Proof that it Works!
A while back I posted about setting up a wiki for my new SG chemistry class. I chose not to give out the address for two reasons, (security of the kids who I hoped would use it - I wanted to see that they could use it responsibly, and secondly, because I wanted to see that it would work). Very soon after setting it up I realised that it wasn’t going to work in the way that I had envisaged. It has therefore been sidelined for the time being. (Sorry Ollie - I know you had been interested to see how it worked!)
It occurred to me that what I needed was something more structured, and which I could “control” a little easier. I had planned on using a blog with my higher class, but since the SG course had now started, I thought I might as well give it a go, but using a different model to that planned for the S5 class.
I have now been posting to the S3 Chemistry blog for over a month now. Every day I have the class I write a post, saying what we did in class, linking to some of the resources that we used, and perhaps asking a few questions. I am encouraging the pupils to comment on the posts, perhaps with answers to my questions, questions of their own, or perhaps commenting on their understanding of the days activities.
I have been encouraged by the way that the class have taken to it (at least some have). Perhaps this is linked to me telling them that the more comments there are on the blog, the less written homework they will get!
At the “new technologies” course I was on in Stirling, there was talk about the “conversation” that web 2.0 facilitated. The class blog appears to be delivering this. One pupil posted a comment saying that she had not understood an aspect of that days work. I picked up the comment that night, and was able to prepare work for the following day which hoped top help the young lady overcome the difficulties she was having. Incidentally, I was going to be at an inservice that day so the cover work for the class was left on the blog itself, including the additional tutorial on endothermic and exothermic reactions! The next post the student made was saying that the work had helped, a little!
As if this wasn’t enough encouragement, I was sitting at lunch later that week, when another teacher opposite me said
“I want one of those blog things”
I was a little confused as I had kept the blog very quiet (again wanting to see its worth before sharing it with colleagues). That was until it dawned on me that the teacher had a daughter in the chemistry class. She had seen its value, not from a teachers perspective, but from a parents perspective. She saw the benefit it was having with her daughter, and wanted set one up for her to use with her new S3 class.
Until last week, I have seen the potential with web 2.0 for education but with no real personal evidence for its benefits. This has held me back from becoming a “champion” for the cause. Now, I have the evidence!
Note, I am not going to post the address of the chemistry blog to this blog, as I want to allow the students a little more freedom, that they would not have if the school were identified. Since my school can be identified from this blog…. No links. If you are interested, feel free to ask, and I will send the link to your email address.
What a beautiful example of pupils getting all they can out of their teacher. Well done. An almost exothermic reaction with a minus sign attached. Hope I have got that right. Quite inspiring I shall take your ideas on board.
I agree with Mike: a beautiful example indeed. Cheers.
This sounds very interesting and I’d be very pleased if you felt you could add me to the list of people who know the address. I promise to behave.
I’m not sure though from your post who writes the Cemistry blog. You say, “Every day I have the class I write a post” Is this a group summarising exercise at the end of the lesson? Do they dictate and you type? Is an individual/group given this to do as homework?
I dip in and out of an American Maths blog. It works by a different pupil every day being given the responsibility to be class scribe. The teacher also gives out awards each month for the scribe that has done the best post. They obviously take the responsibility very seriously and the quality of post is generally very high.
I also liked the instant feedbck it gives you as a teacher - that you could pick up on one person’s difficulties and tailor the next lesson to help. Brilliant! For every child that says they don’t understand their will be more who were unwilling to admit it. It would be great if the pupils themselves started helping each other out by offering suggestions, explanations or sources of examples/explanation on the web. Does that happen much already?