Katie Haldeman
Synthesis Post
Research to practice has helped me grow as a blogger in many ways. How you might ask? Well, when looking at the different components that make up a quality post such as, observations, questions, research, reflection, and technology, I have grown in each area.
To begin, when looking back at my observations I started very vague. I would address the initials of the student I was working with, and then put in the dialogue of what the child said. I would then return, and put the initials of the second student, and put the dialogue of what that second child said. There was no flow in the children’s actions, when I was explaining them. Comparing my first post to my last post my observations became more detailed. I started focusing on the children’s conversation, rather than solely focusing on their actions. I started to tell a story, rather than post the observation in a linear fashion. This gave me a lot of confidence because I could visually see that my explanations looked better on the screen, and they sounded better when I read them to myself. What helps you understand dialogue?
I also grew a little in the way I ask questions, but it is definitely something that I am still working on. I am learning that I can make my question flow into the story I am telling. Instead of laying the question out on the line, I can use it as a conversation/ thought piece within my blog. In my first post, I write out “Question: Should twins be together, or separated in school?” I chunked all of the good components of a blog post into separate pieces. In my second and third post, it is harder to decipher where the question is, because it flows with my blog, it doesn’t stand out. Of course it is obvious once you read it, but you aren’t going to find it by scrolling down the page, because it is not titled “question.” I really like how I am growing in that sense because I have always chunked things the way teachers want. They give me a list of things to include in my paper, post, etc. and I literally have a heading for each piece, and then add the details under. Making a story has made writing so much more fun for me. I actually enjoy writing blogs, instead of dreading them like I did before! I can add in my own personality.
Research is another area where I have grown. Throughout my journey, it has become easier to find articles that relate to my topic. I now know how to detail my keywords enough so that whatever database I am using, isn’t going to pull up articles that are not related to my topic. I can key in on certain words and find appropriate articles. I also realize that I don’t always have to rely on databases. I can also bring in websites, and articles that I find on Google. I can reference them in my blog, to support whatever information I found in my chosen article. This has helped me create quality blog posts, because I have the article in which gives me the information I am looking for, and that article helps back up my question. I can then back up the research I found in the article with other sources, and hyperlink them in my blog so they can easily be accessed by the reader. This is nice for students, teachers, and families, who are looking for additional resources! I know I like to see these in articles I read, so I am trying to work on making it a priority in my blogs! I didn’t cite other sources in my beginning blog posts, but you can see in my third blog post that I did hyperlink a website that gave additional information on my topic, twins.
Close to my favorite part of blogging is my reflection. It is my favorite because I have been observing a set of twins, and I am a twin myself. The twins I have been observing are fraternal twins, as am I. The reflection becomes meaningful to me because I can add in my own experiences. I am not doing this research and then not understanding what the second party is going through, because I have actually been through it myself. I have learned throughout my posts to make my own experiences and reflections flow throughout. I tell a story, that explains all of the components, and throw in my reflections where they fit. This helps me with the conversational aspect of the posts, because I am talking to myself in my own head, with my own experiences, so it all begins to flow naturally! I have also started to include deeper reflections. Before I would focus more on reflecting on the twins I am observing. But as I veered into my third post, I added in my own experiences, and how they relate to the twins I was observing. I think this helped my post a lot because it made it cohesive, and natural. People want to read those stories with real life experiences, so I think it made my blogs unique.
Lastly, the technology I chose to use, if you haven’t already figured it out, was blogging. I was sort of familiar with blogging before, but not as much as I thought. There is a lot that goes into blogging that I wasn’t aware of before. I have definitely started to grow throughout this whole experience, because I am a lot more comfortable with hyperlinking, and permalinking, and such. I had no idea these even existed before! I definitely need to work on permalinking, but that is a work in progress, and I am working on it. I am glad I had this experience because I will definitely try to use blogging in my future classroom with parents, and once I get comfortable, I will try other technologies as well, like podcasting, or vlogging! Depending on the grade I am teaching, I may also encourage my students to try this! We would start small, but I think that it would be a very good learning experience for them. With technology advancing everyday, every week, every month, and every year, I think it would benefit my students to learn how to do these different things. I may have them focus on blogging for a little, and then try podcasting, and so on. I think it would be a way to make learning fun, and a way to get away from worksheets!
All in all, this experience was positive for me. I learned a lot about my strengths and weakness’, and how to improve on those. I learned a lot about each component of the research to practice, in which included observation, question, research, reflection, and technology. After evaluating my experiences with each, if I were to experience the research to practice again, I would make sure to reflect on my experiences from the beginning, I sort of started each post from scratch, and I should’ve looked back at what I did in my previous posts, and reflected on how I could improve on them. I might also try a different technology. I was the most familiar with blogging, although that wasn’t much. But I think I might try podcasting. It would definitely be out of my comfort zone, but I think it would help me break out of my nervous shell a little bit.
To conclude, I challenge future ERCH 496 students to get outside of their comfort zone. I encourage them to try a technology they have never tried before, and give it their all. I encourage them to reflect on each post, and write down ways they can be better for the next one. I encourage them to focus on cohesiveness from the beginning, and work on having their own voice. Make the post unique! Ask for feedback from your peers, and professors, and stay positive. This process can be frustrating, but it is a growing experience. An experience that can be taken into your day-to-day classroom, and it makes it all that much more worth it!
