So for my web tool, I picked this free blogging website called Wordpress.com. It is really easy to get started as all you need is a valid email address. It is completely customizable and fairly easy to use though I would recommend it more for a high school class than a middle school one as understanding how the site works can take some getting used to.
I came across this site in one of my classes. The instructor required us to maintain a blog by posting our lesson plans, assignments, and debate arguments on there. We then had to go on to our classmates' blogs and comment on the things they had written. All of this was managed through our instructor's blog. It acted as a kind of hub that we could access the other students' blogs from and post questions about assignments that could either be replied to by her or by our peers. Here is the link to my blog if you would like to see how I did mine.
https://austinsbigredblog.wordpress.com/
I found this web tool fascinating. It kept all of our assignments organized while the customizable part gave us freedom to be creative and express ourselves. I would implement this system in my classroom in a similar way to what my instructor did. I would create my blog as a hub for students to access their fellow students' blogs from and as a place where I would post assignment instructions and answer any questions they had about the specific assignments. They could post scientific videos and review them. They could review scientific articles. They could even do their own research projects and post their various findings on their blog. This would also give me easy access to keep track of their performance and growth in the content area. Also, the fact that their peers can share their ideas and offer advice and criticism on their peers' assignments brings a whole new level of interactivity to the class.
Things I would need to keep an eye out for as a teacher would be cyber-bullying and inappropriate content. As with any online resource where students can interact, there is a risk of cyber-bullying and teachers should remain constantly vigilant for this. Also, the fact that these blogs are so customizable makes it easy for students to post very inappropriate things on there and as teachers we need to be aware of what all of our students are posting as much as possible.
Overall, this is a highly useful web tool due to how organized it can be while still encouraging creativity. The difficulty getting used to it can be a struggle for younger students but if they are worked with diligently, then I can foresee no problem with them using it as well. I would still recommend this more for older students however. The teacher must also be aware of what is happening in her students' blogs as to keep bad things from being said or from being posted.
Hey Austin! I really loved the tool that you chose! I think classroom websites are a great idea for science classes. It's an excellent place to update students and parents about what is going one within the classroom. I enjoyed looking through your own blog. It gave me a feel for how I could use this with student work. Your concerns are very real. And you will need to make sure you look out of any inappropriate content. So good job on those! I think the only thing you could add to this post is maybe some pictures or other links to different blogs. Maybe show some that have videos and pictures posted throughout. But overall, great job! I LOVED IT WOOOOO GO AUSTIN!
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