Sometimes I am still amazed that not more Language Arts teachers have taken a good look at blogging. It seems such a match made in heaven:
- giving students an authentic audience for their writing…
- incorporating modern skills of writing & reading in digital spaces… (hyperlinking, transmedia, research, etc.)
- platform designed for feedback
It surprised me even more (in a good way), when I saw a Math teacher starting to take advantage of the primarily thought of “blogging is about writing- hence for a writing class” platform.
The Math teacher instinctively understood that blogging is not just about writing. It is about “presenting” your work, your thoughts and products to a large audience FOR feedback. Blogging is a platform that allows students to think about their Math work.
In a previous blog post, Telling a Story with Data, you read about Laurel Janewicz‘ upgrade of her traditionally taught lesson of data analysis, graphing and misleading graphs. Laurel was also the teacher, you read about in Making Thinking Visible in Math regarding her work on metacognition in her sixth grade Math classroom.
Blogs played a major role in the upgrade. As the process of creating the data story presentations unfolded, students started to test and recommend various graph-generators or presentation tools. Laurel created a post on her classroom blog to share the recommendations that students shared with her. She then opened the post up for her students to add further links in the comment section. [Note the times students posted to appreciate the extended schedule to share and receive ideas/support for their project development.]
Students had created a presentation, analyzing and articulating a story of the data they had been presented, Part of the learning cycle was to share these presentations on their blogfolios. This could be accomplished by inserting images (screenshots) of their presentation with text, by embed a slidedeck, movie or other presentation platform with an embed code.
The rubric for the blog post had included the following requirements:
- Include a title to hook the reader
- original data
- measure of central tendency
- all graphic displayed
- complete analysis
- complete list of resources
Students were then assigned to look at, view and listen to 2-3 other classmates’ presentations. Keeping the rubric in mind, the teacher had distributed at the beginning of the project, students were to give “helpful” feedback beyond a short “Cool presentation” comment.
At the beginning of class, Laurel gave students clear instructions regarding her expectations of quality comments. She stressed that feedback is designed to make a product better and it was meant to be addressed and responded to when someone had taken the time to leave it.
- What about the blog post title hooked you? Are there any suggestions you have for it?
- How did the presentation of the data keep you interested and engaged?
- What inferences can you make or what conclusions do you draw about the actual data that are different from the project creator’s?
- How would you extend the story, meaning what would the next episode be about? (e.g. What data would you want to survey and collect? Who would you want to collect it from? Share it with?)
- Think about all of the elements of the graphs, including the misleading ones: title, colors, axes titles, legends, readability. What comments do you have?
Natasha, who graciously allowed me to use her image, demonstrated great presentation design and digital citizenship on her blog post,You can Never Go too deep When it Comes to Data , when she decided to take her own photo to match the topic of her blog post, instead of having to search for a Creative Commons or Public Domain one or infringe on copyright by using one she had goggled.
I just think she does a great job of having the data tell a story in an engaging, interesting way. She is the first to have shared her project with me for feedback and I used it to share as an exemplar with classes.Are you free this weekend? by MarianaThe title hooks me. Her analysis from different perspectives is quite good.Come to Graded by JackJack incorporates a student and parent interview as a way to provide their perspective of the data.
Still surprised that a Math teacher is using blogging with her students? Learning how to read, write and communicate in different Media in Math is another puzzle piece in making Math more authentic and less abstract for students. Adding and amplifying an audience for students adds engagement and perspectives as well as improves quality of the work as it is transparently shared.
Heidi Hayes Jacobs supports a more language based Math instructions with technology tools. She has also long advocated to teach Math as a foreign language. In an interview with Visual Thesaurus in 2010 she shares the importance of students to internalize Mathematical vocabulary and to be able to use them when one is speaking.
“If Maria cannot say the words fraction, numerator, and denominator, then she certainly can’t read them, let alone carry out her fourth grade math assignment.” […] Mary White from Harvard did a study on decibel levels in comparative levels of math classes in Japan and in our country, and they were significantly higher in Japanese math classes because they have kids speak out loud about what they’re doing. You can’t even ask a question about math if you can’t say the words, polynomial or fraction, for that matter, let alone read them.
Using blogging as a pedagogy, as a method and practice of teaching, in the Math class supports Heidi’s claim of treating the teaching of Math as a World Language instruction. Get the students talking, communicating their ideas, receiving and giving feedback and having conversations…. about Math!
How are you using blogging in Math instruction?
Reading through commenting examples from our students:
- I am seeing the process of blogging unfold.
- I am seeing students being exposed to receiving and giving feedback.
- I am seeing students seeking and responding to feedback and incorporating it to tweak, improve and share their updates (feedback loop)
- I am seeing the transparency of creating and sharing lead to improvement
- I am seeing the amplification on an author’s own perspectives by the addition of a commenter’s point of view
- I am seeing students exposed to more than their own work (ideas, interpretation, creativity, execution, etc.) and feedback from one teacher
Wow, what a fabulous post. Thank you so much for writing this. You’ve shown extensively how blogging across the curriculum (and particularly in math class) can be such a rewarding and effective piece of the learning process. I often have difficulty getting others that I work with to realize this, so I look forward to sharing your work along with that of Laurel and her students.
