I feel like a nerd for reading the entire 54 pages, without skimming or taking a study break to keep my sanity. I can honestly say that I enjoyed reading about blogs and how to use them in the classroom. My favorite part of the reading was in chapter 2 where the book provided teachers and how they used blogging in their classroom. There were no pictures in the readings, but there were websites listed to show the exact blog the teacher implicated in their classroom. This was the first time I was able to read the material with my computer on my lap and not get distracted by the internet because I was using the links as references to understand the text.
Anne Davis, a fifth grade teacher implicated blogs in her fifth grade classroom and every student was sad when the year ended. I never thought that blogging could be possible as early as 5th grade. However all the students said that they thought the experience would be boring, but turned out that it was exciting and they learned a lot. (http://itc.blogs.com/thewriteweblog/)
These chapters made me think a lot about how I would use a blog in my classroom. My first thought was to use a blog as a main way to communicate with parents. I could list homework assignments and keep a diary of my classroom for parents to look at. However, after reading the chapter I see that there are ways students can learn through blogging. Students could keep it as a personal diary to show the growth they made over the course of the year. Students could “publish” their work online for parents and other classmates to see. Also if school districts implemented blogging in all classrooms, students, teachers and parents would be able to see a child’s progress over years.
I am an ESL minor, so I am always thinking about how I would change my classroom to incorporate ESL students. Teachers could easily put pictures in their blogs to illustrate what they are saying in case their parents aren’t fluent in English. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so maybe parents can see the progress their student is making without a language barrier.
A confusing part of the text was when the reading was trying to explain how to put pictures onto blogger. I was trying to follow along to put on my own picture however was confused what they were talking about. I feel that if there was a student reading the material without their computer on their lap they would not be able to understand what the text was saying. This is something I hope to learn in the future. ***Note: I figured out how to insert a picture seconds before publishing this post. This is one lesson in teaching. Sometimes you can’t read something in a book to learn. You just have to do it yourself. This is a picture of my driveway in fall… (I just think it is pretty)
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