Bp2_2010058_Educational uses for blogs

When I was in school I loved to write, but writing assignments always discouraged me.  I could never find a good intro to get started and had even more tying it all together for the conclusion.  My eleven year old has the same problem.  She will spend hours on the weekend writing about what interests her, but give her a writing assignment and you can forget about it.  I think blogs are the perfect solution to this type of student.  There are many educational uses for blogging.  Good blogs have a variety of posts, which makes blogging great for a classroom.

One great way to use blogs in the classroom is to allow students to create their own writings and post them in a blog.  Allow students to express themselves by giving them the choice on what to write about.  Each student is unique and his or her work will be too.  This type of blog allows students to express themselves and also allows students to comment on each other’s work.  (Crie 7) This provides a teaching opportunity to teach the students how to give and receive constructive criticism.  
Blogs provide a space where teachers and students can work to further develop writing or other skills with the advantage of an instant audience. (Crie 7) This is a critical skill students will need in the workplace.

            Teachers can also use blogs to set up an online book club where students can post entries in response to what they have read. (Dell, slide 11)  It can be used much like a reading response journal.  (Dell, Slide 17)  Blogs can be used anywhere with an internet connection  Student’s will be able to contribute both at home and at school.  In my experience when students know others will view their work they tend to go that extra mile and pay attention to detail.  I believe students would take more interest and work harder on this type of blogging knowing that their classmates will view their work. 

            There are many other benefits to using blogging in the classroom.  They are “motivating, provide opportunities for reading and writing, and provide for collaboration.”  (Cries 5)  There are many resources available to help teachers get started.  A great site that I found is www.glencoe.com/sec/teachingtoday/educationupclose.phtml/47.  This site gives a step-by-step blog start up guide.  I can’t wait to get started when I have my own classroom. 

Resources

Cries, Mollie.  October 2006.  Education Upclose:  Using blogs to integrate technology in the classroom.  Accessed on May 8, 2010, at www.glencoe.com/sec/teachingtoday/educationupclose.phtml/47.  

 

Dell, Diana.  2007.  Educational uses of blogs and tags.  Accessed on May 8, 2010 at http://www.slideshare.net/sqoolmaster/educational-uses-of-blogs-and-tags-234136.