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First Class Blog in Brief
Teacher Name: Maria Lourdes C. Angala
Link: Digital Anthology of Ms. Angala's Exceptional Students
School: Jefferson Junior High School
Location (state/province): Washington, D.C.
Subject: Special Education, Grades 7-9
Additional information about this teacher:
Ms. Angala is also the Technology Liaison to the DC Area Writing Project, a local site of the National Writing Project: "Thanks to the DC Area Writing Project for giving me strategies in engaging students to write." Ms. Angala gives trainings for teachers in her school district in integrating writing and technology in the classroom.
Nominated by: Doris Jean Savoy
Blogging tool used: Blogger
The blog tool: Blogger (Comments from Ms. Angala):
Features of this blogging tool that made it useful for a teaching tool?
I use Blogger as my blogging host because it’s free, user friendly and it has the easiest management application I’ve seen so far. I use safety controls like anti spam, comment moderation, which lets me view all comments before they appear on my blog, giving me a chance to approve or reject them as desired.Ease of use of this tool when starting a classroom blog?
I got hooked the first time I used it! From an ease of use standpoint, I find Blogger ... one of the best blogs to start blogging....It’s also one of the easiest to use, and it has some levels of privacy that may make it worthy of consideration for a class blog. I guide the teachers step-by-step in creating their own class blogs. In less than 10 minutes, most often than not, they’re able to learn to get it up and running...
Highlighting Past TeachersFirst Class Blog Winner Maria Lourdes C. Angala
Check out this past classroom blog that shows clear evidence that students are writing to learn.
Roll over the topics at the left to see the details about the First Class Blog.
How the class uses the blog:
Ms. Angala explains:
Blogging is "Perfect for a class digital anthology...I was able to miraculously make my students with disabilities write meaningful poems about themselves, about social problems and current events. They were able to create beautiful illustrations for their wonderful poems too. [See examples on the blog. -Ed.]One day I was smilingly watching my students doing a free writing activity,
one of them noticed me.
He said, “What is it Ms. Angala?”I replied,” do you have any idea how many people are reading your poems?”They were just looking at me, they had no idea!I said, “In the third floor of this school, that big banner says: ‘TECHNOLOGY brings you to places’ …ladies and gentlemen, the whole world is reading your poems!”
Impact on student learning:
My students were hesitant writers when they started out with me during the first days of the school year. They could not even start writing a poem or a story with a given topic. It was a struggle for them to write.I also noticed that their vocabulary is very limited to simple words. They lack imagination which could be the reason why they were having difficulty with writing.
But technology opens new opportunities for helping children to learn the rudiments of grammar and composition, while encouraging them to share their work to each other and to the whole world. It is apparent that many of today’s students raised at keyboards and eager to exchange messages with their friends are comfortable with these new technologies and eager to use them. Then an idea integrating this into my curriculum dawned to me. The publishing of my students’ works through our class website and our school website positively motivate them to write better each time. It is a very good way, too, of reaching out to the parents of my students. Even the Social Workers working with my students go to the website to know and understand the inner feelings of my students expressed through their writings.
Ms Angala reflects:
The best/worst aspects of using a class blog:
I think a lot of students would get frustrated when they don’t have the accessibility to go online as often as they would want to; let’s admit it, there are still very few students who have access to this technology. Computers, e-mail, blogging and text messaging mean students now spend more time punching keys than pushing a pencil, which is another sad thing about this. Even though some grieve the downfall of handwriting, others see it as a welcome sign of the times. I think the advantage of giving the students a wider audience outweighs any disadvantages. The readers (who are not only the teachers and students in the school but a national and international audience) give good feedbacks that make each of my students smile and anticipate for more comments about their works. They write better knowing that there are readers who read their works!
Continued plans for the blog:I would like to promote friendship and collaboration among the students and teachers around the world electronically through a shared writing space (my class blog).
1. To have teachers motivate (through writing prompts) and moderate assignments in the blog that will help students speak, read, and write for purposes that will seem meaningful to them.
2. To connect classes around the world through class cyber exchanges.
3. To have students and teachers exchange teaching and learning strategies that promotes cultural understanding.
4. To promote multiculturalism and share ways to incorporate diversity into the curriculum.
5. To promote the use of the World Wide Web for educational purpose and global conversation.
I would still like to design and explore more effective ways to integrate technology in the classroom through blogs, wikis, podcasts and other powerful web tools for classrooms. This would hopefully establish a professional electronic relationship that will provide teachers and students an opportunity to learn about other cultures and share one's own culture. This would also encourage the development of personal relationships: teacher-to-teacher, student-to-student, and student-to-teacher.
Nominate a First Class Blog
If you know a teacher who is actively using blogs with students to facilitate student understanding of curriculum, encourage writing as expression, and promote good writing skills, please let us know. TeachersFirst would like to highlight these blogging successes as examples and help other teachers see the rich possibilities of classroom blogging.Note: Please check with the teacher first before you nominate. TeachersFirst needs his/her responses via email to some basic questions to complete our profile of the First Class blog.