"Mrs.Streeters' Saints"

Bringing Blogging to the classroom.....

If I were to bring blogging technology to my classroom I would have high expectations concerning students working together and collaborating on what they have learned.  I would expect that lesson content would be analyzed, sorted and learned more thoroughly through a process that allows students to make corrections between what they thought was wrong and what they found out to be right from their peers. By having a classroom blog, students will be expected to contribute weekly as well as respond to 3 other students in order to discuss what they have learned and what they think about the course content.

When students have the opportunity to learn from each other and share what helped them learn or how they interpreted the lesson in class, chances are high that each student will walk away from the blog feeling empowered.  Students will also feel knowledgeable about sharing their thoughts and responding to others.  A classroom blog will serve as an avenue for those students that normally will not share their ideas in class to share their ideas online without fear of other students frowning their faces or gesturing in disagreement.

I would introduce the blog to students via a link from the classroom website and require that all students share one website in our current weekly content with their post in order to make certain that students are going above and beyond in their information technology skills.  I would expect that students will retain information better from such a hands on experience.  Blogging will allow them to continually practice digital citizenship which is a necessity for future career planning and higher education. Likewise, I can use blogging to access how well my students are retaining information and if there is a communication breakdown, I am able to see it occur and step in immediately to make corrections. My ideas on blogging and how I would expect to use it in my classroom are confirmed as Mullen & Wedwick state that "blogs are highly effective communication tools that create a variety of authentic writing experiences for students and teachers" (2008, pg. 4).
 
Mullen, R., & Wedwick, L. (2008). Avoiding the Digital Abyss: Getting Started in the Classroom with YouTube, Digital Stories, and Blogs. Clearing House, 82(2), 66-69. Retrieved from Education Research Complete database from http://ezproxy.umuc.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=35041971&login.asp&site=ehost-live&scope=site