"Light...bulb!" says Gru from Despicable Me when he has a diabolical idea. I had a "light - bulb" moment when I was fixing another toilet earlier this week (Three kids makes this a habitual exercise). I'm a frequent flyer at Doityourself.com, mainly because it saves me hundreds in repair or renovation bills each year, partly because I like to play with tools, but mostly because I get out of real work (like cleaning the bathroom) when I have to fix something (like the toilet). Anyway, I realized that my favorite site is actually...wait for it...yes, a blog! I hit some of my other oft-visited DIY sites, and sure enough, they're all blogs! Here's a list of the top 50 by visitation data: http://www.invesp.com/blog-rank/Do_It_Yourself.There are all sorts of these Do-it-yourself blogs out there. Here's one about DIY weddings. Here's another just for computer geek stuff. Chances are, if you want to do it yourself, there is a blog out there for you.
Mind you, these blogs are often very, very fancy. Nevertheless, they are still blogs. The consist of numerous archived and organized "posts" with places for readers to comment and discuss, and even RSS feeds. Reader comments are often quite helpful as well, adding extra advice the experts might have omitted ("Be careful not to over-tighten. I cracked the plastic bolt and had to order a new set...")
Quite often these blog posts contain a lot of multimedia. I once Googled the "thumping" sound made by my washing machine and was directed to a blog that told me I needed to replace the drive block underneath the tub. It listed step by step directions, with pictures. There was even an embedded YouTube video guiding me through the process that had a link pop up which took me to a site where I could order the part. I was in handyman heaven.
So I can be a bit slow to make connections at times, but finally, "light-bulb!" I figured, why not take the "How-To" writing project I do every year in 7th grade and make it a blogging project? Every year I start the project with the old, "Tell me how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich," exercise and we have a good laugh while I try to stick the knife through the jar, spread peanut butter on the closed bag of bread, etc., until they get the point about writing clear, organized, thorough directions. Then I let them choose how-to topics, we do a little research, work our way through the writing process, and hopefully turn their compositions into presentations if we have time in our curriculum schedule (I once had a kid demonstrating wicked skateboard tricks in the front of my classroom, and I've tasted plenty of yummy homemade cakes).
So with a digital camera or a little video editing, they could create some really great How-to blogs. My former student's skateboard demonstration would have been a lot safer that way. What's great is that there are plenty of examples available to show them. Maybe I'll make a video blog example next time I have to fix a toilet...or maybe not (the language may border on PG-13).
So, anybody know of a teacher who has tried this before? I'm pretty jazzed about the idea.
Hey Adam,
ReplyDeleteOkay "Despicable Me," great movie and I really like how you connected it to the idea of the information that blogs provide to others. In your case, you use it to work on "Do It Yourself" projects that occur in your home. For me, I like to look at a college friend's recipe blog. While we are long beyond the days of Ramen Noodles and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, I find that I really enjoy her recipes and stories behind them (http://lacucinadilauren.blogspot.com/). In addition, I also find blogs to be helpful in informing me of questions as far as troubleshooting computer issue or program (like DreamWeaver). "LIGHT-BLUB" as you wrote. I use blogs more than I thought I did.
Ahhhh....the "How-To" writing assignment. It's always funny when introduce this lesson to my students how they think they can make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich by giving me directions but.... they forget to tell me to open the jar or get a knife...it's pretty much all down hill, but I agree it does teach them the importance of writing with clarity and details for readers. I love the idea of moving your "How-To" assignment to a blog with the incorporation of accompanying videos. I was trying to think, how can you take this one step further... here is a brainstorm for you: Could you pair up with a class (in your school or located elsewhere) and have one person from your class and the other write the same "How-To?" Neither party of students would be given the knowledge that more than one class is participating and writing the same "How-To" topic. Once both classes are finished, students would be required to read and watch their "partner's" blog/video and create a response that compare and contrasts the two final products. That's two writing assignments in one, plus students will be writing for a larger audience. I know security is always the BIG BIG issue, but I let my sixth graders work with the "scary" eighth graders on an assignment like this and it worked out really nicely.
~Chrissie :)
Interesting idea, Chrissie. The hard part would be synchronizing the timetable and topic choices with another class, but why not?
ReplyDeleteOne thought I had that I forgot to add was that each student could be assigned to choose a set of directions from a classmate's blog and try to do it. Then the student could post a report about how it turned out in the comments. That could make for some good feedback for the author about whether the directions were clear and easy to follow, what might have been missing, etc.