Along with websites, Blog is another way that teachers are using technology to enrich their classroom communities. There are many positives and negatives to using Blog with students, but in my opinion more of the former. First off, teachers can use Blog as a personal journal to help them record the classroom progress, and it even allows them a fast way to go back in the archives to past lessons and entries that they might want to use as resources. They are easily organized and more efficient than filing records on paper. Teachers can also use Blog to communicate with parents about what's going on in the classroom, or even simply the progress of the classroom as a whole. This way, if the students don't say much about their day and what is going on at school, parents can still be aware of what is going on when their child is at school. Teachers can also post homework up in case a student forgets what their assignment is, and maybe even some helpful hints to certain homework problems to encourage students to use Blog.
Blog is also a great way to build a strong classroom community between students and student to teacher. Teachers can respond to homework questions on Blog, questions which a lot of students might have. This way, they are not spending hours emailing the same response to all of their students. Students' Blogs are a great way for those quiet and shy children to state their opinions and thoughts. Also, it makes it so everyone can have a voice. Teachers may not be able to get around to every raised hand since time is very limited. By using Blog, those students who might not have gotten a chance to talk in class can write as much as they want about the subject.
Like I said before, there are some negatives to Blog. Blog may discourage students to actively participate in class because they know they can simply write in their Blog when they get home. Also, students should be aware that what they post can be viewed by the world. Teachers should discuss with students the boundaries of putting up personal information, and mediate what the students post. This could take extra time out of the teacher's schedule, but it must be done.
If these issues are presented and discussed, I believe that classroom Blogging would be a definite advantage to getting students used to technology and creating a stronger classroom community.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
I agree that the advantages outweighs the disadvantages of blogging. I never thought about how the teacher can use it as a way to record progress. I think that's a great idea and will consider using it in my future classroom! Thanks for that idea. (^v^)
Post a Comment