As I begin to investigate Blogs I realize that I spend a lot of time looking and reading. I tend to avoid blogs that are to long. Maybe I just have a short attention span. The title and topic really need to grab me for me to continue to read.
BLOGGING WITH STUDENTS
I am not yet sold on the idea of using blogs in my art room. Time and management seem to overwhelm me. I see over 500 elementary students once a week for 50 minutes. I would never blog with that many students but even blogging with a few classes seems like a big endeavor. I wonder when I would blog with my students. Would all of my students have access to a computer at home? At what age could an elementary art student blog? Would parents or classroom teachers be on board with helping me in regards to my time concerns with blogging? There are soooo many things to think about, manage and plan.
BLOGGING AS A PROFESSIONAL
I do see value in blogging as a professional. It would be beneficial to me as an art teacher to make connections with other art teachers. Being the only art teacher in a school can be very isolating. It would be great to collaborate and talk to fellow art teachers. I searched the web for art blogs. I could not find many or find ones that interested me. I did find one site that had art blogs and looked interesting... http://arted20.ning.com/ I had to join the site. I did and I am still waiting for membership approval. I gave up and lost interest after an hour. I'll try the site tomorrow to see if it was worth joining.
This is a long blog! I wonder if I would bother reading this blog if I came across it.
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Great to "see" you again, Keara, and have a chance to read your insight into blogging! You mentioned two very important points that I was also thinking--managing student blogs would require a lot of time and blogs need to be short to keep your interest or grab your attention. I feel the same. In fact, I like how you used headings to inform your readers what you'd be discussing. (Yes, I did "bother," as you say, this blog even though it was long and I think it was due to these two headings.)
ReplyDeleteI must admit I scanned and jumped around your blog! I too do not like to read the long blogs!! I teach kindergarten and I see we have several of the same concerns. Time is such a factor and I really do not see what a blog could do for my class of young learners that I am unable to do on my school website. I realize the parents could post replies, but I am not looking for that-I use email for communication. What am I missing?
ReplyDeleteI am in the same boat being a music teacher. I don't know when I would have the time to blog with my students throughout the day. It seems like it would also be a lot of work just getting them started at such a young age. I can see it being beneficial to them though. Maybe if the classroom teachers would help get them started or collaborate with them on a big project it would be easier on everyone.
ReplyDeleteJust as a side note... you mentioned that you felt that your blog post was too long. I would probably have done two separate posts, one for each topic. That would shorten up each one and then the comments would also be more sorted for you when you go to read them. I thought that the comment button was missing from the top section because I thought that the new heading was a separate post.
I think it might be interesting to have your students blog about what they notice in paintings that you post. You could have a requirement of one posting or comment a week that could be done either in school or out of school. I know being a classroom teacher I would support my students using the computers to work on a blog. All to often some students finish work before others and are looking for an activity to work on. This might be a great way to keep students thinking about art throughout the week.
ReplyDeleteI think if I was a specialist I would have a harder time seeing the value of blogging with students. Thinking about doing this with 24 students is a daunting prospect. I can't imagine having to do it with 700.
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