Final Thoughts

Blog Reflection

I can’t remember the last time I reread everything that I had written throughout the course of a class; it was fun to revisit my initial thoughts on the different Web 2.0 tools we’ve experimented with this semester! I’ve already shifted my views about the first blog, which was about how I’d use blogs in the classroom. In September I felt that I needed more time to use blogs myself before having a class use them; now that I’ve had that time, I really do want to implement it with next semester’s Intermediate Writing class. I’ve changed a lot this semester with trying to provide more formative feedback, and develop constructive peer response sessions in class, but now that I’m thinking about blogs, I think both audiences (myself and student peers) would give more effective feedback if the students posted their drafts on blogs. That way, the community would broaden, and students who do not really “get” how to do peer response could see their classmates giving helpful feedback and suggestions to others in the class.

In reflection on this past semester, I’m relearning how less is more. In a lot of my blogs, I brainstormed grandiose lessons and units with each new technology, where in reality, few of those ideas ever developed in the classroom. For example, I spent a good part of a weekend developing one wiki for all three of my preps, not really thinking about how I wouldn’t necessarily want to grant access for all of my students to see what other classes were doing. I ended up only using the wiki in my English 9 class, and even with those classes, I didn’t implement the wiki as much as I wanted for the House on Mango Street unit, mainly for lack of time. It’s the age old frustration of being a teacher: to do everything you want to do in the classroom, you have to spend a lot more time than you have to prepare. But if you want to have a life outside of work, you have to learn how to give up some ideas. (Sigh.)

ePortfolios in the Classroom

I would have students display and reflect on their work in an e-portfolio such as a blog. Although I was impressed with the U of M ePortfolio system, I don’t see how I could ever use it in a high school setting. It isn’t as user-friendly as blog sites such as Blogger, and I wouldn’t want to spend a lot of time teaching students how to upload files, choose what they’d want whom to see, etc. Just having a final reflection on their blog, like this one, would suffice. In looking at Jon Mueller’s Authentic Assessment Toolbox, I think I would have students create a hybrid Growth and Showcase Portfolio. For the Growth portion, I would require them to write a reflection about what they learned throughout the course, and include rough drafts of papers and individual writing/grammar studies, where they self-select topics to focus on and improve in their own writing. For the Showcase part, I’d ask them to select their two favorite pieces, review and revise them in terms of the individual writing/grammar topics, and write a cover letter explaining the significance of the pieces for their audience.

What I’ll Use From This Course

One overall lesson I'll always keep in mind is to make presentations as interactive as possible. That is a topic that really struck home with me, and a shift that is very tangible and realistic. It won't take much time to adapt the PowerPoints that I already have; the content is there. I just need to tweak the presentation style, which I'm more than happy to do since I don't really enjoy lecturing. It is also something that I can teach to students, to make THEIR presentations more modern and enjoyable to hear.

Finally, I truly do want to use blogs and wikis to a greater extent. I like how blogs give students their own space to work out thoughts, and wikis give them an opportunity to collaborate on projects. Combining the two forums, just like in this class, really allows students the interaction that they need to promote learning.