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.
