Student Blogs

For the last four years, my students have taken six weeks challenges to improve their health, such as eat healthy, give up sodas, visit farmers market, run or walk a fun run, etc.  They take what we are learning in Anatomy and Physiology and connect it to their own life.  

I created a blog that explained the various suggested challenges and students reflected on the challenge via a comment on my blog.  I have no idea why I did it this way...and just recently realized how much more sense it makes for them to create their own blogs instead of commenting on a class one.  

Starting this week, my class will be creating their own blogs, using any format or platform they choose. I am going to recommend blogger, wordpress, or one I heard about at TCEA called bulb, although any digital platform would be fine.  They can still choose a challenge that shows how they take what they learn in class and apply it to their life. The process is the same, but now instead of them all commenting on a class blog, they have each created a digital portfolio of their senior year in high school, at least for anatomy class. 

Here are our current six weeks challenges.  These are recommendations and I am always open to students suggesting other ways to demonstrate the connection between class and life. I love giving them options and letting them choose what sounds most interesting to them.  Instead of a worksheet on food choices, how about visiting the local farmers market and talking with farmers, or instead of doing a cookbook lab that has them all calculate their heart rate after walking up the stairs, how about encouraging them to participate in a local fun run?

I think I say this in every post, but giving students choices on how to learn and what to learn makes a huge difference in what they gain from being in your classroom.  

Here are some of my favorite student portfolios ... all shared with permission :)

Lexi - Senior Year Blog
Jodi - Portfolio of Senior Year
Joyce - Choe Blog