Blogging seems to have gained an incredible popularity over the past years. I have always found that those who blog tend to be creative people willing to express themselves through their writing. As a lover of words and literature I tried to dabble a bit into blogging, but often found it difficult to keep up with the posts. Besides I never thought that my blog entries on my educational experiences have been that interesting.
The art of blogging has taken on so many topics from blogging about ones pet to blogging about the celebrities. It seems that myself like many people have made reading our favorite blogs a part of our day just as we would read the newspaper. I will admit that I visit select blogs on a daily basis. My day just doesn't seem complete if I don't browse through Apartment Therapy, GeekSugar and EmilyStyle. Now despite my interest in certain blogs I never really thought to use it in the classroom, but am quickly finding out through my research for this class the benefits of it.
The web site Education World provided a great article on blogging not only in the high school, but as young as Kindergarten. According to the article Blogging? It's Elementary, My Dear Watson! teachers are finding that allowing the students to blog about what they have learned has changed the dynamics of a traditional classroom. It also states that students tend to do well with their writing once they know they have a live audience, not just a teacher with the infamous red pen. The article goes on to provide tips on how to get started on blogging for the classroom (the teacher) and in classroom (the student).
Julia Davies and Guy Merchant the authors of Web 2.0 for Schools clearly stated that many young people are already engaged in Web 2.0 practices (2009). I would say that it is up to us as the educators to keep up with our students. If blogging offers another way for a student to further enhance their educational skills then why not? Students can take the information they have learned and further explore it. They are taking education into their own hands with the help of their teacher and peers.
Blogging? It's Elementary, My Dear Watson. (2008). Retrieved February 6, 2009 from http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/tech/tech217.shtml
Davies, J., & Merchant, G. (2009). Web 2.0 for Schools. New York: Peter Lang Publishing,Inc.
Tamara - I find myself agreeing with you on so many statements here. I, too, feel like it is impossible to find the time to keep blogs up to date. Who really has that much time - to just sit around blogging all day? That's more like an occupation, rather than just recreation or art, like reading a paper or book. I have to say, though, that actually engaging in blogs in this class has made me think about doing a family blog site. Everyone is doing Facebook now, but that seems so complicated compared to just have a blog site where you can upload pictures and thoughts.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that doing blogs in the classroom, as part of their assignments, does make students think more about how and why they are writing. Generally, I must constantly remind my students to correct their spelling and grammar before they post any on-line assignments. To my surprise, I did not need to remind them at all, when it came to their blog assignments and I found very few errors. It was very refreshing and enlightening to see the change in attitude and focus on their writing because blogs are such a public forum. I think we might have discovered the best tool to teach writing skills. Blogs epitomize not only spelling and grammar, but also content, organization, idea, resolution, support, and concept. It is a great writing tool!