Why Blog?

• Seven reasons why teachers should blog

My Journey as an avid blogger

Why Blog?

Potential opportunities afforded by academic blogging

Exposure

Engagement

Networking(Mccrea, 2010)

Blogs invite networking

«Sharing a responsibility of the modern educator» by Jackie Gerstein

Blogs allow construction of knowledge

Blogs can support professional identity development

• Blogs making public and explicit one particular person’s values, perspectives, and thinking- online identities for the authors

(de Moor &Efimova, 2004, in Luehman 2008)

• Blogs developing social alliances; «...one key way people define themselves is through what Gee (2001) referred to as “affinity groups,” people who are bonded primarily through shared practices, goals, and endeavors- interactions that support identity development».

BLOGS PROVİDE OPPORTUNİTİES FOR REFLECTİON

Image Credit: Greg Miller 21st Century Leadership

Reflective Practice

• «a process of internal dialogue facilitated by thinking or writing and through external dialogues and reflection together with others» (Clarke 2003)

Reflective Writing & The 5Rs Framework for Reflection5R Framework What is it? Critical Quesions to AskReporting A brief descriptive account of a

situation / issue (ie.the reflective trigger)

What happened, what the situation / issue involved

Responding Your emotional / personal response to the situation / issue etc

Your observations, feelings, questions about the situation / issue

Relating Personal and/or theoretical understandings relevant to the situation / issue

Making connections between the situation / issue and your experience, skills, knowledge and understanding

Reasoning Your explanation of the situation / issue

Explaining the situation/issue in terms of the significant factors, relevant theory and/or experience

Reconstructing Drawing conclusions and developing a future action plan

Your deeper level of understanding about the situation / issue that is used to reframe / reconstruct your future practice and further develop your understanding of professional practice

Levels of Reflection

Critical reflection

Dialogic reflection

Descriptive reflection

(Hatton & Smith, 1995)

Descriptive: «A Challenge to Embrace- Motivation»

Through descriptive reflective passages

• Providing number of reasons why motivation can be a challenge

• Exploring relevant literature• Listing professional & personal reasons to

instigate action• Analyzing own professional practices

Dialogic Reflection: «Podcasts in Our Class»

Dialogic Reflection“We onlystudy for exams and I don’t enjoy learning English”commented one of my students today. I understand this comment and agree with it to a certain extend but on the other hand I have a weekly outline that I need to follow. I need to cover some certain objectives and materials as a teacher!! Students do not like listening to lectures and recorded listening of the course book and then having discussions about the topic they listened to all the time. At times they resist to speak in English, and shift back to Turkish. But, then… Can there be more enjoyable way(s) of catering for the needs of the students and the curriculum?

• Making concious connections between peadagogical beliefs and and classroom practices

Critical Reflection

• Constructing realities of teaching

• Reconstructing understanding

• Developing future action plans

«Reflections on Language Assessment»

Benefits of Reflective Practice

• Recognition of teaching as an art• Challenging tradition• Fostering understaing and respect for diversity

in applying theory to classroom practice• Development of a deeper understanding of

one’s own teaching• Increasing effectiveness as a teacher• Validation of teacher’s ideals (Schön 1983)

Blogging and Reflective Practice

• Promoting critical and reflective thinking on individual level

• Promoting reflection at a broader group level through Online Communities of Practice

«Distributed cognition is powerful in describing the ways in which teacers draw upon networks within and beyond school to collaborate and share expertise, rather than act as isolated individuals» (Putnam & Borko, 2000; Wenger 1998 in Killeavy 2010)

In conclusion