Thing #3

Blogging and How it May be Used in the Classroom

      Blogging would be a great way for a teacher to not only ensure that students are technologically able to keep up, but they are a great way for the teacher and student to stay connected. Times like now, more often than not, request some type of technology understanding in order to function smoothly throughout the day. It could be used as a journal for the kids over the weekend so the teacher can keep the students involved. The students could receive grades and/or assignments for a missed class using a teacher's, or classroom's, blog. If the student's are given the opportunity to create their own blog, the teacher may grasp a greater understanding as to where the kids are coming from (not literally) and be able to adjust his/her teaching style to better fit the learning style of the classroom and/or individual students. The teacher could also make a blog site that is really fun, really educational, but also maybe not required. This way the teacher could explore with different teaching methods and different ideas in order to see what works best before presenting a concept to the class as a whole; a type of beta testing for teacher lesson plans. The blog could also be used for student reflections of what may be clear in the classroom and what is not.

     Keeping a blog for personal reasons is not a bad idea either. Most of the time when recalling something it is drawn back by memory, but if a blog were available there would be no second guessing as to what happened and the results of the happening; this would allow a teacher to see what has worked, what has not worked, and possibly discover patterns that may arise. Assuming that all teachers are keeping a blog of their teaching experiences, it would be a great idea to have all of those blogs interconnected among teachers so that they may learn form one each others mistakes and successes. Just having a blog as a teacher may be interesting for the students; one could share about who he/she really is, and make the learning experience more personal for the students. The teacher could also blog about their favorite sports team, or something in politics (there is always something that can be blogged about there).

      Blogging is also a way that some people can gain experiences. If a person is unable to experience something firsthand, reading a blog may give them the insight that they seek on any particular subject. Students reading blogs from specific locations of the world, other than their own, can make them more diverse, and more accepting of differences since they have been open to more experiences. A history book, newspaper, or magazine is not going to give the same experience as someone that has lived through something. The main reason I think that a teacher should blog and allow access to his/her site to his/her students is to show that their is more to a teacher than teaching. Most of my childhood I assumed that the teacher was always at the school with no life other than figuring out more ways to stump societies youth. The students should know that there is more to their teachers than a book. I believe that if a teacher allows his/her students to know them on a more personal, yet still professional, level that the teacher would in return get to know his/her students on a level that the teacher has not yet experienced, and that could prove to be highly beneficial. Making things personal and professional may be a challenge for some, but at the same time it could be as easy as the coloring of the lines in this blog. I could ask the students to give their ideas as to why I chose these colors. A blog would also be a neat way to introduce a new subject over the weekend by asking some simple thought provoking questions.