1. Promoting and M0deling Digital Citizenship and Responsibility -
This takes me back to my days in high school. Even though I love reading and writing and English, I absolutely hated citing my sources at the end of the essay. Even now, as an adult, I find it difficult to take the time to cite my sources. I understand the importance of citing the sources, and I also force my students to remember that they can't steal other people's ideas. In order to carry out my plans, I need to continuously keep up-to-date with information regarding plagiarism and documenting sources. Since I am teaching technology this year, it's very important for me to keep letting my students know that documenting sources does not just stay in the English classroom, so I will make sure to include lessons about this topic frequently. So far, when I give my assignments, I always set aside a section in my rubrics for grading the documented sources. It's important that students know that they are being held accountable for documenting the information that they find, so they understand the importance of digital citizenship.
2. Model Digital Age Work and Learning -
In order to get in touch with my students' parents via blog, I will have to build my foundation. I will have to organize my materials for the parents. Taking a suggestion from another classmate, I would prepare a busniess card that would provide all the necessary information for my blog. Parents would know the blog address and receive instructions on how to set up their own blog or how to repsond to the blog.
Before I expect parents to contribute, I have to see what their level of comfortability with technology is. As always, I will also have to be considerate of those parents who do not have computer/internet availability. For the most part, I am extremely well-versed in blogging, so learning how to blog/use a blog won't be necessary.
If blogging does not seem like the best option for communicating with parents digitally, I would also have to consider alternatives to this, hopefully finding a source of communication that will work best for the majority of my parents.
Bethanne,
ReplyDeleteI'm right there with you when it comes to citing, it's something I really need to work on. Since you are an English instructor however, you might want to take a look at Microsoft's new Word feature in 2007 and 2010 if you are not already familiar with it. Under the reference tab at the top, you can manage your sources. It gives you blank spaces for author, title, date, and so on. THEN, when you are done you can hit bibliography and choose either MLA or APA style. It essentially creates your works cited for you. My students love this new feature.
The blog is also a great idea. Students love it just as much as parents. It's almost like a cover for yourself as well for if someone says "I didn't know about that" and then you can respond and say, "well... it was on the blog." An alternative to blogging if your parents do not want to check it often is to either get them on a email newsletter list or if your school has Skyward, you can send a newsletter home attached with their grade report. I have found that feature very useful.
Brett
I like the idea of sending home a newsletter. It's a very efficient way to get a lot of information home.
ReplyDelete