Blogs in a Classroom

I could see blogging being useful for many things in a classroom. First is ease of access to it. Assuming a student has internet access at home or on their phone, they would be able to access a blog anywhere without having to carry around a journal or notebook. A blog would also make it very easy for students to share their information, and view information from other students. The third thing I can see a blog being useful for is the easy review of previous information. You don't have to flip through pages or notebooks, but simply scroll through the page to find previous posts.

I can already think of an easy way to incorporate blogging into the classroom I'm assisting in. We start every class with a five minute warm-up writing. A prompt is put on the screen (relating to information covered in the last class) and students record their answers on a printed outline given out at the start of every week. With a blog, students could record all of their answers online to allow them to review their work after it has been submitted. It would also allow any students absent from class to get online and still be included in that assignment.

Learner Analysis

The character I am analyzing is "Ned Bigby" from Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide. The show first aired in September 2003 and ended June 2007. Ned seems to be quite an average middle-class student in school going through the typical struggles of a middle school student. Together with his best friends "Moze" and "Cookie", they come up with rules of survival for students entering/going through middle school. The entire premise of the show is to give kids advice when handling everyday situations in school, so a large variety of problems/issues come up over the course of several episodes. Going off of this, Ned seems to get himself in trouble quite often. This can include problems with faculty, problems with other students, failing school work, getting detentions, relationship issues, etc... He generally seems to always be getting in some sort of trouble. Taking all of this into consideration, Ned could be viewed as a problem child from an adult's perspective. I wouldn't say that he necessarily needs assistance in a classroom, but it seems as though he would need several reminders to remain focused on class material. Here is a video of Ned and his friends being disruptive in a music class. (Sorry this was the shortest one I could find.)

Besides his occasional low test scores/missing homework and everyday shenanigans, Ned is quite a good person with a caring heart for his fellow students. He has a very obvious care for his best friends and any students that come to him in need of help. He would make a much better life coach than middle school student.

About Me

Hey all,

My name is James Vannette. I am from Middleville, a small farm town about 30 minutes south of Grand Rapids. Throughout high school I ran cross country and track, and also participated in the ski/snowboarding club. I came to Grand Valley not knowing what I wanted to major in, and actually didn't decide on education until half way through Sophomore year. I could not be happier with my decision though!

I am currently teacher assisting in Godwin Heights High School and rotate between a 10th grade US history class and an 11th grade government class. My CT, Mr. Jesser, is awesome with a smart board. He has gradually been showing me new things to do on it. I'm not sure if I'd be able to operate it by myself yet but its pretty cool to watch him work with it! I'll be there one day!

I have also been dual-enrolled in WMU's Army ROTC program for almost three years now. This program has brought me a huge amount of teaching/mentoring experiences as I've progressed through the system. These experiences have definitely made me more comfortable being in charge of large groups and leading lessons.

I'm generally a pretty outdoorsy person outside of the classroom. I really enjoy canoeing, hiking, or going on a nice run. In the winter I like to go snowboarding quite a bit, when I'm not overwhelmed by school work.

Here is a picture of me and some high school friends canoeing down the Thornapple River this past summer. About 8-12 of us have done an all-day canoe trip every summer for 5 years now.

 

This is a picture of my family wrestling last Christmas (minus mom). I've got three little brothers. One goes to GVSU with me, one attends GRCC and the youngest is a senior in highschool.