Last summer I spent the majority of the summer building a website for the first time. I created kirkmanenglish.wikidot.com. When my creation was done, it felt like I had given birth to something that I knew would grow up to be a great idea. Throughout the year I used the site to post homework, information on novels and authors, information on AP testing, and a forum discussion. Each student was required to post two forum posts each week. This worked out really well and the students enjoyed having a way to digitally contribute to the class.
Now, a year later I find myself wanting more. I created a second site for my other AP class and am now considering the idea of using a blog with that site. I would love to have one class learning the importance of blog writing while the class they take the next year learns the importance of forum posting. I think that giving my students outlets like this will really help them to discover new things about themselves.
The only problem is that I can't decide how to do it. Some people suggest doing one class blog that all students contribute to as authors and others suggest having each student make their own blog using sites like blogspot.com or wordpress.com and then linking them all to the main class website. I am experimenting with both of these options over the summer. In fact, I have recruited a couple of my students to help with the experimentation and so far they are being really helpful. Hopefully I will figure it all out before we start classes on August 22nd.
No comments:
Post a Comment