Task 1. Blog Posting: Web 2.0.

Our students today are faced with a constantly changing and evolving global
society. For this reason, and several others, I very much agree with the quote we
were asked to review in our text by Shechtman et al (2013), and as cited in
Solomon & Schrum (2014). We live in a society in which students need to be given
skills that can evolve with constant changes and taught how to be continual
learners. Our students also need to be learners who know how to access and find
relevant information for any task. Furthermore, they also need to be proficient on
how to find and research employment opportunities that may not have even been
created yet. All of these skills will allow our students to be productive and
competitive throughout their careers. We are finding that we need to promote a
workforce that is going to be able to compete and succeed with the new changes
and innovations constantly being created and updated. This concept also apply to
educators, who constantly evolve and update their own toolboxes to meet the
diverse and changing needs of all their students.

This semester, I am excited to learn more about blogging and the various forms it
can take within a class. I enjoyed reading the first chapter that was devoted to this
concept as it gave me some ideas for creating a blog and a little more confidence to
try and attempt this with my Georgia Studies classes. It was wonderful being able
to learn a little more on the various sites available for creating classroom blogs
including the strengths and weaknesses each had. According to our text, by
Solomon & Schrum (2014), and which I support and believe in as well, blogging
promotes growth in students’ reflective, critical and metacognitive skills. It also
provides insight in to who my students are, as individuals, including their interests
and thought processes.

Web 2.0 has already changed my professional practice. With some tools or
applications, I jump right in, and with others, I wait to see how they are being
utilized in other classes that may have similar populations as mine or similar uses
that I am trying to implement. iTunes U was a Web 2.0 application that I just
jumped right in within my school. This platform gave me the opportunity to be a
leader in a technology and I learned much from the experience. I learned the art of
anticipating different types of questions and scenarios that teachers may have and
with sharing both the good and the bad of an application. This experience and
venture in to Web 2.0 also showed me the importance of allowing my students to
take on the role of technology leaders since both technology and its integration are
very much a part of their world. They would notice and find new ways of doing
things within the program or features I had not even explored yet. When they did, I
designated them the role of teacher to model and pass along to their peers. It was
a win-win situation for all. Through Web 2.0 tools, students are given opportunities
to not only communicate through blogs, wikis and google docs, but to connect,
converge, and contextualize as they form learning communities and are given
opportunities to collaborate with not only their immediate peers, but students from
around the world (Solomon & Schrum, 2014). As far as my utilizing Web 2.0 to
meet the specific needs of my diverse learners, I feel that these tools will very
much assist my students in creating products that more authentically show what
they have learned and mastered, as well as help to clear-up any misconceptions
that they may continue to have. These tools will allow students to communicate and
interact more productively with their peers and to help them to better comprehend
the standards by providing strategies that meet their specific needs.

Task 2: Internet Research on Evaluating Student Blogs

The two sites that helped me formulate some concrete ideas about blog posting
were CathyJoNelson and SimplyKinder. The first site was one that was filled with a
great listing of resources and included the author’s tricks of the trade for blogging.
It was laid out well and easy to navigate. Her words of wisdom included not being
too wordy, a fault I have at times, and to always keep your blog at moderation
approval. This last point helps prevent spammers from adding in their links and
making sure content is appropriately representing what you want for your blog.

The second site, Simply Kinder, was incredibly helpful to me. It gave me specific
ideas and guidelines for creating my blog. For example, it not only explained to not
post pictures of my students but gave a specific place, like Stock Unlimited to
retrieve them from instead. It also discussed the need for a mentor and using
Facebook blogger groups as a resource for assistance and ideas.

In regard to blogs that have helped me to learn more about assessing students and
their work on blogs, there are two that I found very helpful. The first was
ProfHacker, and although geared toward a higher level than I teach, I was able to
adapt to the age-level of students I am going to be assessing. This provided
wonderful advice for assessment and how to explain to your students what you will
be looking for in the rubrics you create. What I found exceptionally helpful was
when they recommended the teacher provide samples of blog postings that you
would find in the expert range, and to provide feedback early on with student initial
posts so they understand what they may need to improve or expand upon.

Another site I bookmarked and found to be a great resource for creating rubrics is
SchrockGuide. This is definitely one I will be referring back to for a multitude of
different types of rubrics I may create in the future. It was easy to navigate
through and filled with wonderful resources and links.

Having completed my website research on blogging and evaluation of blogs has

definitely helped me to formulate my own ideas of how I would like to create and
implement this platform within my own class. First, and based from several of the
recommendations I have read through within the sites I have explored, I will be
using WordPress for my own class blog. I also understand the need for showing my
students several blog examples and especially examples of the types of prompts
and responses that I will be expecting and asking them to create. From the start, I
will have them read through and understand the rubric I will be creating and using
with them. I will provide a copy of the rubric for them to keep in their binder to
refer back to as well as provide one for them in the resources section of our iTunes
U course. Digital Citizenship rules will apply and I will be reviewing them on a
continuous basis as I want my students to understand the importance of posting
appropriately on-line and that what is put on-line is potentially available to a global
audience.

Criteria Unacceptable Acceptable Target

Blog entry shows

Blog entry shows
evidence of
no evidence of Blog entry shows
thorough
preparation. Author little evidence of
preparation.
does not share any preparation.
Blog Post by Author’s response
meaningful Author adds some
Students/Critical is reflective and
information or information or
Thinking demonstrates a
reflection related to reflection to the
true understanding
the standard or to topic or standard
of the topic and/or
the topic being being discussed.
standard being
discussed.
discussed.

Written responses Written responses

Written responses
contain numerous include some
are free of
grammatical, grammatical,
grammatical,
spelling, and spelling, and
spelling, and
punctuation errors. punctuation
punctuation errors.
Quality of Blog There is no real errors. The style
The style of writing
Post style indicated by of writing is
helps to promote
the entry and it is acceptable in
the voice of the
not supporting the relaying the voice
blog and the
voice of the blog or of the blog and
comment being
the comment to be the comment
relayed.
responded to. being relayed.

Responses are very

Responses are not Responses are much relevant to
relevant to the post relevant to the the post. They
Blog Responses
and/or do not post but do not encourage positive
and/or comments
encourage positive encourage positive discussion,
on student blogs
discussion or peer discussion or peer feedback and
feedback. feedback further
questioning.

Comments:
 References

Kathy Schrock. (n.d.). Retrieved January 18, 2018, from

http://www.schrockguide.net/apps/search?q=blog%2Bassessment

Kinder, J. @., Says, D., & Says, K. L. (2017, February 14). So You Want to Start a Teacher Blog. Retrieved
January 18, 2018, from https://www.simplykinder.com/start-a-teacher-blog/

So You've Decided to Blog! (2013, September 08). Retrieved January 18, 2018, from
http://blog.cathyjonelson.com/?p=2817#comments

Solomon, G., & Schrum, L. (2014). Web 2.0: How-to for educators (2nd ed.). Eugene, OR: International
Society for Technology in Education.

The Chronicle of Higher Education. (n.d.). Retrieved January 18, 2018, from
https://www.chronicle.com/blogs/profhacker/how-are-you-going-to-grade-this-evaluating-classroom-
blogs/24935