Implementation and Evaluation--Element 3

I implemented the blog with my two classes of cadet teachers, a total of 15 students, on March 15, 2006. The RebelCadets blog replaced the journal writing required by the students during the previous three quarters of the school year. Needless to say, the students were excited by the opportunity to try something new. It is always a challenge to keep seniors interested as their high school careers wind to an end. For the most part, this delivery mechanism has worked very well (some students, no matter what the assignment, will choose not to do the work). The successes are multiple: less student complaining about writing (somehow the blog writing doesn't seem as mundane as writing on loose-leaf); two classes functioning as one (the morning group has only five students so this really made a difference in the level of activity); the interaction with a former student who is teaching in a New York school as part of The New York City Teaching Fellows.

I believe this process has been successful. I am looking forward to seeing how the students choose to develop their final projects using blogger.com. During the third quarter, the students produced a classroom newsletter using Microsoft Publisher. I showed several elementary school blogs to give them an idea how they might utilize a blog in the classroom. Based on the success of this endeavor, I plan to use this approach again next year with a new group of students. I also plan to organize a blog for the cooperating teachers as a method of providing schedule changes, student absences, and other pertinent housekeeping details.

URL http://rebelcadets.blogspot.com/