“Where have you been and what have you seen?”
Blogs and RSS Feeds
Where have you been and what have you seen?”
When I was a little girl, my Mom greeted me with that rhyming question each day when I walked home from school for lunch. It was our little ritual, a little invitation to share the events of the day. Blogs can also be used to answer that question.
In fact, (t)he earliest blogs were literally “Web logs” or lists of sites a particular author visited on any given day…” (Richardson, 2009, p.17) Blogs have evolved from a list of sites visited to an interactive forum for sharing ideas. Richardson elaborates. “Blogs engage readers with ideas and questions and links. They ask readers to think and to respond. They demand interaction.” (p. 18)
So, where have I been this term and what have I seen in my research and my blog writing?
REFLECTIONS ON THE PROCESS OF LEARNING ABOUT BLOGGING
My starting point
I had very little direct experience with blogs in general and none at all with blogs as a tool for professional development. It didn’t occur to me that blogs could be used for learning. My impression of blogs was quite negative prior to starting this course. I understood blogs to be like an online diary or journal, often written in a self-indulgent
manner. I had read at least one book that began as a series of blog posts, and while I thoroughly enjoyed the book, I didn’t investigate the original blog.
I decided to approach the process of following and creating blogs with an open mind. I needed to suspend judgment as I was to write and post blogs.
I chose Edublogs for my blog platform based on a colleague’s recommendation. I explored the features and the support documents and trusted that it would suit my purpose. http://edublogs.org/features/
I chose Google Reader as my blog aggregator. I had attended an inservice a couple of years ago that highlighted a number of Google tools including the Reader, but hadn’t continued to work with it. While I knew of RSS feeds and had used them as alerts on my school-based wikis, I hadn’t really explored the full potential of RSS feeds.
While I found the structure of our blogs to be useful, I found the writing process to be very challenging. I am a strong proponent of collaboration and sharing, but I had some reservations about the very public nature of being outside the university online environment. This conflict was a challenge for me. The other challenge was describing my learning thoroughly enough in a concise manner. I was surprised at how long it took me to compose my posts after I had collected my research!
I think I’ve “come a long way” and have learned quite a bit. I know I haven’t applied all that I have learned to my blogs, but am looking forward to continuing to experiment with blogs and RSS feeds.
I’ve followed a number of blogs and have added to my list, especially recently. Early on in the term, I found it took a while to sort through the blogs to find ones that contained enough information with a minimum of “chatter”. Lately,, it seems to be much easier to find useful blogs to follow. My searches have come up with results such as this.
Gelbwasser, M.. (2009, September). THE TOP 20 TEACHER BLOGS. Instructor (1999), 119(2), 37-39. from ProQuest Education Journals. (Document ID: 1873816341).
I have explored different functions of the blogging software and I have responded to comments on my blog. I have learned how to insert images and upload videos and am always conscience of the need to remember to confirm the copyright parameters when I upload videos. I am also discovering ways to search for blogs and within my Google Reader list.
Google Reader has some fantastic tools including setting favourites, emailing posts and the ability to star posts which sets them in another column. Common Craft, in its usual clear, concise manner, describes many features of Google Reader. http://www.commoncraft.com/custom-video-google-reader-plain-english
DISCUSSION OF MY PERSONAL LEARNING
For me, my biggest personal learning revolves around understanding the many different applications of blogging and my consequent change in attitude towards this Web 2.0 tool. Davies and Merchant state, “Just as there are many different types of novel or types of poetry, so to there are many different types of blog.” (p. 24) While the purposes of blogs can vary greatly, the process of blogging involves an interchange of ideas between the author and the readers.
A second, important step for me was learning how to search for blogs. Initially, I felt like this process of learning from blogs was quite passive and that my learning was dependent upon whatever someone else decided to share. It reminded me of the book, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. The residents of the town of Chewandswallow didn’t need to shop for groceries or prepare meals, they just waited for the weather to rain food. Sounds great, but not much menu selection. That’s how I was feeling about all the information that was being served up in my Google Reader. Great stuff, but let’s just wait and see what’s going to show up today.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloudy_with_a_Chance_of_Meatballs
I certainly need to keep exploring this task, but I am pleased with the search functions in Google Reader. Google Reader can do many things, including searching the web to find certain topics and searching within my list of saved blogs. I have had some success with Technorati (http://technorati.com ) in searching the blogsphere for specific topics.
At this point, I still see myself as accessing blogs as a reader. In addition to my professional blogs, I have linked a few bogs that I will read for personal interest.
DISCUSSION OF MY PROFESSIONAL LEARNING
“Why blog?” This initial question of mine soon became two questions: Why blog for professional development? and Why have students blogging?
