Class was great this morning. I had a breakthrough somewhere in the middle of the session. Rick said that blogging was more about conversation than just journaling. I had thought an education blog (web log, right?) was more about reflecting about pedagogy, best practices, etc., than opening up dialogue with other teachers and learners. What a great and potentially limitless opportunity to ”talk” to people about the BIG ideas. Teaching world language has always been about meaningful communication. Memorizing lists of vocabulary or your half of a dialogue is pointless when you actually have the opportunity to talk to someone in the target language. I want to get this technology into my classroom and show my students how small the world is becoming and that while people and cultures differ, we can still share common ground.
Looking forward to hearing from my fellow KMS Bloggers. Let’s get the dialogue going!
3 responses so far ↓
1
Rick Biche
// Oct 28, 2007 at 5:45 pm
“I had thought an education blog (web log, right?) was more about reflecting about pedagogy, best practices, etc., than opening up dialogue with other teachers and learners.”
Can it be possible that as others see you reflect on your practice that they may see connections to their own experiences? This is when bloggers tend to chime in and join the conversation. Of course it doesn’t hurt to write in such as way as to invite dialogue and to use our 21st century skills to draw the attention of those we wish to converse with.
2
msessex
// Oct 29, 2007 at 11:45 am
Ah, to converse about the “Big Ideas” of teaching…that, in truth, is part of why I’m happy to show up at 6:30 in the morning…although these blogs make time immaterial.
For world language classes, especially in a community of young learners in which physical travel is not widely experienced, bringing tools into the class that allow students (and teachers) to “actually have the opportunity to talk to someone in the target language” is a brilliant use of this technology.
Beyond the study of language, I find it thrilling that there exist so many easily accessible, deeply rich possibilities for truly preparing our kids(and, again, ourselves) to be informed, compassionate, and engaged members of the global community.
3
julieanderson
// Oct 30, 2007 at 6:22 am
“I want to get this technology into my classroom and show my students how small the world is becoming and that while people and cultures differ, we can still share common ground.”
Marcia, like you, many of us want to get the technology into the classroom and have even begun experimenting with class blogs. I feel the same way as you when I thought the professional blog was more journaling and the class blog was more conversations between my students and I. Why the difference? I am not sure but I feel I am carrying on some type of communication with my students as they leave comments on my site and respond o each other’s writing. However with my professional blog, I feel I am talking to myself sometimes and writing in a private journal. I am glad you brought the topic up as I would love to discuss this kind of technology with students in my classroom and begin the journey of conversing with teachers not only in our building but around the world. There are so many possibilities out there…I agree let’s get blogging!
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