First Impressions of Web 2.0

Welcome to my first blog entry ever!

I currently privately tutor elementary students in the evenings. My current students live in Livonia, Michigan, which is a suburb about twenty minutes northwest of Detroit. Livonia is a middle-class area, but my students tend to be from hardworking families on varying socioeconomic levels. I tutor students primarily in reading and writing. Whenever necessary, I help my students with math. For my Master’s program, I use different students I work with as my target audience when I create my graduate projects. I make house calls, working around the families’ schedules. I bring my laptop with me, but there is very rarely a wireless connection available. I am always looking for activities to use offline with my students. Incorporating computer-use in our sessions offers additional options, and it typically gives students some added motivation.

Since writing is a primary focus with my students, I am excited about the options which blogs offer. With hour-long sessions, we often don’t have the time I would like to spend on quality writing. I would love to get these students blogging, so they could spend personal time doing so when I am not there. We could communicate via these blogs, perhaps, similarly to how we are doing so in IT 6140. Ideally, this will get them more excited about writing and help get their creative juices flowing. My students really struggle with writing, and they tend to always just want to be “done.” Can weblogs offer them the incentive to write for the love of writing? I hope so!

I like using RSS for personal reasons. Windows Vista has a built in RSS feed, and I have had fun experimenting with this feature. I am just starting to really understand the capabilities of RSS. In the classroom, I can see great value to having students subscribe to feeds which compliment the learning process. Feeds may be checked efficiently as a whole group, small group, or individually. At this point in my professional life, I am looking into whether RSS feeds may be used offline with the students I tutor.