Creating the account in Bloglines was as little trickier than I expected, but I suspect that my impatience had a lot to do with that. It didn't help that my kids were watching some Nickelodeon dreck on the television.
I've found Google Reader to be more user friendly, but I think Bloglines has a more robust interface. The challenge with RSS feeds is getting to everything that you want to read. It's like subscribing to too many magazines - sometimes Men's Health comes before I've had a chance to read last week's Sports Illustrated - sometimes it just gets recycled. The trick is to convince yourself to NOT feel guilty about ignoring your feeds if you don't have the time.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Thing 3 Reflection
How might a blog support the work you do? How might you use a blog with students? How might they respond to a blog assignment? What concerns do you have about educational blogging?
I began a blog, hoping that it would serve as a conduit between the work I do in the district and the parents who suppor this work. Personal commentary, invitations to events, advocacy, celebrating successes, providing realistic perspective - these are the thing that I had hoped to accomplish. I think it would give parents and the community - even staff members in the district - yet another connection to the arts, and provide great PR for the student's work.
As a teacher I would consider using a blog in a variety of ways - commenting on a piece of artwork, peer review of performances and art production, reviews of other music performances, responding to the arts (part of the Michigan Merit Curriculum). Other possibilities would include a question from someone of consequence in their world (for example, have a college music professor form a local university pose a question related to their art form and require students to respond and discuss.)
I think there would be a wide variety of responses, just as there are in the classroom. The blog might give those who aren't comfortable speaking in public a safer forum for sharing. It would encourage the already talented writers, but might discourage those who struggle with the written word. I know that I would personally struggle with the informal writing that would most definitely be posted. . .
Among my concerns are access to the technology (libraries are nice, but not convenient, particularly for those who don't have access at home) and the culture shift that is required in the classroom to make blogging a successful and worthwhile assignment.
I began a blog, hoping that it would serve as a conduit between the work I do in the district and the parents who suppor this work. Personal commentary, invitations to events, advocacy, celebrating successes, providing realistic perspective - these are the thing that I had hoped to accomplish. I think it would give parents and the community - even staff members in the district - yet another connection to the arts, and provide great PR for the student's work.
As a teacher I would consider using a blog in a variety of ways - commenting on a piece of artwork, peer review of performances and art production, reviews of other music performances, responding to the arts (part of the Michigan Merit Curriculum). Other possibilities would include a question from someone of consequence in their world (for example, have a college music professor form a local university pose a question related to their art form and require students to respond and discuss.)
I think there would be a wide variety of responses, just as there are in the classroom. The blog might give those who aren't comfortable speaking in public a safer forum for sharing. It would encourage the already talented writers, but might discourage those who struggle with the written word. I know that I would personally struggle with the informal writing that would most definitely be posted. . .
Among my concerns are access to the technology (libraries are nice, but not convenient, particularly for those who don't have access at home) and the culture shift that is required in the classroom to make blogging a successful and worthwhile assignment.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Thing 1
I was most intrigued by the "Did You Know" video. I have seen many versions of this, each time with a few different tweaks, but the message remains the same - the people charged (educators) with getting kids to where they need to be know neither where to lead them or how to get them there. It's chilling to consider that fact, really. For so many years, educators had a very clear picture of the "the end" of education, but that has changed, very quickly, and we are now left with more questions than answers.
Each time I watch the video, or come in contact with the many, many other resources on these sorts of topics, I grow more and more impatient. Short of the Catholic Church, I know of no other institution that is as slow to change as the U.S. public school system. This is a frustrating statement to make, both as a Catholic and as an educator. Indeed, the very tools that "Web 2.0" is presenting are generally blocked from the computers in school districts across the country. So, if we claim that technology is "The Answer" for all that ails education (I overstate in order to make my point), then how can we expect to prepare students if we cannot use the tools? If we are now dealing with 21st century learners, then how can we expect to reach them with our 20th (and 19th, 18th, 17th etc.) century tools?
Each time I watch the video, or come in contact with the many, many other resources on these sorts of topics, I grow more and more impatient. Short of the Catholic Church, I know of no other institution that is as slow to change as the U.S. public school system. This is a frustrating statement to make, both as a Catholic and as an educator. Indeed, the very tools that "Web 2.0" is presenting are generally blocked from the computers in school districts across the country. So, if we claim that technology is "The Answer" for all that ails education (I overstate in order to make my point), then how can we expect to prepare students if we cannot use the tools? If we are now dealing with 21st century learners, then how can we expect to reach them with our 20th (and 19th, 18th, 17th etc.) century tools?
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