I heard, a few days ago, from a teacher who was using Class Blogmeister, even though it was being blocked by their school district. The teacher gives assignments, which students submit and engage in conversations about outside of the classroom. The other day, she wrote:
..we had a snow day so the students were off. That day I had more students at home working on Classblogmeister than any other day. It felt good to know that the students were taking it serious and blogging.
On a snow day they should have been out sledding but instead some were taking the time to update their posts and answer the assignments. It was a great day for me!
This fascinates me, though I hope that those kids spent some of their snow day sledding or building snow castles. I think it’s great that students are so engaged by communicative class work. But some of my fondest memories are of crackling snow crust, icy sled rides down the hill by our house (which seemed so intimidating then), and fierce snowball battles across West 2nd Street.
Of course I could count on the fingers of my hands the total descent snows we had, as I was growing up.
Image Citation:
Guthier, Christian. “BBC Snowball Advert?.” Net_ Efekt’s Photostream. 8 Feb 2007. 8 Feb 2008 <http://flickr.com/photos/wheatfields/383891837/>.
Technorati Tags: warlick education technology blogging edublogging snow chill
That too bothers me and also excites me. It is great that the students were so interested in the blog to work on it outside class time. Many of my students are excited by the process–ClustrMaps, avatars, etc. Yet, kids need to be kids. They need to be outside playing in the snow. (Side note: My wife took my son to a computer store last night to exchange something for his new Wii. It was one night away from basketball. He was the only kid in the store that was not overweight. Not sure what that says about our culture, but it sure makes me wonder.)
That plays right into the latest media reports of people spending increasing amounts of time indoors, and staying away from traditional natural attractions and parks. A shame really, as some of the best conversation, whether it be on a blog, forum, or wiki, is usually derived from the personal experiences we have with being outside, interacting with nature, the elements, or just other human beings.
I think that obesity is a much more complex issue than kids spending too much time in front of their game systems. It is far more cultural than we admit, and far more economic. When I was young, I spent enormous amounts of time in front of the TV. It’s true that I played baseball and football, and would go out and play a game of two-hand touch in a minute. But when I was growing up, eating was something that you did at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It wasn’t something that you did idly.
You didn’t have isles of crispy chips to choose from in the grocery store, or four different varieties of M&Ms. We’re being sold this stuff and these habits, and it’s easy to blame something that we don’t understand, such as video games.
I’m just ranting here. You’re encouraged to disagree.
Nice!
What’s a “snow day”? Is it what we used to have occasionally when I was at school – the school was closed because there was too much snow? (And, being the UK, that didn’t need much snow – maybe 1 inch, but there again, they hardly ever happened. Once as far as I can remember)
I think we’re kind of missing the point here people, this isn’t about kids getting out and getting exercise, there’s nothing to say they didn’t do that too. The really incredible this is how engaged they were in their learning that they actually accessed their tasks in their own free time, of their own free will. Huge snaps for not only the kids for being so motivated, but for the teacher for engaging their students so effectively!
I think it is great that the students were engaged in the class material on their day off school. I think this is a direct result of the incorporation of technology into the classroom. Online blogs enable students to participate whenever they want. The fact that students are participating in course material on a snow day is a testimate to the instructor. The students obviously care about the material and the course if they are participating outside of the classroom. I believe that the use of a blog relates the material more to young people because they enjoy using technology while learning.
As a current Illinois State University student majoring in secondary education, I am enrolled in a technology enriched curriculum and instruction class. We have been discussing the need for educational reform to entice students into learning once again. Instead of grudgingly reading books and writing with pen and paper all day I believe it is important to motivate students to learn because they want to not because they have to. It goes without saying that present day students are more technologically advanced than previous generations. They have things like AIM, Myspace, or Facebook where they spend their free time communicating with others. What if we were to integrate this into the classroom, allowing students to use a type of medium they enjoy using in their free time, to learn? This teacher who used Class Blogmeister saw a significant increase in her students? motivation to learn and attend to class work instead of enjoying their snow day! I know you would not find a class full of students sitting in their classroom waiting to be lectured to instead of playing outside in the snow. This goes to show with new technology in the classroom we can gain students? motivation back and they will look forward to class and learning instead of dreading it.
– Jacci Stier