I chose to research and implement blogging in my classroom as my personalized professional development for this year. My goal was to use technology to show student learning. As I researched I found several blogging apps that I could use, but after collaborating with my technology integrationist, Megan Birchette, I chose to set up a daily blog theme where each day was connected to their independent reading book using Google Classroom.
The blogs were designed with a daily theme. Monday was titled My Job Monday. The task was for the students to blog about what they read throughout the week from their chosen book in a summary form. Tuesday was titled Talk About It Tuesday. This task was for the students to read the summaries written by their classmates and comment on at least two blog entries. Wednesday was Word Study Wednesday. For this blog students were provided a form in which they had to choose two unfamiliar or new vocabulary words that they encountered in their reading for this week and complete the form. Thursday was titled Think About It Thursday. On this blog I would post a question that would correspond to the weeks mini lessons and the students would have to apply what they learned to their independent reading book. On Friday I would post a reflection question from the week for students to answer. The blogs were posted at the same time every day and were used as a bell ringer activity in a split class schedule. Students quickly caught on to the routine and were consistent in completing their blog on a daily basis.
The advantages of blogging in the classroom that I encountered were the peer review component, looking at their reading/writing with a different perspective,and the opportunity to reflect on the weeks lessons and apply them to their chosen literature. I felt that the blogging was well received by the students and proved to have some educational value. I will continue the daily blogging in the fall with some adjustments to give students more opportunities to continue the conversations with their peers on their chosen books. Overall, I am looking forward to next year's personalized professional development opportunities and trying another new strategy or tool to increase student learning in my classroom.
Below is the link to personalized professional development presentation. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at shelley.mitzelfelt@se-warren.k12.ia.us.
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