Going to Washington

This is my first voice thread. You will discover that I had a few glitches along the way, but I learned a lot too. I think it is a great listening activity for my ESL students.

How will I use blogs in my classroom?

I have a lot of ideas about what I would like to do in the classroom, but I need to organize the steps I need to take. As John Hedron says, " Before embarking into the blogosphere with students, carefully consider what the exercise of blogging will accomplish..." I need to set a goal and not just shoot from the hip. Krista said in class that is a bad idea to just say "you will blog and figure it out as you go." I agree that this is a bad idea, so I need to figure out the best way to manage an activity. Once students are connected to a classroom wiki or blog I can begin the project. I imagine that with ESL students it will take some time getting them set up with the technology.

The attached document was taken from the English 10 course. I liked this and I would use it in the first week of class as an activity to help students get used to using the blog. I would ask the student to choose one of the sentences and write 250 words on that topic. I would encourage students to be creative and also ask a question to their classmates so they can get a comment on their own blog. I would treat this as a warm up activity.

My Bubble Map

What search methods and databases do I employ?

I need to expand my search methods I can tell already. If I want to search for something I use Google because I have had the most luck with it. At Minneapolis Community and Technical College (MCTC) there are so many different search engines and databases I can use that sometimes I feel overwhelmed. However, I am using some of the databases that are designed for ESL students because they rate the level of English and the categories. Because I have so little time to search around for materials I tend to get frustrated quickly. Although at first glance some of these databases seem great, I often just get a short abstract or a lengthy paper that doesn't work as well. How do I determine the credibility of these search engines or databases? I guess I have faith in that the librarians have made sure that these sources are reliable and that makes it easier. I just started subscribing to a few new blogs like "The Edublogger", "Larry Ferlazo" and "Ted Talks". I am new to these so I am just getting started. I would like to spend time reading the New York Times blog since I read the paper every day. What would I do to teach my students? I guess I would start with one easy one at first and have them get used to it and do a survey. After that introduction, I would give them a list of blogs that might interest them and ask them to review a new one. I could manage this like a movie review.

How will I use blogs?

I have been teaching English As a Second Language since 1990. I started teaching English in Japan and that is where I became interested in this profession. I hope to use blogs in my teaching and also in my personal life. For teaching, it will be a great place for students to learn about various subjects and also to learn more about me as a person. The personal collection will be used as a diary of pictures, vacations, and current issues and thoughts. I never blogged before so this course has opened up many new doors! I heard about blogs but I really didn't understand what one was and how easy it is to create.

Why are blogs needed today? John Hedron, author of RSS For Educators, brought up a lot of good reasons why blogs can help students. Hedron said, "The good news is that by applying the Read/Write Web into curriculum, teachers can provide students with opportunities to improve critical thinking, as well as both written and verbal communication." Teachers need to be in touch with what their students' needs are today. My son is in high school and my daughter is in middle school and they have iPods, use instant messaging, and use Facebook. The Internet is a big part of their life. So if teachers want to get students excited about writing and reading, the Internet is a good resource.

There is a need in the classroom. I have taught ESL for almost 18 years, and during that time I have taught developmental reading and writing courses. These developmental students didn't spend enough time reading and writing and as a result their critical thinking skills were weak. Therefore, if I can appeal to my students' interests, and can get them reading and writing more, then blogs is a way to do that. I see blogs as a way to connect people together and improve communication.

What will I do with my blogs in my teaching? One area that I would like to use blogs for is writing. I could use this as a way for students to come up with ideas and share ideas. This will hopefully get them spending more time on task and not waiting until the night before to finish their papers. By better planning and collaboration, hopefully students will improve their academic writing. Another area is in my listening and speaking course. I want to do more on-line and blogs will be an easy way to organize information.

The problems I see are the quality of communication and the issues around plagiarism. Those are two areas that I need to address this semester.