I struggled to find a currently ongoing blogging project, but after researching I was able to find this high school AP Biology blog. This blog is created by Jen Newitt and the purpose is to share current research and how it relates to Biology that they are learning in class. She utilizes this blogging project as a way to enrich her students’ learning of Biology in the classroom. This is something that students complete in addition to learning content, and it encourages students to apply what they are learning in class to the real world. One of the challenges of teaching is getting students to see the bigger picture at times. When students can connect the content we are teaching them in class to real life and real world events or topics, then their engagement and motivation to learn increases. This blog allows her students to connect content to the real world and encourages the growth of digital skills as well. Students are required to research a current biology research topic and then communicate their findings to their classmates. This encourages students to work on digital literacy skills and then shares their findings with the rest of the class.
This project is something that I could easily adapt and use in any one of my social studies classes. One aspect of social studies that I feel I never can pay enough attention to because of time constraints is current events. I could implement a blogging project where students have to create a weekly or bi-weekly blog post about a different current event. In order to avoid repeats, I could create a list of categories they would have to research that work and they would focus on that category. Students would have to monitor each other’s blog and ensure they don’t post about something that was already covered (First come, first serve!). I did notice in the AP Biology blog that there was not a lot of student commenting occurring. I would make that a requirement for this project as well. I would require students to comment on at least two different posts their reactions, questions, or concerns with the covered current events. This way they would be interacting with other current events and students rather than just the event that they researched. The implementation of this project online would increase my students’ knowledge and understanding of current events. This is an assignment that I could require a few times each quarter to ensure I cover current events as well as build students’ digital literacy skills at the same time.
Thank you for sharing this blogging project and your thoughts on how you could do something similar in your own classroom. I think using a blogging project to have students conduct their own research outside of class and share more connections to your course subject is a great idea! Having students create blogs about current events for your social studies class seems like a great way to help students go beyond what is able to be covered during class time and make current connections to things that are happening around them. I also agree that requiring students to comment on their peers’ blogs would be a way to make blogging more engaging and help students read what their classmates have written, exposing them to more current events and helping them provide feedback to their classmates. Students could also use their blogs to reflect on what they are learning in class or share additional research on topics you discussed in class to help enrich and deepen classroom discussions as well.
Hi Eric! I really enjoyed the blogging project you chose. I teach AP Stats, so I appreciate that you found an AP Biology teacher’s blog that she uses with her students. You mentioned how she tries to use her blog to show the real life connection of Biology to her students. This is something that I struggle with in my AP class. I find myself always needing to teach to the curriculum because I need to prepare students for their AP exam in May. The fact that she creates a blog where she can show her students engaging, relevant material is a really neat idea. That seems like something I could try doing in my AP class as well. I could even have my students share real life instances of where they see Stats being used. Thanks for sharing that blog!
Eric –
Finding ways to incorporate blogging into our curriculum with real content and not just a way to “add something new” is always the challenge. Your idea of using blogging with current events would be a great way to incorporate it in a real world way!
Chris