I think blogs can be very useful in the classroom, when used effectively. As I teach first grade, I am struggling to think of ways to use it with my students, as many are still struggling readers. Although, I have been considering having a classroom blog, where the students rotate making simple posts regarding what we're working on in class. This way, I could help my students further develop their typing and technology skills. I could also make this blog available on the classroom website for my students' parents to view and comment on. This way, the students could take pride in the blog and receive positive reinforcement for their work, from their families. Mostly, I see blogs being utilized in language arts. Ideally, I would have each student create their own blog to use and comment on their peers blogs. I think blogs would be an excellent way to showcase students' writing, as well as receive feedback from myself, their families, and their peers. I also like the idea of using a blog for students' writing because it allows students to go back and edit, revise, and publish. I do realize, however, this may be a bit too advanced for first graders. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.
While I really like the concept of blogs, I also feel their uses can be very limited, especially in the classroom. To me, a blog still seems like an online journal and I have a hard time "thinking outside of the box" in terms of how else to utilize a blog. This is something I want to do more research and exploring on, to find multiple ways to utilize this Web 2.0 tool in my classroom, across all subject matter.
I agree that blogs seem most useful in terms of language arts. They can also be a great way to integrate across subject areas. If you are learning about something in social studies, students can write about it on their blog. I like that blogs can be used as journals, especially because it is much easier to take my laptop home and grade students' work than it is to take all of their journals home to grade. I will probably talk about this in my own blog post, but I have been wondering how the focus on learning to type has affected students' handwriting. I know many schools have started to focus less on handwriting and more on typing - to what degree is this a good or bad thing?
ReplyDeleteMegan, I like your idea about having the Blogs available to parents. I might even have my parents comment on their child's Blog every so often. I think it is a good thought to start the children with simple blogging experiences in first grade. The second half of the year should be a bit easier.
ReplyDeleteI like Meredith's suggestion to use blogs as a place for students to provide written response across the content areas. It really could cut down on paperwork/having to lug things home. The same could also be true in terms of saving students paper and weight in their backpacks... if a tech survey revealed they have internet access at home, you could assign them blogging homework as written response.
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