Essentially, blogs provide an interactive audience for both teachers using them for professional development and for students. Richardson makes a very clear distinction between posting and “doing connective writing in blogs”. (p. 31) For him, the interactive dialogue is paramount. Blogging for professional development provides teachers with the most up-to-date information and engages them in conversations about the content and the processes with other like-minded professionals.
Blogging with students.
The evidence is strongly indicates that students benefit from blogging in the classroom. When set up properly with adequate instruction, students realize that they must read blogs carefully. “But more than just reading, bloggers that write in this way learn to read critically because as they read, they look for important ideas to write about.” (Richardson, 2009, p. 29) It’s a positive cycle of reflection and metacognition.
Posting information in a blog is an essential component of the process, but equally important is the response that readers leave and the ongoing conversations. Just as students need support in creating their blog posts, so too do they need support and instruction in writing constructive responses. Kathleen McGeady, an Australian teacher, blogs with her grade two students and provides them with guidance on effective blog responses.
VIDEO How to Comment on a Blog
BLOG POST Teaching
Commenting Skills
Anne Davis has created two tools for students to introduce them to and support them in the process of blog writing. The webquest also has a teacher page (listed on the front page) that elaborates on the student pages.
Success in blogging involves finding useful resources, responding to these finds and continuing the conversation between the author of the blog and the readers of the blog. RSS feeds help facilitate the finding of reliable resources by bringing them to you. These tools make it easy to answer the question of “Where have you been and what have you seen?”!
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April 6, 2010
Hi Karen,
I love the idea of your Mum asking you where you’ve been and what you’ve seen. As you mentioned, blogs can really help strengthen home-school partnerships. The feedback from my students’ parents about our class blog has been fantastic!
Thanks for sharing my ideas on commenting. Commenting really does make blogs come alive! Commenting provides an excellent structure for reflection and deeper thinking. I have found that providing students and their families with support, structure and encouragement to comment really helps.
Well done on a great reflective blog!
Kathleen McGeady
April 7, 2010
Thanks, Karen. Finding blogs to follow is often a challenge. That’s why I provided everyone with a list of blogs to start with–so that you didn’t have a blank Google Reader screen staring at you to start! As I mentioned to someone else in a comment, the best way to find new blogs to follow is to read a few good blogs and then see who they are citing or reading. I learn about new (and good) blogs this way all the time. Twitter also points me towards other new and good blogs, as well. The article you found (and others like it) are also good for listing blogs and bloggers that are worth your time and attention. Thanks for pointing it out.
April 10, 2010
Karen,
We both started in similar places when it comes to blogging. Now that you are almost done this course, will you continue to blog? Will you use blogs with your students?
I was so uncomfortable with the blogging experience when we first started but I have become quite comfortable in this realm. I look forward to doing our family blog next winter when we travel as a family through parts of South America. (You could do that with your Kart racing.)
Thanks for your insights.
Pauline
April 10, 2010
Hi Joanne,
I was grateful for the starting points in blogging that you provided. The process of finding blogs that were relevant to me was a good experience. It has kind of snowballed lately, as I mentioned above, that it’s getting easier to find blogs to follow. I think I’m learning (1) how and where to look and (2) what to look for. As you mentioned,a great strategy is to see who else the blogger cites or links to. I think I’m getting the hang of that now. The “extras” on a person’s blog site are also great sources to “mine” for information.
Karen
April 10, 2010
Hi Pauline,
I haven’t thought too far ahead with my own blogging, yet. I can certainly see how I could have students blogging in a lit circle or a book club, etc. I know I mentioned in my post how my perception of blogging has changed as a result of our use of blogs as the mode of delivering our assignments.
I’m very excited for you and your family’s travels next year. Will you be blogging from the same blog address or will you open a new blog? What a great way to stay in touch with everyone “back home”. I’d love to follow your adventures next year.
I hadn’t thought about blogging about racing. Something to ponder…
Karen
April 10, 2010
Hello Kathleen,
It’s funny what little stories come to mind when I am brainstorming how to introduce a blog post. I’m pleased that you found my blog and my link to your blog.
Most parents love to have connections with their children’s school. I just recently collaborated with a Grade One-Two class on a community project. We made a photo story with photos they took around their community and they recorded their comments about each photo. Their parents were thrilled to view these photo stories at school and all requested a copy for home. Because they have a picture of each child’s home and their address, I will need to edit them before we post them to the school’s website, but being able to share this work with the families was very exciting for everyone.
I haven’t yet ventured into blogging with students, but my personal experience with this blog for my professional learning has certainly underscored for me the importance of comments.
As you indicate, commenting isn’t necessarily intuitive, especially at the beginning. Effective comments build a conversation. That kind of dialogue is exciting and validates a person’s ideas.
Cheers,
Karen