As the end of the year approaches, I would like to take some time to reflect on one new web 2.0 tool I decided to adopt this school year.
At the beginning of the year, I created 3 different blogs for each French class:
FRENCH INTRO
FRENCH A
FRENCH B
My main goal for creating a class blog was to communicate with students, parents, and the bigger community. Sharing class activities, projects, ideas, accomplishments. Looking back through the different posts, I know there are lots of piece missing that I never got a chance to post (videos, photos, projects, etc!). It feels as though I have not used it consistently enough for students and/or parents to feel that it is a valuable resource.
Linked on my main page(s), you can also access students' personal blogs. On their blogs, we created a FRENCH category. The goal and expectation was for students to post their projects, journals as an online portfolio. Before this school year, we had been keeping "paper" portfolios for students but were looking for the better tool. Ultimately, this portfolio will follow them through the years, demonstrating their progress in French.
To better understand how to use Blogs as a portfolio, read this post by Jeff Utecht.
I just looked through some of my student's portfolios. Here are some observations:
1) Some are well kept with all projects posted. Others have only 1 or 2 French posts. This is a good reminder than I need to allow (class)time for students to upgrade their French portfolio.
2) In the future, I could invite students to reflect on their learning for French class on their blog. It might give the outside reader some insights on the various posts on their blog. It would also be good writing practice.
In the next few weeks before school is out for the summer, I will encourage students to update their portfolios so they can continue to use them next year in the following level of French.
If they leave Thailand, they could use their French portfolio to demonstrate some of their French skills in order to place in the appropriate language class.
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I love that you're reflecting on the practice of blogging with your students. I think you hit on two really important points - the in class time to work as well as allowing them to just reflect. I think keeping the tech you use as simple as possible, even if it seems sometimes to be repetitious, will help students use the tools more effectively and hopefully be more reflective about their learning. So glad you gave this a shot this year!
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