Notes on Learning

Throughout the research on this new literacies project, I am learning that there is still so much technology available to learn about! I don't know if I will ever become a digital native when it comes to technology. Becoming an expert at any type of technology takes a lot of time and concentration. I am learning that you have to spend a couple of hours really playing (for lack of a better word) with the site in order to find out the benefits of it. I am also learning that there are always improvements to make to current technology and that one type of technology will more than likely never have EVERYTHING you desire to see in it.

I am learning a lot about my new technology as far as becoming emotionally literate and learning the Kidblog site. Emotional literacy involves giving students a medium to express themselves. Adding technology to this type of literacy makes it more engaging for students, especially on kidblog. I am learning that with blog posts, it is important to have restrictions as far as what you will allow students to post or comment. The kidblog site allows for teachers to closely monitor these posts, even before they are made public. Allowing students to have a choice in what emotions they share is an important part of emotional literacy. Students should never be forced to share more than they want. Teachers can prompt students on what to focus on as far as blog posts. One part of becoming emotionally literate is learning how to respond to others emotions, be it through non-verbal cues, comments, responses, etc. Teachers can help student become emotionally literate in this area via Kidblog by prompting students how to respond to people's posts. One prompt could be "how would you feel if you were in the bloggers position?" or "have you ever been in a situation like this?"

The affordances of this technology in comparison to writing manually is that students will have an excuse to hop onto the computer, and what student doesn't enjoy that! Using kidblog gives students a sense of ownership as they log onto a safe site with their own username and password. Students will have the freedom to respond to posts without being worried about their writing being legible. Shy students are given a voice to respond or post without being worried about speaking in front of large groups of students. I feel that my students in my placement would love kidblog. They have journals that they write in regularly, so kidblog would just be like a technology based journal--at least that is how I would use it in my future classroom.

Kidblog allows for students to upload images that may correspond with their blog. This helps build visual literacy in students as they learn how to connect images to what they are writing or feeling. I love kidblog. It has so much to offer, plus it is safe and easy to use. Before using kidblog, students would have to learn what I like to label as "internet lingo". They would have to know what certain icons mean. Students would need to know basic technology skills, such as typing. Students would be taught how to upload pictures. The down side to kidblog is that the activities would more than likely require students to have a computer at home. If a school had laptops available for students, then I would have students take time out of their day (either in the morning when they arrive, before/after lunch, or before school ends) to write a journal/blog post.