Final Project Reflection

My final project was to create a blog for my peers at work.  Check it out at http://spencerseducationbox     The goal has been to create a space for teachers to share lesson plans, ideas, tips and links easily with one another. It is definitely a work in progress, but is beginning to take shape.  As I used a blog in this class, I was impressed with its flexibility.  Blogs have the potential to evolve and meet the needs of  the users.  I did encounter some reluctance of my peers to participate.  Some of the comments included “I’m too busy to blog” and “I’ve never used a blog before”.  Despite the fact that I created a flyer with explicit directions, teachers were reluctant to try it.  I admit that before this class, I had the same reservations and so could identify with the hesitation.  I plan to expand the participation by inviting members of my summer writing workshop to participate – I believe their motivation will be better, as that workshop was made up of teachers from across the region in different schools.  Not having daily access to each other, but having common interests, I hope will be more of a motivator for active particiaption.  Another event that occurred during my experience was one that happens frequently to me, I used the same blog host all semester and had become familiar and comfortable with the format of the blog and how to manage its components, the structure of the dashboard was updated, disorienting me a bit.  In the future,  I do plan on integrating blogs into my classroom practice.  I can see setting up a blog for students to use to access information, and reflect on classroom projects and events.  Student motivation and willingness to participate won’t be an issue, as they will be excited by the idea.  Also, I can see how a blog can offer students the opportunity to write and share their ideas and reflections freely (without even realizing they are writing ….the biggest issue with using blogs for my students will be ensuring equal access to all students.  I have only 5 working computers in my classroom, and only about 1/2 of my students have internet access at home.  We have a nice computer lab at school but it is scheduled for each class to have 50 minutes weekly and it is very difficult to get extra time there.  All this said, the point being that prior to this class and setting up my own blog for my final project, I would not have considered this to be a managable or even worthwhile project..com

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