I think that blogging could prove to be very useful in a classroom. I think that you could use it for something as simple as pictures and information, but it would also be a nice place to share things like work samples of things that the students are working on and books that they've read. It would also be nice to put up things like school supply lists and school and classroom newsletters. I also think that blogs could be used to send out homework and could serve as a question/answer board for administrators, parents, and even students.
I think that within the classroom, blogs could be highly motivating for students and it would probably get them to write more often, whether it's journaling or stories. I also think that it would be easy and fun for Writer's Workshop, though a little less personal. I think that students could comment on each other's work and it would be easy for teachers to comment as well. Also, students could then just edit their post to edit their work, which would be a lot easier, though you might lose track of all of their revisions. It can also serve as a reminder to students of their homework assignments and handouts. Also, though, I think it is a powerful tool for collaboration between students and between students and the teacher. I think that students can tell each other what they think and it's a good environment for teachers to model appropriate web behavior and it's a controlled setting where the teacher can teach about cyber bullying and other types of harassment. I also think that over time, blogging would be beneficial because it would show growth. I think that this would serve as a student portfolio of sorts that would be easy to go back to and look at and see how student's have grown. I think that it's also nice that a parent could see their student's work over the year and not just at conference time, and since blogs are easy for parents to access at home, they can be more involved and help more with assignments.
I think that in the early childhood classroom, however, blogs are best left in the hands of the teacher. I think that it would be a fun and easy way for parents to stay up to date and for teachers to be able to remind parents about things that are coming up in the classroom, but I don't think that it's necessarily developmentally appropriate for the students to be doing much blogging early on. I think that it would be fun to share student's quotes or funny things that happen in the day-to-day routines of the classroom (without names attached), which I think makes parents feel more involved and active in their child's classroom.
Overall, I think that blogging would be very beneficial for classroom management and for reminders about things, but I think that teachers need to be very careful about how they use them. Obviously, privacy is an issue and confidentiality as well as each district having their own standards about how you can use technology in the classroom, but I think that these things can easily be surpassed and it could be a very valuable tool for teachers.
I agree, I like the idea of letting the parents also see their students work. I keep thinking about building my class website. I think it would be great to have a full call blog. The students could put weekly updates for their parents to read.
ReplyDeleteI have never blogged before this class. I do feel that there are so many things that you can do with blogging in the classroom. For the upper elementary, I think students could use blogging to share their ideas about things they are learning in the classroom or use it to revise and even publish their work. I agree, that blogging would be a good way to show a student's growth in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteI feel that blogging is an great way for teachers to communicate with parents about what is happening in the classroom. By blogging to parents things that are happening in the classroom, I feel that parents would feel more involved in their child's school/academic life.
Thanks for sharing the great ideas - I, too, believe that blogging can be adapted for every grade level - with teachers knowing when they will have to take a little bit more ownership!
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