Apr

24

My class blog needs an audio link to honour auditory learners

Filed Under Blogging in and out of the Classroom, The way I see it 

It just came to me all of a sudden as I was on my way to brush my teeth before going to bed tonight. I should be adding an audio link to my classroom blog for those students who like to have assignment or instructions read to them. Now most of my students just log on to the class blog, read the assignments on their own and know what to do. No problem. However, some students log on and then turn to me with a puzzled look on their face and ask “What do we have to do?”. I immediately think “What’s your problem?” Just read the instructions, and you’ll know. After all, I’ve spent literally hours making sure the instructions adhere to the KISS principle, so I’m surprised when the student doesn’t get it. I should and do know better! Some students need to hear the instructions for the assignment in order to understand the instructions.

Why did I forget this instructional strategy when I post assignments on the class blog. Why? Now I know this sounds kind of stupid, well actually it is quite stupid, but I think that unconsciously I expected the classroom blog to have some kind of magical power so that when my students logged on, they would instantly want to read what I wrote and write paragraphs of at least eight sentences, complete sentences that had subjects, verbs and even end punctuation in response to what I wrote. What can I say?

What can I say? I can tell you what I can say now that it dawned on me that my classroom blog is not a magic wand. It’s just another tool, albeit a really cool tool, that I can use to deliver my lessons, but I still have to remember to honour my student’s preferred learning styles, their multiple intelligences , their learning disabilities etc. I have to remember to honour all of these things just like I do when my lessons and class activities do not involve the class blog.

So that’s it. Before I post Part 2 of the 6 part assignment on “The Teenage Brain’ this weekend, I’ll reach for my headphones, click on the Audacity short cut and record the instructions that I wrote for part 2 of the assignment. I’ll just post a little note telling students they can listen to the instructions if they wish by clicking on the accompanying audio link.

I’ll let you know how that goes.

Related Posts

Related posts:

  1. Should I embed videos or link to them in my blog?
  2. My students are digital natives no wonder they love the class blog
  3. The 5 W’s and the 1 H of a Classroom Blog.
  4. Motivating a struggling student by helping him start a personal blog.
  5. Visual Learners? Who’d of thought that!
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