Blogging in the Classroom

After watching the clip of Mrs. Martin's 6th grade class and reading the uses for blogs in the text "Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools", I have to say that I am excited to use Blogs in my own classroom. I teach a self-contained 2nd grade class in LaVergne, TN. While I am a fan of using technology in the classroom and look forward to using a class blog next year, I do face some challenges. One of which is that our county currently blocks the Blogger site from the server. This means that I would not be able to log on to the class blog at school in order for my students to participate in it. The second challenge I face is that I work in a high poverty area, and many of my students do not have access to a computer at home. In spite of these challenges, I am going to make an attempt to use a class blog next year.

For a first attempt at a class blog, I think I might start out using it as a way to showcase student work. I think that the students would really enjoy seeing their work out there on the web for others to see and comment on. I would also use my class blog as a way to communicate with students and parents by including important information such as: class calendar, assignment due dates, newsletter, etc. If possible, I would love to be able to record important lessons (such as math lessons) in order to have them online for students to watch if they are absent or need a refresher over the topic. This would be a wonderful tool instead of having to reteach the same skills over and over again. The blog could be open as a center for students to visit and watch different lessons as needed. They would also be saved in the blog to refer back to later on in the school year. It would be a great year long review especially for skills such as counting coins and telling time. These are particularly tricky for 2nd graders.

I also like Mrs. Martin's idea of using the blog to work on student writing, and I would like to work on this after getting used to the blog itself. This would be such a fun and exciting way to get my students to write! This could easily be set up as a writing center in the classroom. I'm sure that they would all beg for their turn to go to the computers and add their writing to the class blog for others to read and comment on. As Mrs. Martin said, it would also be a good way to work on the correct way to write. You would be able to emphasize the fact that other people will be reading this, so it should be written in their best spelling and grammar. By including writing on the blog, not only would I be able to comment, but also other teachers, students, parents, and others in the cyber world. I think it is important for students to receive feedback from more than just one person in order to improve their writing. This would be a great tool! We shall see if it is a possibility for next year.