Blogs Project 
Our four Eso groups participate in a collaborative project in the English Language
class. We use an asynchronic communicative tool called, Blog. Each student
participates in this projec with his/her own class, for example an ESO4 student is
in ´BLOGESO 4 PROJECT` or an ESo2 student in ´ESO2Blog project`. Each
group of blogs, is at the same time a part of a single project, ´ESO MULTIBLOG
PROJECT`.
WHY MULTIBLOG? Each student works on her/his edublog, but also it is her/his
photo blog, audio blog, video blog etc,etc. We just use any kind of blog form to
help us to ilustrate what we write in a crosscurricular way, where obviously,
technology is a very important part.
- Groups description:
Our Eso groups level of English go from beginner/medium to advanced, also included
special needs students, slow students and gifted students. Most of them need to
improve their writing production and their reading comprehension. On the other hand,
their podcast recordings help them to pay more attention to their pronuntiation and
entonation. Special needs students and students with especific learning needs are also
included with learning objectives adaptated to their needs.
This is the project fith year, so 2nd cycle students are already familiar with blogs
technogy and also with some other asynchronic tools (e-mail and instant messages
to hand in homework and to communicate in our virtual exchanges). These Eso
groups are in general, creative, and even when they are technologically motivated,
when they are still in their first cycle, they have some barriers and are still a bit
unaware of all the possibilities blogs or Technology in general may have.
In consequence, we have noticed obvious changes between first and second cycle
students in their tecnological and linguistic competences. Once students have spent a
year working on this project, their actitudes towards this CMC tool and the way they
regard technology changes.
This 2009-10 year we will continue focusig our efforts on improving 1 st cycle
(Eso1/Eso2) writing/reading skills, and their crosscurricukar competences.
As far as 2nd cycle is concern (ESO3/ESO4) we will keep their good
acquired standards, but we will pay special attention to their audiorecording
(podcasts) and style of writing.
- Didactic objectives to achieve using New Tecnology
Our objectives are directly related to both English Language subject and each
group specific needs and each student competence. Each year the
competence level will be higher, so the evaluation criteria will vary in each level,
the items evaluated may be the same, but what may be ok for an ESO1
student is not obviously appropiate for an ESO4 student. This is something that
has been a bit difficult to make some students to understand, The higher the
level is, the better their blog quality has to be. In consequence in this
academic year, I will make my evaluation criteria as clear as possible to
avoid misunderstandings.
1- Get used to, get to know and learn using a Blog. Find out all the educational possibilities a blog offers.
2- Use a methodology where the learning/teaching processes are adaptated to each person possibilities/capabilities, in other words to improve the ways to work on a group diversity.
3- Improve autonomy in the learning process.The Learner is aware of his/her own learning/teaching process. A process which is focused on the learner.
4- Motivate and show a correct and eficient of the New Technologies ( Computer/Internet/ Cell phone/Psp )
5- Improve social skills through such a collaborative project as Blogs mean.
6- To view Education from a global/integral (Holistic) point of view and no so much as a kind of individual compartments.
7- Encourage discussion, criticism but also reflection on questions/ matters which take place inside and outside the context where our students live.
8- Encourage creativity as much as how to search for or select materials/information.
9- To show teachers as guides in the teaching/learning
process.
10- Improve students linguistic competence with the help of New Technologies.
11- Work on linguistic barriers and show the English language as an useful and handy communicative tool.
12- Improve the internal group relationships and also with the rest of ESO groups.
3 Blog Description:
Each student creates her/his own blog. The majority of students chose the http://www.blogger.com, web page, probably they found it easy to use because this was their first Blog experience when we started our project 5 or 6 years ago or lately because they had already started/participated in the project the year before. There are also, some students who have their blogs in Wordpress.com
All blogs are written in English apart from the blogs created by special needs or slow students. These students are, in consequence evaluated according to the use of blogs as learning tools and to their achieved knowledge of the English speaking world/ culture.
Each blog must have links to resources or educational English Language web pages or it can also be related to that ´week topic`.
Each week, students investigate/ get information and write their opinion about ´The Week Question`. This ´question` is usually related to the present week news. Students also have to read/ write and send comments to what their group colleagues wrote. Futhermore, they can also get comments from the others menbers of their own group and from the other ESO groups.
Eachweekly article/entry must have a photo/video/song, an interesting link, a podcast, some text links all related to the article/entry topic.
Each student has to edit his/her perfil. He/she can also send photos/comments from a cell phone.
4 Evaluation Criteria.
A-Content (Developped topic, links)
| What we write about, each week topic we are going to work on. Information, articles or documents you can find on the Internet related to what you are writing about. Link them to your blog and no more than one or two per article/entry. The higher the level is, the higher the quality has to be.
|
B-Design | Careful with fonts, colours, photos and how you place them in the text. Work with a template and don´t forget to write a title for your article/entry. Harmony between colour and size is very important...remenber something, nice, original......with quality and care.
The higher the level is, the higher the quality has to be.
|
C-Style | It is very important to write in your own words........ (DO NOT COPY AND PASTE) to be coherent...to get the right information and, to pay attention each week to your teacher instructions.
You should write your own scheme before you start writing your weekly ´article`.
Don´t write just ´anything` to fill in your blog.
Be aware of the use of the right tone.
The higher the level is, the higher the quality has to be.
|
D- Links | Your blog main page should have interesting links (in every article/entry and on the main page itself) to educational English web pages, newspapers in an english version, musical pages or to your hobbies or interests...and of course to other Blogs You should have your blog linked to sites like - Escuela2
After you linked these two pages to your blog, look for useful links and ask your teacher for advice in order to add more links. (Remenber that if you have a blog in spanish you can link it too, but only yours)
The higher the level is, the higher the links variety has to be.
|
E- Comments | Each week you have to write an article/entry but you also have to visit and write a comment to an ESO student blog.
You can also receive comments from your Eso mates about the last article you wrote or about your blog.
Invite your friends outside school to send you their comments, but remenber you all have to avoid swearing words or jokes in Spanish.
The higher the level is, the higher the quality has to be. |
F- Level of language | -Coherent redaction. -Correct use of connectors and time/ mode adverbials according to your level. -Use vocabulary and expressions learnt in your lessons.
The higher the level is, the higher the quality has to be.
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