1. I am very interested in working with refugee children, teaching ESL. Refugees are often recently arrived to the country, have very different ethnic backgrounds from their new neighbors and may feel isolated. It would be great to use the blogs as self-publishing tools to share their experiences in America with either schools in the refugee camps in their home countries (if technology permits from that end, and in many cases I think it will) or with other refugee communities in America.
For the benefit of those still to come to America, students could post writings about daily life in America, schools in America, food, pictures, etc. It would be great for them to see their work online and it would be a great cultural orientation for those still in the home country. The project could be themed such that the students in America are explorers sending back exotic new treasures.
To link with other refugee communities in other cities in America may help students see how other people are coping with adjustment. It could act as a sort of support group.
The partner communities would have to be set up by the teacher and may take a bit of research to find, but I don't think it would be hard to persuade another teacher in the US to collaborate. It might be difficult to find someone overseas, but I think that there enough resources in many cases.
2) For the purposes of a writing class, a blog could act as a process journal. It could be especially useful for a research paper. Research is a process. It starts with a topic, moves onto questions about the topic in order to gain focus, and finally the researcher decides on a problem he is interested in solving. After that he does the research to try and answer or at least explore the problem
All of these steps could be posted on a student's blog and other students would be able to give feedback on the researcher's thoughts and questions, suggest possible places to look, and ideas for understanding and synthesizing information.
For the researcher himself it would be beneficial to look back to see how his thoughts progressed and to get another perspective on his work. Also, as an archival tool, if one path of inquiry did not workout, the researcher would easily be able to go back and maybe pick up on an old path of inquiry that had sprouted but had never been pursued.
Also, in this procedural way, blogs could also be used to demonstrate an actual, live writing process for creative work. Usually in writing books there are models suggested for the writing process, but they are ideal models, and rarely does a real person follow all the steps. Real people prefer one method over another or jump back and forth between steps.
It would be great to see someone post draft after draft of a creative piece. Imagine if the student was assigned to update their draft every day or two. The writer, class, and teacher would have great examples of how the writing process really works.
3) Finally, on page 38, the book discusses using blogs as reflective experiences on teaching. I'm assuming the audience for these posts would be other professionals.
However, it could be an interesting experiment for the teacher to post his reflections on teaching for the students to read and reply to. It might be bad because it may break down the student / teacher relationship too much, but in another way, aside from being able to give feedback, the students might gain an appreciation for what a teacher does (too hopeful? maybe)
The teacher could post about: why he used a certain technique in class; why he thought the class went well or did not go so well; ideas he was considering for the next class... Student comments might then be able to say: "the lesson on Tuesday worked well for us"; "no one understood the lesson on Wednesday"; "Thursday's lesson was fun, but Friday's was boring."
In the end it may be more of a collaborative tool so that the students had a hand in planning the class. Perhaps the teacher could give some options and the students could vote on what they would like to do.
This type of blog might be great because the students may prefer the democratic feel of the class; then again, it may be slightly dangerous for the authority of the teacher.
I think your idea about creating a support space for the refugee children/community is a fantastic idea. I think that the students would really be excited about publishing their own reflections about American life, their unique experiences, and their reflections on life in a new place. It would also be a great opportunity for them to interact with other students who are in the same position as well as providing help to those who may be preparing for their new transition here.
ReplyDeleteJason,
ReplyDeleteYou have some really good ideas. I love the multiple entries for research and multiple drafts for writing. Regarding connecting with another classroom, you might want to check out epals.com or iearn.org.
The only idea that I see you may have difficulty with is the one in which you ask for feedback from the students on things you have done in the classroom. As you know, students from some cultures would find this a very difficult task because they would feel that it was not their role to criticize the teacher in any fashion. However, you never know if something will work until you give it a try.
Dr. Burgos
I think that your idea of creating a network for refugee children is a great idea. It would allow student to share their experience, while at the same time help them cope by reading what other refugee children are writing. It also could be helpful for them to share their experiences and stay connected with people in their home countries.
ReplyDelete