New Technological Experiences in the Classroom

Last week was a short week with our students, but I was determined to begin using some of the technology we've read and learned about in our course Writing in the Digital Classroom. I added blog pages to my Creative Writing course website and my English 101 course website.

In Creative Writing, students posted original pieces they had written either in our class or in a previous class. The were allowed to select pieces they wanted to continue to work on throughout the course of our time together in class. Then, they are expected to share comments and feedback with their peers to help their peers make revisions. Next week, students will bring a revised copy of this writing to our workshop where they will read the piece aloud to the class and provide even more feedback and support for their classmates. (Thanks Writing Project for the workshop experience!)

I was really surprised at how comfortable and even excited the kids were about posting their original work on the blog page. I was so nervous the first day we blogged in class and am still nervous about putting my thoughts and experiments on the web for anyone to see. My students didn't seem to face this same fear and willingly posted their work for their classmates, parents, other teachers, and anyone else who cruises my teacher website to see. I was proud of their willingness to share and realize that I need to put some of my own apprehensions about blogging to rest. If they are brave, I will be too. :)

In English 101, students were expected to complete reader's responses based on Chapter Five of Frederick Douglass' Narrative. While I was impressed at their original postings, I was disappointed in the level of class participation today in class. While I realize that I was asking for participation during the eight o'clock hour of a rainy, Monday morning, only a couple of students were willing to share, ask questions, and respond to the blogs posted over the weekend.

I've used this technique before with some success, and Sarah Kadjer discussed the success of this technique in her first book. However, I felt like the response was less than successful this morning. One positive experience that came out of class this morning was when one student said, "I felt like I had to think more about what I was going to say because I knew other people were going to read it." I know this is a breakthrough, but I wanted more. I hope that the response will be greater in my Tuesday/Thursday 101 class tomorrow.

Here's hoping...