K-12 Blogging

As I continue with my learning and about the many tools that are available to us to use for our students' growth I have come to an opinion on blogging in the K-12 setting. I do not think that it is suitable for all grade levels. I feel that we could better use this tool with the older students. In my opinion, I feel that it would be better used in the 7-12 grades simply because they are a little more mature in the way that they would use it and be able to understand it more. For the younger students, I do not feel that using it as a teaching tool would be beneficial to the students. Do not get me wrong, I do think that we need to introduce it to them so that they gain the exposure to the tool and learn how it can benefit them. The reason I say that we use it for the 7-12 arena is that I still think that there are students who are not as open in the classroom as they need to be when asked a question. When in a group setting more often than not students have the fear of being ridiculed when they are wrong about something. Using the blogging tool eliminates the public embarrassment and allows them to speak more freely. That being said, I still think that we need to conduct in class discussions as well to give them the public exposure and how to react or debate on situations or topics. They need this aspect of the learning environment to grow as people and as a part of society. We have become a society of technology with minimal human interaction other than with the use of technology.