I wish I had more time to spend in the blog of Clarence Fisher. I’ve got a backlog of posts of his that I keep meaning to respond to — and will one day, I’m sure. But a post he made over the weekend really resonated with me. He writes:
One morning last week, one of the girls in my class came to me and said
that she had spent her entire time looking through the blogs of others
and was frustrated by the lack of updates. She wondered if some of
these classes were using their blogs anymore or if they had simply quit
writing.
I know James has recently celebrated over 5 000 learner blogs,
but I wonder as this school year fades on how blogs are fairing as a
classroom tool. As the school year first began, blogs in classrooms
seemed to explode onto the national scene. Articles popped up here and
there and many teachers began to wonder about using blogs to help kids
learn. A lot of interest was generated and many blogs were constructed.
But now, like with any other new tool, I wonder if we’re going through
a period of consolidation? People have heard about blogs, they set up
accounts for their kids and began to write. But then their interest
faded, they couldn’t see progress the they expected, it required too
large of a change in classroom routine, etc., etc. For whatever reason,
a lot of the blogs that my kids are finding seem to be inactive.
Certainly anecdotal evidence, and I’m sure that people like David Warlick who runs Blogmeister,
or James Farmer who runs many versions of blog sites would have a lot
more stats on this, but it is interesting what these kids have found.
It does seem like there is a lull, doesn’t it? And I wonder if it’s not
that, as you allude to Clarence, teachers don’t fully recognize the
investment here. This is not just about using a tool, it’s about
building a community. It takes nurturing, tending, etc. The payoff, I
think it’s more and more evident, can be huge. But I wonder how many
teachers have the Ganley, Glogowski, Fisher, Hunt, Kuropatwa gene that
allows them to see and understand that potential… It is a great
question.
I began writing a comment and quickly realized that it was going to be a big one. Here goes: I think that most blogs die an early
death, as you’re saying. Well intentioned teachers and students
create their first, and sometimes second, posts with the idea that
blogging will be something that they can add on to the rest of their
busy lives, — but that’s not really how it works. It takes time — time that must be given from some other sacred cow at school. Time to nurture, as Will says. above. That’s time we might not be able to spare. Then again — it might be time that we’re wasting doing other stuff.
I met last night with a group of
teachers that are still curious about blogging and its place in their
teaching and learning. They’ve watched as I’ve had success with my blog and my students’ work, and
they’ve heard feedback from the community about their contributions
to the blogosphere — specifically, the podcasts that we did together
last summer at the CSUWP – and they’re
realizing the power of publishing and networking and community and
writing and thinking and learning that has very little to do with
instructional mandates and everything to do with personal investment
in getting better. (Isn’t that pretty much what school is: getting better?)
Once that is realized, and I think
it will be (but slowly, oh so slowly!), more and more teachers and students will return to write
a second, third and/or fourth post. Eventually, it becomes a habit, and a good one at that. The writing part of blogging alone will improve student abilities if that writing is monitored and discussed. Add in the reflective power of blogs to help students grasp what they’re learning and to document it for later and, well, I think we might be on to something. We’ll be really cooking if we can showcase the good stuff before all of the tools get locked away.
But it sure does take a long time,
doesn’t it? Of course, most good things do. I just hope there’s enough.
7 responses so far ↓
Amerloc // Mar 7th 2006 at 7:11 pm
I’m certainly guilty of more consistent commenting than blogging. Sure, I’m cooking up a post, but it will take a while before it’s done.
I can no longer blog about my classroom - I’ve retired, so I’m not at all sure what my focus should be anymore.
I think what you say about nurturing growth and the time committment is valid. Certainly that’s one of the reasons I keep at it: I sense a growth worth continuing.
TR // Mar 7th 2006 at 7:56 pm
I’d love my class blog to be updated more…but the fact is, the techs still will not allow it through the school’s filters. We are only allowed to see it (and are supposed to be grateful for this exception), not post nor comment. I wonder how many other teachers and classes have blogs that have fallen victim to this—and thus have a lack of updates?
Aaron Nelson // Mar 7th 2006 at 9:29 pm
Hey Bud,
I think you´re right on.
“Well intentioned teachers and students create their first, and sometimes second, posts with the idea that blogging will be something that they can add on to the rest of their busy lives, — but that’s not really how it works. It takes time — time that must be given from some other sacred cow at school. Time to nurture, as Will says. above. That’s time we might not be able to spare. Then again — it might be time that we’re wasting doing other stuff.”
Isn’t that the truth? If you come at blogging or podcasting as an “add on” to the rest of your already busy life, it somehow just doesn’t survive.
I wish I could remember where I read this, but I think blogging is very similar to professional development. (Be you a student or a teacher.) Professional development, in order to succeed, must not be something seen as “extra.” It must undergo a headshift to “part of what I do.”
“Personal investment in getting better.” Wow. That’s just really well put. And isn’t it what we should be trying to encourage in class? That personal investment? I mean if we don’t, what will happen when class is over? What will happen when students graduate? If there is no personal investment, they will have a very…incorrect perspective about learning: that it’s done to me, not by me.
Great post.
Rob Reynolds // Mar 8th 2006 at 6:24 am
Bud,
This is a great post. As I read this, I thought about my Advanced Composition classes taught in the late 90’s before I had any blogging tools. In those classes we used Web pages created using Netscape Composer. That tool a lot of time and it was something that most of my students dropped as soon as they left the course.
I also thought about the amount of time I actually spend on my own blogging at XplanaZine and in my personal teaching. It does take time. But, as others have pointed out — whether for teacher or student — if it becomes a habit or part of our pedagogical experience, it isn’t “new” or “unaccounted for” time, but rather a shiting of time we already had.
Of ocurse, I do love the idea that, regardless of the potential efficiencies involved, some things are worth doing because they’re worth doing. Period. I love the idea of “Personal investment in getting better.”
XplanaZine // Mar 9th 2006 at 5:44 am
Daily Update — March 9, 2006
Here’s our take on news that matters for Thursday, March 9. Today’s theme is come together now, and here are a some links to headlines about technology that is changing the way we live and learn.
Gaming — …
Vicki Davis // Mar 9th 2006 at 9:36 am
I think it is a matter of replacing an old way with a new way. Instead of having them turn in papers, I have my students blog. The difficulty with blogs is the pressure to create a “perfect” product. The test-score centric, whine about education media tend to want to cast stones at educators at any chance they get. They do not realize that we are educating children, not college graduates as they are.
Children will make mistakes and errors and sometimes teachers won’t catch it. I find myself proofing and correcting quite a bit. Also, no one sees the grade the student makes, but should the F not be allowed to post?
Blogging tools have mediocre spell checkers and nonexistent grammar checkers.
For now, no pain no gain. It takes time to work with it. We have to deal with a lot of people who do not understand nor advocate our methods.
I, for one, believe the sacrifice is more than worth it and am glad I brought my classrooms into the wiki/ blogging world!
Thank you for another great post, Bud!
Brian Crosby // Mar 11th 2006 at 3:51 pm
Bud the Teacher continued a conversation a few days ago about how it is taking “too much time” for tools like blogs to be embraced and utilized by educators…
http://learningismessy.com/blog/?p=20
Leave a Comment