When using a blog in the classroom, teachers need to educate students. Students need to be taught how to use a blog and what purpose the blog serves. It does not matter if the blog is used to post student work or ask a question; blog rules need to be put in place.
An important rule, or reminder, as stated by W. Richardson in his book Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts (2010), a blog is not a journal. A blog is to be used to engage thinking and learning. Students need to know the blog is for school work, not what they did over the weekend.
Another important aspect of blogging is internet safety; keeping students safe. Teachers must take the time with their students, no matter the age, to explain how to be safe online. Rules and regulations of the internet need to be taught. I believe that while a teacher is explaining blogs and internet rules, it would be good to talk about social networking. A colleague of mine has a poster in her room that says, “If you can’t say it in person, don’t post it on Facebook.” Teaching about blogs, social networking, and the internet could open up a great lesson for students of all ages.
How to use blogs in the classroom?
We are in the communication age (Laureate Education, 2008) and blogging is a great way to use the resources we have. Blogging can also allow students to show a more creative way of learning. It is more fun than pencil and paper question and answer.
I posted last week a link to 64 Ways to use a Blog in your Classroom. There are many ways to use a blog. I found some great ideas on the Google Document. I encourage people to check out the link. I added it at the bottom under resources.
After reading my resources from this week (for the class Understanding the Impact of Technology on Education, Work, and Society (EDUC - 6710I - 4)) and my own research, I have picked two ways to use blogs in my classroom. They are listed below.
In my Special Education class I found that my 5th and 6th graders have computers and internet at home. They are also computer savy. These students could get online and contribute to a blog.
I would add information to a blog about the daily reading. I would summarize the reading or add an excerpt from the daily reading. I would then ask students a question about the reading. Students would have to respond to the question. It would take many examples and in class time to insure that the students understood what they were supposed to do. Students could not “copy” other students’ work. They would have to come up with their own response. For this reason, I would have the comments not show up. I would have to approve the comments. The next day in class we would go over the blog, all comments showing.
This blog post would enhance the reading lesson because it is making students think more about their reading. When students go home they will be reinforced from the day’s work by revisiting the lesson. Students will also have family support from parents/guardians helping them with the internet. It will give students an opportunity to work with family and explain what they did that day. In my school many teachers, myself included, have a hard time meeting the technology standards. Using a blog will help reach some of the technology standards.
Each blog would be shown as a reference for the next lesson. Students and parents could refer back to the previous blogs for help.
What thoughts do you have on this lesson? How could I make it better? What problems do you see? Did I not think something through? I would really like to try this lesson in my class. I do need to do as W. Richardson said and be selfish with the technologies (2010). I need to work with the blogging first and have a good understanding before I expect my class to do it.
I also think my school would make me have some kind of permission from parents and administration in order to have a class blog. This would be due to internet safety.
My next lesson would be blogging with my 1st and 2nd graders. This lesson would be harder to accomplish and I would have to have staff support in order to make it happen. I would like to have my students blog back and forth with another class. I was thinking a high school class. Every year HS teachers email wanting to work with the younger students. They could work with the 1st and 2nd graders and not leave the classroom. My students would start a blog and ask a daily question. The question would need to be related to a topic of the day. I was thinking math and calendar.
Elementary school students would be sharing with a larger community. They would be sharing with the high school. This may not seem like a larger community; however, to a small class the high school seems so far away. Our school K-12 has 488 students and our town has 3200. It is important to help students think globally, it is a start with having elementary students blogging with high school students.
When blogging back and forth it would be hard to make sure that we are not journaling, but rather asking questions and encouraging learning. I know this lesson is very vague and there are a lot of holes. I encourage ideas and constructive criticism to make this lesson work and be more feasible.
Both blogging lessons make learning more fun. Students are not only being reinforced from the day’s lesson, they are also enjoying themselves!
References:
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2008). The third wave [DVD]. Understanding the Impact of Technology on Eduation, Work, and Society. Baltimore, MD: Author.
Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
