How I Might Use a Blog in My AP Ceramics Classroom

This year my classroom technology resources are focused around my google classroom. The google classroom has a been an answer to many of the problems that I faced with trying to develop a working blog or website for my classroom. Going "paperless" and having students post work online for peer and teacher review was one of my goals. Having a cloud based storage so students would never lose their work was another motivation (Richardson, 2010). Blogs, I found were NOT the answer to these issues. However, I do see an application where student blogs
would be helpful.

Figure 1. Mountain Man, DeKalb, IL. by Bret Thomas, 2013 . Published with permission

In AP 3D (This is a college level class taught in a high school.)  students must develop a portfolio to submit for college credit at the end of the year. The class sizes are extremely small because few students are willing to take on the arduous course work. Therefore, class critiques are extremely limited. My students could post their own work in progress to their own blogs for critique by other AP students outside of our classroom. I have found that feedback for peers to be even more influential on students than feedback from their teachers.

AP classes require students to partially direct their own learning. Students are asked to think critically about their work, analyze the work of other, and apply new skill in creative and innovative ways. Mountain Man (see Figure 1) is an example of a student responding to a prompt and then inccoperating creativity and analytical thinking. According to Richardson blogs can "promote critical and analytical thinking. In addition, blogs can "combine the best of solitary reflection and social interaction (Eide Neurolearning Blog, 2005). These are the same skills and experiences I would want to focus on with a critique blog.

A template or posting guide would be beneficial for student posts. Much like the AAA format we use for classroom critique. AAA stands for Applause (positive comments), Ask (ask the why, what, how questions), and Assist (Assist the student in making improvements). I would develop a posting template using these same guidelines to provide structure for student feedback.

An pivotal factor would be the input from other schools. I would need to find a like minded teacher who was willing to set up a classroom blog system similar to mine. "Most AP teacher's I (Chad Gregory) have encountered are motivated to try new ideas and are looking for innovative ways to help students" (Gregory, 2015). However, the nature of AP classes lend themselves to critique, collaboration, and innovation; so I do not believe it would be too difficult to find a like minded teacher.

Another application of the student AP blog would be summer homework input and collaboration. One of the biggest struggles for an AP art student is the lack of direction in the summer homework. Having a place where the students could regularly post their work in progress and other students and myself could give suggestions or make comments would alleviate much of the anxiety my students feel over their summer homework as well as provide more accountability.

As the district rolls out the one on one initiative the largest stumbling block (student access a device) will be eliminated. Student privacy would have to be addressed, as well as basic internet safety.  A basic tutorial of blog set up would be helpful. I have found that although web tutorials and youtube videos are ubiquitous the best way to overcome student anxiety about a new tool is to walk them through it in person.

In previous experience I have found that blogs do not meet the needs of a paperless classroom, cloud storage, or a "online file cabinet" well (Richardson,2005). There are too many logistical issues that prevent large scale blogging from being a time and effort effective tool. Overall, blogging could be an answer to the problem of little or no class critique caused by small class sizes for advanced classes. Although there are some safety issues to be addressed, a little planning would open up this resource for my students.

References

Eide Neurolearning Blog. (2005, March 2). Brain of the blogger. Retrieved September   from                        http://eidennurolearningblog.blogspot.com/2005/03/brain-of-blogger.htm

Gregory, C. (2015, November 2). AP Teachers [Personal interview].
Richardson, W. (2010). Weblogs:Pedagogy and Practice. In Blogs,Wikis, Podcasts, and Other                    Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms (3rd ed., p. 171). Thousand Oaks,CA: Corwin.
Thomas, B. (Sculptor). (2013). Mountain Man. [Image of sculpture]. Retrieved from Digital Archives           of Tricia  Schumacher.