Monday, February 19, 2007

Blogging On Blogging (BOB)

I thought this was a great class today. There was a lot of energy in the room and I was happy to see people step up to the SmartBoard to share their solutions to problems. It takes courage to share your thinking with a large group and I admire people with courage. If all our classes go this way we're in for a great ride this semester. Keep up the great work folks! ;-)

We were talking about exactly what sort of post you're supposed to make to get that mark on your test. The kind of post I'd like you to make should have one or more of these characteristics:

  • A reflection on a particular class (like the first paragraph above).

  • A reflective comment on your progress in the course.

  • A comment on something that you've learned that you thought was "cool".

  • A comment about something that you found very hard to understand but now you get it! Describe what sparked that "moment of clarity" and what it felt like.

  • Have you come across something we discussed in class out there in the "real world" or another class? Describe the connection you made.

  • Respond to a Blogging Prompt I posted. (see below)


Your posts do not have to be long. I'm far more interested in the quality of what you write rather than the quantity.

Blogging Prompt
To help us along our blogging journey I've decided that I will also occasionally post a Blogging Prompt. It will be easy to find because I'll always put it under a heading like the one above this paragraph. Feel free to create your own Blogging Prompt for the rest of us if you like. If it's a really good one (i.e. has rich possibilities for blogging) we'll count it as your post. ;-) Here's my first one:

We've learned how to measure angles using both radians and degrees. Blog a brief paragraph identifing ways in which these two types of measurement are similar. Blog a second paragraph outlining the ways in which they are different.


This sort of compare and contrast exercise can be made easier to do using Venn Diagrams. Draw two large overlapping circles. List the similarities in the overlapping section and the differences in the appropriate non-overlapping sections. If you like, you can use this web tool to do it online. If you do blog about this prompt and want to post your diagram we'll talk about how to post pictures sometime in class. ;-)

Happy Blogging!

1 comment:

Diane P said...

Good idea!
I really like the idea of blogging about the end of a unit or a trimester.
I had my students blog at the end of the 2006 year because I had been thinking about how much I had learned the past year.