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Friday, October 19, 2012

Social Studies Bloggers

Last week a middle school teacher mentioned to me that he had been experimenting with Edmodo (see my earlier post on Edmodo here) in his classroom.  I stopped by to see how it was going and found most of the students in the class engaged with the learning activity as I circulated through the room.

I did notice however that a few students had finished the activity before the others and I secretly stole glances at their computer screens thinking I would find them playing games or emailing.  Instead, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the students were contributing to projects assigned from other classes: one student was working on a collaborative English assignment in a Google Doc, another student was adding some comments to an online class discussion in Edmodo, and a third student was contributing to a class blog for his social studies class.

I thought it was great that these students were passionate enough about class projects that they chose to use a few spare minutes of down time to work on them; however as someone who regularly reads and contributes to blogs myself, the student blogger really caught my interest.  I spoke with him a little about the blog and then followed up with his teacher to find out how the class blog project works.  Here is what I found out.

Students in Mr. Irrgang’s social studies classes have a weekly assignment in which they contribute to a class blog on current events (here is a link to the assignment sheet). After watching a weekly news summary video, students get time to explore news websites, recommended by Mr. Irrgang, where they can locate and read articles that pique their interest.  Students then pick one article to summarize and write a few sentences explaining why they think the issues mentioned in the article are important.   Students then have some time to read other students' posts and are given the opportunity to vote on the one they think is the best.  Mr. Irrgang also gives each student personalized feedback on their blog contributions.

This project models effective instruction in a number of ways. First in incorporates CITW strategies such as summarizing, providing recognition, and providing feedback.  In addition it generates student interest by providing opportunities for self-guided learning based on student interest and social or reciprocal learning.  Finally it fits in nicely with these content, literacy, and digital age learning standards:

Wyoming Social Studies Content Standard SS8.4.2 - Students discuss current events to better understand the world in which they live.

International Society for Technology in Education Student Technology Use Standards - This project addresses standards 2. Communication and Collaboration and 3. Research and Information Fluency

Social Studies Literacy Standards - Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, using search terms effectively; assess the credibility and accuracy of each source; and quote or paraphrase the data and conclusions of others while avoiding plagiarism and following a standard format for citation.

If you would like to keep up with Mr. Irrgang's students and their analysis of current events, here are links to two of his classes’ blogs:

http://irrgangsclass6.blogspot.com/

http://irrgangs7grade7periodclassnews.blogspot.com/

To build these blogs Mr. Irrgang used Blogger which is part of the free Google suite of apps that our district has integrated.  He configured the blogs so that there is one blog for each class and all of the students have permission to author posts while he retains the ability to edit, comment on, or moderate any student work.  

While this is an excellent example of using blogs in the classroom, the possibilities for instructional innovations with this technology tool are endless.  Matt Ray does a great job of outlining some reasons why students should blog in this article.






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