Week 2 Reflection

For week two, I've created a wiki, created an RSS Reader account, read some articles (linked below), and now I'm responding to the following questions:

What are your early impressions of using a blog and what was your experience using an RSS Reader this week? Any surprises, pleasant or otherwise?

My early impressions of using a blog would be, to put it simply, I like it. I like the journal feel of it. I enjoy writing, and I enjoy having people read what I write. If I weren't so wretchedly busy for the next couple of months, I might be tempted to create a personal blog right away; after the chaos dies down, I have a couple ideas for blogs I might keep.

The RSS Reader experience has been enlightening to say the least. I never knew what that little orange button with what looks like radio waves even meant until I had to start using it for this class. Again, due to the general time constraints of being a full time student, full time teacher, and full time parent, I am not using it in a personal way right now, but I can envision subscribing to many of my favorite websites in the near future. It's very convenient to be able to read everything from the subscribed blogs all on one website rather than navigating to each individually. (Right now it's enough to just keep up with all of my classmates' blogs. If I added in websites for my personal enjoyment, I fear my time management discipline might fly right out the window.)

Professionally speaking, I can see the value and potential of both of these tools. However, as most of my students are from low-income families, I still worry about internet access at home. I have noticed a positive trend over the past few years for fewer and fewer families to be without, however.

Based on your readings, the videos and your experience setting up and using a wiki space, do you have some ideas about how you could use a wiki in your teaching or elsewhere in your work or life? Describe an idea for an activity you might do with learners that would involve the use of a wiki.
As an English teacher, I can see a great possibility: student created projects on specific literature. “Okay class, as we read Macbeth, we are going to periodically get the laptops out, and you will create the [insert school name here] Macbeth Wiki. Major categories, and by that in this case I mean pages to include on your wiki, will be characters, plot, time line, etc. You will work in groups of [x amount of students], and you will be evaluated on this rubric.”

Okay, so the idea is in its infancy, but the seed is planted in my mind. It would not only potentially address Common Core State Standards in Reading Literature, but also CCSS in Writing, Language, and if they have to present their wiki to their peers, Speaking and Listening.

Which part(s) of Dale’s Cone do you think each tool (Blog, RSS) lends itself best to and why?

Again from an English teacher's perspective, the first category that jumps out at me is Verbal Symbols. Spoken words are verbal symbols, and written words are symbols of those verbal symbols. However, by embedding links images, video, and audio into blogs, or by creating scenarios for students to think of, it's easy to see how these technologies would move down the cone to the broader levels of Visual Symbols, Still Pictures, Recordings, Motion Pictures, Virtual Study Trips, Virtual Demonstrations, (yes, I modified those last two from the 1969 version of Dale's Cone; I doubt he had such foresight to see that possibility as we have it today) and Contrived Experiences. Also, let's not forget that by having students actually do these tasks themselves (creating blogs, following peers with RSS readers, creating wikis), we move right down to the very base of Dale's Cone to Direct Purposeful Experiences. They aren't the same kinds of experiences that are mentioned in the chapter, but whereas he described participation in rural and city areas, we now have online areas that productive citizens should participate in to gain a large knowledge base.

As the question asks what each tool lends itself best to, I feel I should explain my thoughts on how the two tools can work together. I feel blogs are where the educational benefit would come from - RSS I view as more of a tool for managing the task of following many blogs simultaneously. If I am limiting my understanding of the potential of RSS by viewing it in this way, please comment to correct my view.

Considering Siegel’s concept of “computer imagination”, what do you think would be at least one “imaginative” educational use of each tool (blog, RSS) that takes advantage of each tool’s inherent strengths? That is, what do you think you and/or your students could use these tools for that they might not be able to do with other more simple or low-tech tools? Or, as Postman might ask, what is a problem to which each of these tools is an answer?

What's the problem, Postman would ask? How about the lack of student engagement in classroom discussion? Whereas in a classroom teachers must resort to tricks and limitations to get reticent students to participate, on online discussion eliminates much of the fear of speaking before the group. (Of course, with concerns of cyber-bullying, great attention must be paid by the teacher to pre-teach expectations, norms, and acceptable behavior in responses if an online discussion was to be had, and a generally high level of maturity from the students wouldn't hurt, either.)

How about this class? Each student has created a blog, and each student must write a reflection on what they've read. We are graded upon not only our reflection, but also our engagement with other students by responding to others' reflections. We are therefore not allowed to be reticent during discussions, but introverts don't need to fear the spotlight as they're safely behind their own computer screen. Discussions are open for participation in a way that's rarely achieved in a traditional classroom.