Week 5 – Blog Action
Cartoon by Dave Walker.
We’ve been talking about blogging and we’ve been blogging from the beginning.
Which are the key points of the readings of the week?
Do you think that the examples of the blogging activities on Week 5 had the essential elements suggested in the readings? In what ways?
What would be your first steps to start blogging with your students?
February 14th, 2008 at 8:05 pm
I believe the key points are:
1. Communication and dialogue. You should always comment on your students’ posts because it encourages them to write more. If someone comments on something you have written, you should always answer. I would like to add that comments have worked like magic on me these past weeks. They really give me wings.
2. Being informative. Don’t say things you are not sure about.
3. Being interesting. Varying your content. Putting a lot of interesting stimuli, such as pictures.
4. Being honest and personal
I really enjoyed reading Creating Passionate Uusers. I love the conversational tone and the pictures. In Why Comments Count we saw a good example of what comments can do. Rationale for Educational Blogging sums up most of the key points we have been talking about so far.
There are several possible ways in which I could encourage my students to write. I could start a dialogue by asking an interesting question, I could let them ask me questions or I could tell them a personal story and reveal something new about myself.
Natasa
February 14th, 2008 at 9:46 pm
Dear Natasa,
I totally agree with you. To start a true dialogue you need to be personal and vary your approaches to engage students and make them feel like discussing. Comments are really powerful, the words you use can turn them on or totally off. It’s all about semantics, as well as visual input. Sometimes just by adding a provocative video can have an effect on your audience.
Some time ago, I told my students about my love story. Then, they felt like opening their hearts and wrote back with their own stories, all from home in a voluntary way.
How we met each other
Can you imagine having them use their blogs and decide how they want to tell their love stories?
February 15th, 2008 at 4:20 am
Let´s see if I can add to the list of key points Natasa already started:
1. Blogs make writing more meaningful and relevant ( I decide)
2. Blogs are empowering (someone different from my teacher is interested in what I said)
3. Comments in blogs help to :generate ideas, make connections, promote conversation and
increase confindence in writing.
4. If we get to know how the brain works, we can make our blogs more successful.
5. Blogs need to be anxiety free. (students need to find it diffeent from the traditional classroom)
I certainly think that many of the examples we saw this week display many of the elements mentioned in the readings. They include a lot of visual elements, the topics are catching and informative. It depends on the type of course the blog has been created for and the level of prociency in the language the students have (EFL context). The blogging activities certainly gave me lots of ideas for the class blog I intend to create for my research work. This course has been very illuminating.
Thanks.
Consuelo
February 15th, 2008 at 11:33 am
Dear Consuelo,
You mentioned “t depends on the type of course the blog has been created for and the level of prociency in the language the students have (EFL context)”. We’ve been discussing that a lot lately and Konrad mentioned it during his chat with us. How you’ll incorporate blogging in your classroom will certainly have to fit your context, pedagogical goals, as well as your students’ needs and interests. If you have your learner as the focus of your pedagogical goals, then you’ll find ways to blog with them just like in the 5 points you mentioned above. There’s no formula for blogging. It will take the shape you are allowed to do and allows it to be.
February 15th, 2008 at 7:41 pm
Dear Carla,
Thank you for sharing your love story with us. It is beautiful, even more so because it really happened.
I was thinking of posting my son’s photo into my blog and then encouraging the students to ask questions about him. Then they could describe someone who means a lot to them.
I believe blogging could be great for total beginners. They could start with Hello. My name is… and then follow their own progress.
Natasa
http://lunas994.blogspot.com
February 16th, 2008 at 10:16 am
Dear Natasa,
In fact, blogging can be done with all levels of proficiency. With beginners, they will have basic interactions, but it forces them to think in English, and, in general, they acquire new vocabulary as they try to convey their message and notice that they still don’t know the words they need. So, they look for them by asking the teacher, looking up in the dictionary…It can be a great motivator for them depending on how you facilitate the process.
This is an example of music and blogging, plus grammar practice. They were pre-intermediate students who were with me for one year and a half. So, at this point they had already be blogging with me for some time and were really into it. I always found it amazing how the communication in and outside the classroom flowed among us. Take a look at my blog postspecifically about this experience.
February 19th, 2008 at 8:42 pm
As you’ve already mentioned, Natasa and Consuelo, conversation is a key element of blogging. I think that is one reason why Carla’s blogging activities, including “How we met each other”, are so interesting: she has facilitated interaction through her blog posts because she encouraged students to engage in a meaningful conversation by using comments.