyDeleteOne question I would raise is "Do you have to teach them how to blog?", that is the mechanics of it, or are they able to just jump in on their own? Could you (as we did) ask them to set up a Blogger blog, create a Blog Roll on your own blog and away you go? I think they might be so excited (or grateful) to have this approach being taken they might just go right for it!
Don't be dejected. Be excited! I think jumping in with students may be the best way for us to discover what digital writing really is.
I know how you feel Carrie! I have definitely been in this position before, and am in a somewhat similar one right now. Sometimes I get so excited about using new technology, and then I realize that it's just not going to work out right away. What scares me is that I like to try and use the new things I have learned right off the bat because I feel like if I put them off for too long then I won't use them at all.
ReplyDelete