★ Unit Reflection 4 ★
Unit four primarily revolved around incorporating technology within the classroom, specifically with blogs and social media platforms. In order to keep students engaged and ensure their success, these readings showed online tools and social media sites that can be used to peak students interests.
Within chapter 7 of Gura's Teaching Literacy Within the Digital Age, the idea of using blogs within the classroom was brought up. This chapter stood out to me because throughout my years of being in school, technology has almost always been used. Specifically, using technology to create blog posts and contribute to online discussions.I have always been a fan of these types of assignments because personally, I have tended to learn more than I would within an in-class discussion. My teachers would usually give us a reading or a question and within our posts, we had to answer them, elaborate and continue the discussion by commenting on our classmates posts. I find so much value in online discussions and blogs because you can take the time to sift through your thoughts and answer the prompt to your fullest capability. With in-class discussions, there tend to be times where some students do not feel comfortable or simply cannot configure a response on the spot. Online discussions cater to these types of students and give them a more relaxed setting where they can say whatever they want regarding the prompt. Along with that, students can elaborate and show different points of view or even bring new questions to the discussion. Using an online platform to discuss a reading or answer a question is immensely valuable and should be used within classrooms because it brings new topics to the surface; there are endless possibilities to the discussion.
Next, we read a chapter of Compose, Create, Connect! by Jeremy Hyler and Troy Hicks. Within the chapter, the idea of online literature circles was focused on. First, Hyler divided his students into groups and gave them multiple books to choose from. They were then assigned the task of creating a blog for their individual group, where they would have online discussions regarding their readings. Along with that, each student was given a specific job and was expected to perform their duty within each of their posts. I loved this assignment because since each group member had a different job, such as creating questions, defining confusing words or giving a short summary, there was a multitude of directions that the discussion could go. Also, I really connected with the assignment Hyler gave because in middle school, I had the same assignment but we would have an in-class discussion rather than an online discussion. To me, personally, I would have rather done the assignment online because it would have opened up the discussion and would have made it easier to elaborate and keep the dialogue going. Inside this chapter, Hyler also mentioned that having too many online assignments could eventually lead students to lack in their public speaking abilities. I agree with Hyler in the sense that students are very dependent on technology and tend to be insufficient when it comes to public speaking. Therefore, a mix between in class and online assignments should be implemented within the curriculum to ensure that students are excelling in their writing as well as their speaking skills.
Lastly, we read two different articles, but To Tweet or Not to Tweet by Peter C. Kunze, stood out to me the most. In this article, the idea of using social media to portray understanding was used due to the growing popularity of the app, Twitter. Since students tend to be on their phone for a majority of the day, the teacher in this reading thought that using the app would make class fun and engaging. Due to the fact that most students already know how to use Twitter, the teacher proposed five different ways to use the app within the literature classroom. The first was adaptation, which is summarizing a reading in a series of tweets and writing them in different genre such as a poem. Second was roleplaying and that is when a student takes on the persona of a character within a reading and creates a set of tweets that would relate to the character they chose. The third option for an activity was prequels and sequels where the student would create a set of 9-12 tweets telling the story of what would happen before the novel begins or after the novel ends. Fourth was reader response blogging which is where a student would simply make comments about what is happening throughout the novel while they're reading. Lastly, the fifth activity is when students live tweet and use the same hashtag whenever the teacher is lecturing; sort of like a live feed. Overall, I really love the idea of using Twitter within the classroom because most students tend to be comfortable with the app. In fact, my favorite activity would have to be number three, where students create a prequel or a sequel to the reading. I love this activity because it is different and it takes a certain level of understanding to be able to tell what comes before and what comes after a novel. It lets students be creative and create the beginning or ending however they want it to be and however they see it. Also, I loved this article because my teachers in high school would give assignments that involved Twitter from time to time. By using a social media platform that kids and teenagers are familiar with, it ensures that students are engaged and comfortable. It gives students a break from writing papers and doing "normal," assignments, too.
