I am new to the blogging world but after reading about how teachers and students can use them and familiarizing myself with Blogger, I realized how much they can enhance teaching and learning.
I teach adult refugees and in my current class, most of the students have little to no computer knowledge/skills. We have a small computer lab in our school that rarely gets used because our students usually don't know how to even turn it on. I recently found a free computer basics class for ESL students and encouraged my students to go. They all signed up and start this Saturday.
After students' typing and basics computer skills move upwards, I could use blogs in the classroom to create space for students to discuss cultural differences between their native countries and the U.S. They could compare things related to government, holidays and American culture. One of the goals in Adult Education ESL is preparing students for citizenship. On the blog, I could also post links and videos for students as resources to study for the citizenship exam. Since the class in multicultural, this would give the students a way to demonstrate an understanding of American life and compare it to their native country as well as to their classmates' native countries.
Performance Indicator-ESL.C.9-12.5.1.2: Students demonstrate an understanding of a broad range of U.S. cultural and political referents through institutions, functions, and processes at the local and national levels, and compare/contrast these with parallels in the students' native community.
I also liked the idea of using blogs to create an ongoing portfolio. I think this is a great way to motivate students to see how they progress. Often times students get frustrated because they don't notice their progress. Putting their work on a blog, however, allows them to look back at their old work and see how far they've come. They could also comment on their progress as they go.
Performance Indicator- ESL.C.9-12.3.1.4: Students evaluate their own and others' work, individually and collaboratively, on the basis of a variety of criteria, and recognize how chosen criteria affect evaluation.
NYS Learning Standards
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I really like your idea of linking the citizenship preparation to blogging. The idea of using it to demonstrate an understanding of American life and culture is fascinating. I also think your idea of using it so that classmates can share aspects of their own countries is intriguing as well.
ReplyDeleteESL adults are some of my favorite students! I have taught adult refugees and immigrants in the past and found that doing anything on the computer really excited them! I really like your idea of using blogs as a portfolio, I think it's completely doable. It'd be an easy way to document progress and as you said a visual for students to see their achievement. I'd love to read your students blogs if you ever decide to do this.
ReplyDeleteFirst off, it's exciting that all of your students signed up and WANT to learn!
ReplyDeleteIt's great that they can talk about something they are familiar with so they can focus on the typing, computer skills, and grammar skills. It also allows the students to see how far each has come to learn. I also really like the idea of keeping a blog as a progress portfolio. Like you mentioned, many times the progress is slow and steady and the students don't recognize it as it's happening, so this is a great way for them to compare where they were and where they are!
-Julie
The idea to have your students share their culture but at the same time be mindful of American culture is a really great idea. This should certainly help build a genuine classroom community. It is crazy to think that the adults you are teaching have less technology skills than the elementary students I teach! However, I am happy to hear all your students signed up for the class you recommended. Great idea to share resources for the citizenship exam! Not only could you and your students use the blog for exam resources, but it could be a good place for everybody to ask questions as well.
ReplyDelete