Thank you for your post. I think it is a great idea to use blogging for all subject areas. This would be a great way to learn things you do not understand, especially in math. I know when I was in elementary and secondary schools, I found math to be my hardest subject. It would have been great to have blogs to turn to.
Hello my name is Aneshia Lewis and I am a Elementary Education major at the University of South Alabama. Your post was is informing. I would too think that there would be more English teachers that blog. I think this is a very effective way for students to learn and also a way to get extra help and ideas. I would love to incorporate this style of blogging in my classroom. Visit my blog Aneshia Lewis
Hi! My name is Emily and I am also an Elementary Education major at the University of South Alabama. I love you approach towards teaching using the blog. Children now are more engaged in school when they are learning through devices that interest them, and using the internet is something almost every student knows how to do very well now. It seems to be an easier way to communicate with your students, as well as allowing them to get peer critique on their work to help them advance. School should be interesting and fun and your use of a blog to teach your students and help them learn seems to be working quite well! I will be posting to my own blog about my responses to your blog posts throughout this semester. Thank you for this post! It has been very helpful and eye-opening about the potential of teaching using technology in the classroom.
Hello! My name is Jamie and I am also an Elementary Education major at the University of South Alabama. I really enjoyed reading your post. I never would have thought of using a blog to help students with math. Using a blog for different subjects seem like a great way for students to get more feedback than just a few classmates.
Hi! My name is Savanah Moore and I am a student in Dr. Srange’s EDM 310 class at the University of South Alabama in Mobile, Alabama. I never thought about being able to blog with math! This is a great idea! I enjoyed reading your post!
Hello! My name is Kayla Busby and I am a Secondary Education/ English major at the University of South Alabama. I have never thought about keeping a blog until enrolling in this EDM 310 class. I really enjoyed your post! I don’t think many people ever thought blogging would be useful in math.
Hey! My name is Douglas and I am a special education major at the University of South Alabama and I am enrolled in Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class. I really loved reading your post. I never would have imagined of using a blog to help students with math. We all definitely learn something new everyday. Great Post
Good tips! I liked how blogging teaches students to present a problem or idea. It can capture different problem solving ideas. The way blogging can be used in English or Literature can really form debates or writing prompts. A blog can create a platform in the classroom. It shows students to work out steps in math. This blog gives teachers a fun way to teach students step-by-step procedures, by visualizing, adding graphs, statistics, and understanding the reasoning of the math problem. I loved when you let children find their audience in technology, using their writing skills to explore media, research and capturing other uses for computers.
I’m so glad you posted this blog. Math is my subject of interest and I have been trying to figure out how to incorporate blogging with math! Math is one of the hardest subjects to make fun because so many people hate it! But I think if people would relate math to the real world more often, then more people would learn it. Most people are so close-minded about math because they feel like most of it can never be related to the real world. Also, having other people give other resources for learning is very beneficial when it comes to math. There are so many ways of learning and teaching math and what works for some will not work for all. Love this post! Thank you for this.
Hello, Ms. Tolisano! Although I am studying to be an English teacher myself, I still found it incredible that the teacher you are speaking of has found a way to incorporate blogging into their MATH classroom! The way she does it is so unique and it further motivates me to incorporate blogging into my future English class. Thanks for sharing!
Hi Ms. Tolisano,
It is truly amazing the path in which technology is taking education. I too, have never considered using blogging as a learning tool to integrate math , but the examples in the post, of how it is effective, makes it very convincing! Thank you for posting.
This was an excellent example of how effective a blog can be regardless of subject. I feel that giving the students the ability to view their classmates work and leave feedback is a huge positive. The classes you have highlighted show how bright the future of education is with these methods in place. Thanks!
This is a great idea for getting writing in mathematics jump started! I love how the students were really engaged in the comments and suggestions they were giving to their classmates! My school site is now 1:1 with iPads so this would be a great way to incorporate writing and technology at the same time in my classroom. What also caught my attention was that this would be a great way to build student’s language through technology, They are used to talking so laid back through social media; but, I could use this to build their communication skills as well. I can’t wait to try!
I find this site is very beneficial and helpful. I am thinking to start a mathematics blog where i am intended to show some basic mathematical topics in an intuitive and insightful way however i would also like to earn part time payment from it but many folk have said to me that educational blog like this one will n’t be paid or can’t make any money . How much is it true and how can i proceed further ? I am extremely gratitude for response.
My name is Shah Alam and I am a student of mathematics at the University of Begum Rokeya, Rangpur. Your post is very informing.. I think this is a very valuable way for students to learn and also a way to get extra help and ideas. I would love to integrate this style of blogging.