This unit was very valuable because it showed a multitude of ways to incorporate technology within the classroom. I am excited to use up to date social media and blogs within my classroom because I want my students to have fun with assignments and I want them to be able to have discussions where they learn more about the texts we read.
Within chapter 7 of Gura's Teaching Literacy Within the Digital Age, the idea of using blogs within the classroom was brought up. This chapter stood out to me because throughout my years of being in school, technology has almost always been used. Specifically, using technology to create blog posts and contribute to online discussions.I have always been a fan of these types of assignments because personally, I have tended to learn more than I would within an in-class discussion. My teachers would usually give us a reading or a question and within our posts, we had to answer them, elaborate and continue the discussion by commenting on our classmates posts. I find so much value in online discussions and blogs because you can take the time to sift through your thoughts and answer the prompt to your fullest capability. With in-class discussions, there tend to be times where some students do not feel comfortable or simply cannot configure a response on the spot. Online discussions cater to these types of students and give them a more relaxed setting where they can say whatever they want regarding the prompt. Along with that, students can elaborate and show different points of view or even bring new questions to the discussion. Using an online platform to discuss a reading or answer a question is immensely valuable and should be used within classrooms because it brings new topics to the surface; there are endless possibilities to the discussion.
Next, we read a chapter of Compose, Create, Connect! by Jeremy Hyler and Troy Hicks. Within the chapter, the idea of online literature circles was focused on. First, Hyler divided his students into groups and gave them multiple books to choose from. They were then assigned the task of creating a blog for their individual group, where they would have online discussions regarding their readings. Along with that, each student was given a specific job and was expected to perform their duty within each of their posts. I loved this assignment because since each group member had a different job, such as creating questions, defining confusing words or giving a short summary, there was a multitude of directions that the discussion could go. Also, I really connected with the assignment Hyler gave because in middle school, I had the same assignment but we would have an in-class discussion rather than an online discussion. To me, personally, I would have rather done the assignment online because it would have opened up the discussion and would have made it easier to elaborate and keep the dialogue going. Inside this chapter, Hyler also mentioned that having too many online assignments could eventually lead students to lack in their public speaking abilities. I agree with Hyler in the sense that students are very dependent on technology and tend to be insufficient when it comes to public speaking. Therefore, a mix between in class and online assignments should be implemented within the curriculum to ensure that students are excelling in their writing as well as their speaking skills.
Lastly, we read two different articles, but To Tweet or Not to Tweet by Peter C. Kunze, stood out to me the most. In this article, the idea of using social media to portray understanding was used due to the growing popularity of the app, Twitter. Since students tend to be on their phone for a majority of the day, the teacher in this reading thought that using the app would make class fun and engaging. Due to the fact that most students already know how to use Twitter, the teacher proposed five different ways to use the app within the literature classroom. The first was adaptation, which is summarizing a reading in a series of tweets and writing them in different genre such as a poem. Second was roleplaying and that is when a student takes on the persona of a character within a reading and creates a set of tweets that would relate to the character they chose. The third option for an activity was prequels and sequels where the student would create a set of 9-12 tweets telling the story of what would happen before the novel begins or after the novel ends. Fourth was reader response blogging which is where a student would simply make comments about what is happening throughout the novel while they're reading. Lastly, the fifth activity is when students live tweet and use the same hashtag whenever the teacher is lecturing; sort of like a live feed. Overall, I really love the idea of using Twitter within the classroom because most students tend to be comfortable with the app. In fact, my favorite activity would have to be number three, where students create a prequel or a sequel to the reading. I love this activity because it is different and it takes a certain level of understanding to be able to tell what comes before and what comes after a novel. It lets students be creative and create the beginning or ending however they want it to be and however they see it. Also, I loved this article because my teachers in high school would give assignments that involved Twitter from time to time. By using a social media platform that kids and teenagers are familiar with, it ensures that students are engaged and comfortable. It gives students a break from writing papers and doing "normal," assignments, too.
This unit was very valuable because it showed a multitude of ways to incorporate technology within the classroom. I am excited to use up to date social media and blogs within my classroom because I want my students to have fun with assignments and I want them to be able to have discussions where they learn more about the texts we read.
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