I think that blogging can be very useful for schools. A number of the articles I have read mention that blogging motivates students to write. I believe this is true. In “Five Don’ts of Classroom Blogging,” Julie Sturgeon mentions that shy students are more likely to share their thoughts on a blog than they ever would face to face. The article by Catherine Imperatore mentions how students feel more ownership over their materials if it is published online. This causes the students to strive to create a better product. Another positive for blogging is that it can help students to build from small sections of writing to a larger essay. In Julie Sturgeons article, she quotes Dubbels, “Blogs are great for transitioning from paragraphs to essays.” Aside from helping students, I really like the idea of using blogging to communicate between professionals both for staff development and communication. This is especially talked about in “Why We Blog” by Sophie Brookover. As long as staff is properly trained on using blogs, updates and important announcements can easily be shared on blogs without the risk of being “accidentally deleted” like emails (Brookover, 29). I think it would be a great idea for a media specialist to use a blog focusing on various ideas of how to use the media center for a teacher's class class. Because of these things I think blogging should be used in schools, but there are things that need to be kept in mind when using blogs.
We need to remember there is a proper time and place for blogs. We need to make sure that we aren’t just using blogs for the sake of making kids like our classes. The blogs need to work toward a standard or objective that will help our students excel in the future. We should also make sure that we, as educators, can successfully use blogs ourselves before we expect our students to use them, as expressed by Julie Sturgeon. We shouldn’t solely rely on blogs to have our students write. Students need to learn traditional ways of writing as well, or we may be hindering their educational advancement. As long as we use blogs with the proper mindset, they can truly help our students excel and build their writing skills.
Personally, although I think blogs could be useful, I don't think I will use them. I have tried to use blogs before and I find myself getting disinterested in them very quickly. I would like to continue to do them, but I can't say that it will happen.
Lisa
ReplyDeleteYou make a great point about a blog working toward a standard. I also like that fact that you talk about blogging helps students to work up to a paper. I think our students are very familiar with working on computers and using social networking sites, but the unfamiliar tends to be the old fashioned writing. I wonder how students who do a lot of texting and talking that will will be at writing a paper. Can they still sit down and write out their thoughts without short cuts? Sometimes I think the glamor and glitz of the technology world overshadows the more traditional. I have watched it happen in Math. They (the test creators) want our students to explain different ways to solve a Math problem when some of them can not even do basic math. Teachers have to make sure that they know how to add, subtract, multiply and divide before they can begin to understand and explain how to solve a problem. I hope that we all keep this in mind as we move forward with developing the writing skills of our students. We have to be able to read and write good sentences before we can move on to blogging or writing papers.
Holly and Lisa,
ReplyDeleteI agree completely with students learning the basics before being overly concerned with technology, but I see the value in being technologically literate. Society and careers are integrating technology at an ever expanding rate. As educators we need to prepare students with both the basics and new technologies.
Erin
I agree with your comment about there being a time and place for blogs. They do need to be used with a purpose and not just to make your class fun which I think some people may fall into doing. With the right objective, they can be very useful.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that it's important for educators to be educated themselves in blogging. Being new to the blogging world, I'm finding I enjoy it but I don't think I'm versed enough in this world to use it in the classroom just yet. Without more knowledge, I'm afraid students could "run away" with the blog leaving me, the teacher, to pick up the pieces!
Wonderful thoughts LisaRose! Nice job of incorporating your learning from the articles and critically thinking about how a blog might help students be more engaged and less nervous. Also using blogs to move from paragraphs to essays is one really powerful benefit. I also like how you consider the downsides of blogging such as losing interest and needing to expose students to traditional ways of writing, too. It is always a balancing act. Thank you for your thoughts.
ReplyDeleteI think the idea of using blogs in teh classroom is an interesting one. However, the management and overseeing piece makes me so nervous. I also agree with your when you mentioned that you become disinterested. I too find that I like a blog for such a short period of time and then I am done with it.
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