| Summary:
Using blogs with in-class discussion groups Students prepare for in-class small group discussions in a variety of ways. Daniels introduced Literature Circles to guide students in this preparation while reading novels. Discussion Director, Literary Luminary, Connector and Illustrator are just four examples of specific roles the students can take. If students prepare their roles while using the highest level of Bloom’s taxonomy for their questions, the discussion is more thought provoking. When students address a variety of themes, they focus on more aspects of the plot. Posting their writing in blogs documents this process. After students complete an in-class discussion, a written reflection on specific examples of their own and classmates’ contributions, helps students learn from themselves and others. It demonstrates that learning in-group discussions is both give and take from the learner’s perspective. Teachers monitoring and evaluating learner preparation, engagement and reflection on group discussions use rubrics. Frequent teacher feedback allows learners to improve their preparation and reflection for future discussions. There are a number of advantages when learners post their preparation and reflection on the Internet in blogs. Blogs archive each entry or posting by date. They motivate learners with choice of background color and incorporation of images. Comments from classmates encourage students to keep their work thoughtful and of the highest quality. When writers tag comments to theme, students can research the blogs to gather information relevant to analysis for written essays. Learners can easily review previous comments posted by the teacher to improve subsequent work. Teachers and students can analyze the depth of a student’s understanding and ability to reflect on and write about various issues over time, by a quick review of past blog entries. Learning through small group discussions is relevant and individualized, especially
when discussing literature. When students think deeply with Bloom’s taxonomy
and broadly by addressing themes, their learning improves. The incorporation
of blogs into group discussions motivates and streamlines many aspects of the
process and documents the group discussion learning process for future reference. |
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