Week 2-Uses for Blogs

I can see blogs used in a variety of different ways in the near feature in many schools. I think that if teachers, students, and parents get use to the new way of communicating, blogs will replace a lot of things in schools. I can see blogs being used to foster teacher/parent communication. Blogs could also be used to replace monthly/weekly newsletters that are normally sent home. Blogs provide students, parents, and teachers with a unique way of communicating with each other with somewhat instant responses. Blogs can be used as a homework helpline, where students could post a question and peers or teachers can respond. Much like how our D2L is set up. Currently in most cases when homework is sent home, teachers depend on the students. By opening the doors of communication with students, they may be more apt to standing on their own two feet and taking responsibility for their own work, but asking questions to others. This of course would limit the dependence on parents, that so many kids are attached to. Blogging in the academic setting can be used for students to express their ideas. I believe that blogs provide some motivation for students who normally struggle with writing. Suddenly when those students can type, a whole new world opens up for them. Blogs also encourage everyone to participate, because sometimes students feel more comfortable expressing themselves through writing, than having to speak up in class. I believe that blogs are especially good for high level thinkers. It allows them to dig deeper into their thoughts and express themselves, while also having to see things through others eyes and be able to respond in a responsible manner. In our school students in the gifted and talented program (WCATY) are currently using blogs as they are linked with other students around southeastern Wisconsin. They communicate about the book they are reading. Blogs can be used with almost any subject matter. What I like most about blogs is that they give students a VOICE!

Educational Blogs

I have not followed a lot of educational blogs, so this is new to me. As I was looking for some blogs though for this assignment, I came across a lot of useful information. I feel that by following blogs that relate to education you can really have a heads up on many issues that are surrounding education today.

One of the blogs I found that had a lot of interesting information on it was This Week in Education. There were a lot of interesting topics posted.

http://www.edweek.org/ew/section/blogs/index.html


Another blog I found a lot of useful information on was Education Week

http://www.edweek.org/ew/section/blogs/index.html

I am continuing to look for relevant and useful blogs. There is so much information!

Blogs

I feel that blogs can be a very useful way for students to communicate their thoughts about certain areas of study. So many kids these days absolutely hate to write, but give them a computer and they will type away. How often do we as adults actually have to sit down and write things? Hardly ever, we use a computer. As a teacher, I was constantly having my students use a journal to write in. After recently attending a conference in which I attended a session on blogging, I am questioning the use of a journal? Blogs are a very unique way in which students can communicate their thoughts and ideas with other classmates and teachers. I am in the process of trying to implement blogging at our school with my 5th grade Language Arts class, however I have ran into many road blocks. It does not look like I will be able to do so this year, but hope that by next year it will be possible. I believe it is absolutely essential that a school have a technology coordinator that is willing and able to try new things, even if it is a little extra work. It is hard as a teacher to not be able to do things such as blogging because it is out of your hands. I think that a school should be doing everything possible to prepare and equip students for the real world. The real world revolves around technology.

Technologies for Collaboration and Learning

I am looking forward to this course very much. I am very interested in how to incorporate useful technology such as podcasts and blogging into my classroom. I hope to find out ways this can easily be done without having to rely so much on a technology coordinator. I recently tried to implement blogging into my 5th grade Language Arts class and have hit many road blocks. I feel that technology is essential in student learning.