It looks like the Dowbrigade won’t be making his big Deterred by the slow pace of recovery from major surgery, But since we spent all that time on our presentation, The motivation behind the project was to share the wisdom The basic idea is that there are four levels of involvement The bottom line, and the punch line in our presentation, Trying to turn your students into bloggers is questionable Our experience is that at level 3, about one-third of The first two levels work great, though. All of Anyway, we think we shall start looking around for another Meanwhile, as a kind of consolation prize, the Dowbrigade Perhaps some readers could suggest restaurants, museums, It looks like the Dowbrigade won’t be making his big presentation next week to the 40th annual National Teachers of English as a Second Language conference in St. Petersburg (Florida not Russia). We wanted to take Norma Yvonne as a … Continue reading ![](\"http:\/\/cyber.law.harvard.edu\/blogs\/static\/dowbrigade\/logotesol.gif\")
<\/a><\/p>\n
\n presentation next week to the 40th annual National
\n Teachers of English as a Second Language conference<\/a> in St. Petersburg (Florida not Russia).
\n We
\n wanted
\n to take Norma Yvonne as a well-earned reward for putting up with our
\n cantankerous whining during our recent illness.<\/p>\n
\n we refrained from buying tickets until it was too late. Norma,
\n noting that the tickets were now almost as expensive as tickets to Ecuador,
\n declared she’d rather go there, later. Even though our part of the trip
\n was on the office dime, we didn’t want to travel alone. Bad things happened
\n the last time we tried to travel alone.<\/p>\n
\n and now won’t be there to present it, we figure we should at least milk
\n it for a Sunday Morning blog posting. The title is "Four Levels of Involvement:
\n Using Blogs in the Language Classroom."<\/p>\n
\n we have accrued, such as it is, during the past three years, 10 semesters,
\n 18 groups of students while trying to apply our avocation and passion,
\n blogging, to our day job vocation, refining the English of foreign college
\n students. What works. What doesn’t. What to watch out for. What to take
\n advantage of.<\/p>\n
\n or interaction that teachers and implement if they want to introduce
\n blogging in class:<\/p>\n\n
\n them on a tour of the Blogosphere. Discuss what are the distinguishing
\n characteristics of blogs? What are the common elements? What are
\n the factors that distinguish one from the other? Help them create a
\n list of criteria by which to evaluate them. Show them how to find blogs
\n or
\n blog postings on specific topics, or from a specific area. Then have
\n them select one blog to read every day for a week or two, and give
\n a report back to the class, describing and evaluating that blog. Or
\n write
\n an essay. Or fill in a worksheet.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
\n you get the students to interact with the blog. Of course, interactivity
\n is built into the ‘sphere. Have them comment on a certain number
\n of posting each week. Have them join some long comments trails
\n which really constitute an on-line discussion. Show them that some
\n blogs have provisions for emailing the author. Have them write
\n to bloggers, for example Americans blogging from their home countries,
\n and encourage
\n dialog.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
\n blog, and each student is expected to post something on a regular
\n basis. After some experience with the first two levels, the students
\n discuss
\n and decide what their blog should be called, what it should look
\n like, and whether it should be public or private. The class is responsible
\n for the design and contents of the blog, and can
\n add pictures,
\n music
\n or even
\n video.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
\n his or her own blog. After a review of many different blogs,
\n a few oral or written reports, and a brainstorming session on finding
\n one’s
\n individual voice, each student will get their own blog on an institutional
\n server or one of the free blogging services. The teacher must work
\n individually with the students in an on-line multimedia lab and mentor
\n them through the
\n technical and aesthetic decisions involved in creating a blog.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
\n is that the point of diminishing returns, the point where the technology
\n starts getting in the way of the language instruction instead of facilitating
\n it, is somewhere between level 2 and level 3.<\/p>\n
\n from many points of view: teaching methodology, time management, the
\n aforementioned aesthetics. Not everyone is meant to be a blogger. The
\n students are there to perfect their English, not find a path to self-expression.<\/p>\n
\n the kids really get into it, one third muddle through, and the rest are
\n lost. In a field where the Watchword is "No Paying Student Left Behind"
\n these are not good odds. At level 4 you are lucky to find one or two
\n in each class with the inclination and ability to become bloggers. As
\n satisfying as those few cases may be to the instructor, they cannot
\n justify the disservice to majority who are there for other reasons.<\/p>\n
\n the students manage to find interesting and often bizarre blogs, and
\n the combination of following the site over time, worksheets and oral
\n reports with questions requires that students use all of their language
\n skills; listening, speaking, reading and writing.<\/p>\n
\n conference somewhere else where we could present the thing, later in
\n the year. As far as we know the bucks are still on the table. Maybe Thai
\n TESOL, we’ve
\n presented
\n there
\n before. Wonder if Afghanistan has a TESOL affiliate up and running yet….<\/p>\n
\n Mother has contracted our services to drive her around the San Francisco
\n Bay area for a week, in two weeks. We have only been there as a
\n grading slave for Educational Testing Services, locked in a hotel ballroom
\n an hour from downtown with 70,000 TOEFL essays from around the world,
\n so for all practical purposes we have never been to SF.<\/p>\n
\n free wi-fi hotspots, cool things to do, etc. What’s up in San Francisco?<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"