Thoughts on "Preservice English Teachers and Technology"

-
 I really connected to the reading, "Preservice English Teachers and Technology: A Consideration of Weblogs for the English Classroom." When I signed up to take this class, I was teaching 5th grade. I was looking for ways to engage students with analyzing the books that they are reading. I have done book clubs, reading journals, etc. I was thinking that blogging may be something that would get kids excited about writing about reading. This article confirmed that it could be a great tool in an English classroom.

The thing I am struggling with now is that I am no longer going to be teaching elementary and am now moving to a middle school math classroom. I am not sure how I could incorporate blogging into that classroom. Maybe I could have students write their own word problems, post them, and then other students could solve them and put their answer in the comments. I'm not sure this is a meaningful way to use blogs though. The article said that there should be, "an effort to meaningfully incorporate technology into the English methods classroom, a way to answer the 'what' as well as the 'why.'" I'm still trying to think of how I could incorporate blogging in a powerful way. A way that would lead to good writing and discussions.

Comments

  1. MKBJuly 10, 2019 at 11:28 PM

    Hannah, as you start to gain some readership here - and followers on Twitter - you could also use these mediums to try and get ideas on how to incorporate blogging into a middle school classroom.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hannah FastJuly 12, 2019 at 8:44 PM

      Thanks for the tip! I will definitely be on the lookout for others who are using blogging in a middle school classroom.

      Delete
  2. Eric A. SilvaJuly 14, 2019 at 8:41 PM

    Hi Hannah, one possibility could be having your students use a blog as self-reflection. Asking them the question "What did you find most challenging about this unit, and what did you do/use to understand it?" This way your students will be able to share strategies on what works best for them.

    ReplyDelete
  3. DiannaJuly 23, 2019 at 2:38 PM

    I looked up math blogs and found "Top 100 Math Blogs for Students and Mathematics Teachers." (https://blog.feedspot.com/math_blogs/) Perhaps some blogs can give you an idea?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hannah FastJuly 26, 2019 at 3:03 PM

      Thanks for sharing! I actually already looked at that same resource and got a couple ideas from it.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Commentary on "Why is Algebra so Hard?"

-
Image
I am currently transitioning from teaching elementary to teaching algebra at a middle school. Algebra is actually a high school course, but more and more students in my district are taking it earlier than that, which is how I got this job. It has been making me think about how algebra is so important but is also very difficult for students. I stumbled across this Ted Talk by Emmanuel Schanzer called, “Why is algebra so hard?” and just had to watch it: One of his quotes that struck me right away was, “Arithmetic is to math as spelling is to journalism.” This is so true because arithmetic is only a small part of mathematics. Much of mathematics is much more abstract than this, which can be difficult for students. Students grow up thinking math is all about finding an answer but algebra changes this. This video then took a turn though. To me, it didn’t really answer the question, “Why is algebra so hard?” but rather the question, “How can we connect algebra and computer scie
Read more

Grading Homework

-
How to grade homework has been something I have struggled with ever since I became a teacher. Some teachers grade for completion and correctness. This means a student must complete all of the questions and get all of the answers correct to receive full credit. Other teachers just grade for completion and effort. In this case, students would have to attempt all the questions but they could still get full points even if they got some incorrect. Also, some teachers just check if the homework is complete or incomplete and do not give any points for it. Then there are even teachers who don't score or check homework at all. They just believe it is practice for the students but not a part of their grade. Right now, I usually focus on completion. Because I teach math, I know students are going to make mistakes on their homework and I don't want to penalize them for that. I do give points for completed homework but I have considered getting rid of points and just putting in my grade b
Read more

List of Apps I use to Present Information to my Students

-
Image
I used to have an ActivBoard in my classroom but my district decided recently to move away from these and start using iPads and a television screen. I was part of the first group to pilot this technology. I have many apps that I use to help present my lessons to my students. Here are some of the ones I use most often. 1. Notability Notability is a notetaking and annotation app. You can start with a blank white screen that you can draw, write, or type on. You can also upload pdfs to annotate over. I have Google Slides with my math lessons on them. I convert them to a pdf, upload them to Notability, and then I can mirror my iPad screen to the tv. I can then show students how to solve the problems. Below is a screenshot of one of the problems I modeled for students: 2. iPevo Whiteboard I have a document camera in my room but I often use iPevo Whiteboard as a way to use my iPad as a document camera. If I am already using my iPad to teach I can easily switch to this app if
Read more