tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5912277.post4306719912005686265..comments2023-03-07T05:44:29.388-08:00Comments on Mark's edtechblog: Beyond commentsMark Ahlnesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17272987393319865752noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5912277.post-62175592829392239142007-06-09T18:16:00.000-07:002007-06-09T18:16:00.000-07:00MarkWow, I am really behind on my reading. I love...Mark<BR/><BR/>Wow, I am really behind on my reading. I love your idea of posting about the blogs students read. This is something that I will have my students incorporate next year.<BR/><BR/>Last Feb my freshman class was discussing the topic of a Utopian school while my wife was posting about Alvin Toffler's interview in Edutopia. My students began to post comments on her posting, without the knowledge that my wife wrote the original post. Over the course of the week my students held a conversation with my wife's faculty regarding the future of schools. Richard Florida of CreativeClass.org also joined in the conversation. It was one of the better engagements of the school year.<BR/><BR/>I ended the school year with an optional assignment requiring my students to comment on blogs. I explained to them how to use Technorati to locate three blogs writing about themes discussed in the literature in our English course. I could only describe the process as my school's ISP blocks Technorati. This is something I am definitely going to incorporate into my courses next year on a regular basis.<BR/><BR/>Below is the URL of my wife's blog, if you search for Toffler you can view the exchange between my students and her faculty.<BR/><BR/>http://musingsfromtheacademy.wordpress.comMr. Stevenshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05276105285576307666noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5912277.post-85433844259562873042007-03-28T08:09:00.000-07:002007-03-28T08:09:00.000-07:00Mark,I can't believe the feedback that post has go...Mark,<BR/><BR/>I can't believe the feedback that post has gotten, and how it in itself has become what I was writing about. The conversations that have been taken in so many directions from that post just amaze me. I agree with you. The power of blogs is being able to take the thoughts of others and remix them on your own blog, into your own learning. Commenting is one thing, but to read, reflect and remix is real learning.<BR/><BR/>Thanks for the conversation!Jeff Utechthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02833078099870910157noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5912277.post-30457504175735027382007-03-25T20:57:00.000-07:002007-03-25T20:57:00.000-07:00Mark - When we get a chance I think I'll try to ge...Mark - When we get a chance I think I'll try to get my class doing some reading time on blogs too (or at least more than we have done). I'll let you know how it goes.<BR/>BrianAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5912277.post-54999057030370730932007-03-24T16:53:00.000-07:002007-03-24T16:53:00.000-07:00I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT.... silent reading 2.0 and ge...I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT.... silent reading 2.0 and getting them to write about the blogs/bloggers they enjoy reading. <BR/><BR/>This is great to encourage our students to read and reflect on others' blogs.<BR/><BR/>Cheers for the great ideas Mark!Rachel Boydhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08772655279835157125noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5912277.post-67999193544935148462007-03-24T07:33:00.000-07:002007-03-24T07:33:00.000-07:00It's funny, I was just talking to my brother-in-la...It's funny, I was just talking to my brother-in-law last night about his experiences with blogging. He's a 20-something footloose partier. He was wondering why I would want to have a blog because, he said, every blog he had ever seen quickly turned into a "flame-fest." His point was that, to him, blogs were just a souped-up chat room of the 90s. <BR/><BR/>I had no idea what he was talking about because I have only recently been exposed to blogging and all of the blogs that I have been interested in are professionals who are interested in the things I'm interested in. He enlightened me by showing me his sources for blogs, mostly MySpace, Orkut, etc. By seeing those blogs, I understand his point.<BR/><BR/>He didn't seem to think what I do was blogging. This concerned me. I am currently in the middle of using blogging with my 6th, 7th, and 8th grade ESL students. I faced some initial trouble with some students wanting to use the blogspace as a chatroom, but I quickly put that to a stop. Now I wonder, what background experiences or prior knowledge are my middle-schoolers coming with about blogs, and Web 2.0 in general?<BR/><BR/>I love what your students are doing. Your 3rd graders are learning valuable syndication skills that, frankly, 95% of the teachers at my school don't have. Your students have, evidently, moved beyond mere publication to the realm of conversation, or they're at least making the first step. <BR/><BR/>The first time my students got comments on their work from outside the classroom (some other dedicated teachers) their eyes lit up in amazement and they <I>immediately</I> asked, "How do I write back?" Our students get it. They understand. To quote Jeff Utecht, "...the power of blogs is not in the writing, it is in the thoughts, the comments, and the conversation that they can start, sustain, and take into a million different directions." My students get it, and they're middle-schoolers, your students get it, and their third-graders. I can only expect that once we truly show this to today's teachers, they'll get it too.<BR/><BR/>Wow, this gave me a lot to think about. I'm going to go start writing a piece on Jeff's post as it evidenced itself in my classroom.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com