Tech Playtesting Assignment 1: Blogs Web Page

I find myself continually reading blogs of random things I am in search of. I have always found it incredible to have a question, type it into Google, and get beneficial results. Many of the best results I get are blogs. There are blogs for absolutely everything and anything you can imagine. My most common questions usually come down to health, dogs, traveling, and education. Though not everything out there is 100% accurate, I am amazed how many times I have gotten advice from a medical professional through a blog, even if the advice was to seek a doctor. 

People use blogs in multiple ways. Some may use it as an online journal, while others want to connect with the rest of the world regarding a specific topic. A blog becomes a live document where people worldwide can interact through discussions, comments, feedback, advice, questions, and answers.  The best thing I can compare it to is a group text message. Everyone in that group has something in common and a topic of texting back and forth about. Just like with a text message, the discussion is in chronological order. Like text messaging, blogging can have multiple threads with different groups of people or start a new one (adding a new entry to your blog).  

I am no expert at blogging or participating in a blog discussion. I usually go to a blog to see what people have to say and get out. This week, I was mindblown when I found out how an everyday casual blog could greatly benefit the classroom. An affordance about blogging and education is that when you allow your students to blog, you give them a voice—a right to have an opinion, a right to express themselves, and the right to be part of a discussion. In a classroom discussion, you will always have the same three students who want to participate, while others become an audience. Sure, they probably have something to say, but at the moment, they are too shy or feel uncomfortable having all eyes on them. They are probably asking themselves if what they want to say is valid or correct. Once the words come out of your mouth, that is it; they are out. For some, this is too much pressure, and they rather keep to themselves. An affordance of blogging, like anything else that you type, is that you can gather your thoughts, type them, go back and delete and type again until you feel satisfied with what you are publishing for others to see. During a live discussion, students have to be quick thinkers and be present to participate. Another affordance with blogging is that a student does not necessarily have to be present in the same room or even at the same time to be part of the discussion. Education has changed a lot during the past six months. As educators, we are aware that education is always changing, but never in our minds would we have imagined that we would be where we are today. Starting next week, I will have two classes, and in each of those two classes, I will have students who are coming to school face to face, students who are synchronous remote learning, and students who are asynchronous remote learning. I cannot think of a better time to start blogging in the classroom. At the moment, due to not having all students back in school, we may not be able to have a "normal" bulletin board where we can show off everyone's work and have other students look at it, comment, and give feedback to their classmates in school. However, thanks to blogging, we can make it all happen efficiently online. 

As a student now myself, I can see that an affordance of using a blog for a class is that you can type your ideas and opinions and allow others to add on to your ideas and ask questions that might help add on to your thoughts. I have gone to many professional developments. However, most of my engaging activities come from teacher blogs, not from professional development. I have seen where a teacher shares an idea and how he or she used it in class, and then other teachers reply to the blog by adding how else they have used it or how they think they can use it. The ideas continue to grow. 

I have been looking into different blog sites. As I mentioned before, I am no expert when it comes to blogging. Looking at various sites, many I found overwhelming. Some had you create a webpage, and then from the web page, you would click on the menu and go to the blog. Another thing to think about is that I teach 5th-grade elementary school. In school, we usually have many online restrictions to protect our students. Figuring out what I need to do to get a blog site approved will take people of a higher power in the school district. One of my biggest concerns about letting students navigate the internet is the ads and popups. This is something to take into consideration when choosing which blog site to use. Of course, the first thing is presenting the affordance of my students using a blog in school. Second, they will want to know if something already similar to blogging has already been approved. This is where the SAMR model will come into play. And lastly, what will hopefully help me convince administration is to prove to them that blogging (technology) will enhance my teaching (pedagogy) in content. 

I looked into many blog sites; Tumblr, Wordpress, Hubpages, Yola, Wix, Edublogs, and Weebly. Two blog sites that the teacher in me appreciated were Edublogs and Weebly. Edublog is ad-free, student safe with privacy options, maps, tables, photos, files, and videos can be uploaded.  Weebly is similar, but something that I appreciate is that you can add an editor. So, even if my students are owners of their blogs, I can make changes or remove unnecessary or inappropriate content. Weebly for education creates a classroom website and then a blog. However, neither one of these two sites is just a simple blog site such as Blogger. Blogger, the name says it all! And you can easily log in using your Google ID, which all of my students have through the school district. With Blogger, you can start blogging as soon as you create an account. 

Another affordance of blogging is that there is blogging of everything and anything. So blogging can be used in every content area.  I could even use it for Social-Emotional Learning. I could have students do an all about me blog where they can upload pictures and write about themselves. Some students might not feel comfortable standing in front of everyone and talking about themselves. Through blogs, all students have the same opportunity to open up tell us about themselves. I would not say that it is substituting but augmentation if we are talking about the SAMR model. It gives students who would mumble, whisper, or not speak at all during a presentation and opportunity to share. Blogging an all about me enhances the activity by allowing all kids to share and for others to get to know their classmates. 

Content- Blogging allows for writing across the curriculum. Students can write and teach others about math, science, and social studies where students can have discussions in which they can share with others their thoughts and opinions. This entire week, I have been thinking about blogging and using it to enhance my teaching. I plan to create four blogs and divide my students into four groups of five. I will put all of my asynchronous students together, and then I will combine face-to-face with the synchronous students. I will be giving them a math scavenger hunt, including place value, standard and expanded notation, and rounding. Through the blog, all students are expected to participate and discuss questions and get to their answers. To move on, they will submit their answer within the discussion by replying.

Pedagogy- Blogging supports the idea of having a student-centered classroom, rather than a teacher-centered. My students will be collaborating as they do the scavenger hunt. I will be able to check for their understanding through their participation in the discussion. The classroom teacher, me, will be supervising the blogging fully to make sure that they are staying on topic, encouraging each other, and being school appropriate. When students work in a small group in the traditional class, I walk around listening for academic language and asking them questions about what they are doing to check for understanding. Having to move from group to group makes it difficult to know how many from the group actually participated and how many just wrote down what everyone else said.  With blogging, I will be able to see everyone's input. I can always pull that group using Google Meet and clarify any misconceptions. I will also be able to see how students understand the topic based on how they try to explain themselves to others or even try to teach other students. 

Technology-  Blogging is not as formal as regular classroom writing, just like text messaging. This takes a lot of the pressure away that some of our students might feel. Today's "traditional classroom" is far from being traditional. Our students need to learn the essential 21st-century skills to help with their success in their future. Some of these skills are technology literacy, communication, collaboration, flexibility, and productivity. We are at a point that either we adapt to the change, or we fall behind. Another affordance of blogging using the scavenger hunt is that I will see the full dialog between my students. Without technology, my students would not work in a small group while social distancing. Technology has helped break many barriers. 

Blogging to solve a math scavenger hunt while social distancing has been transformed.  In the SAMR model, blogging while solving a math scanger hunt is at the R, the redefinition. Before this week, I would have never thought that it would be possible to consider doing a small group scavenger hunt with students in different locations. Without blogging, I do not believe this would be possible. Sure, I could have created multiple Google Meet meetings to meet, but that would not have worked with my asynchronous students. Also, with many online meetings going on simultaneously, it would have been hard for me to supervise and see who participated, which helps check for understanding. 

I can only speak for myself, but I believe that the moment we can go back to "traditional school" I do not think it will ever be the same for me. Technology has jumped ahead so much that going back to "normal" would be taking multiple steps back. Technology integration in my class was already happening. However, with having to teach online thoroughly, the only way to know you are doing right by your students is to follow the TPACK model when creating any lesson that uses technology.