How I would use blogs in the classroom

Blogs eh,

In my opinion, blogs are a great thing to introduce to students. Of course some students may not find them very interesting in the slightest. Those students will do the blog work you assign and leave it at that. The ideal result though is that the student's interest is peaked by the assignment and they go on to create their own personal blog for their own personal reasons. Sharing your ideas and thoughts is a very healthy thing for adolescents to practice and experience. If their blog audience is directed towards family, travel, a specific topic, or just their peer group it's a healthy hobby.

Blogs could be used in the classroom in many ways. A teacher could use a daily blog to inform students of homework, assignment due dates, class schedules, or just the topics and ideas covered in class. However the teacher must keep in mind that not all students in the class may have daily access to a computer. This brings fairness into play.

Sharing ideas with the class via a blog could also be done. For example, students could post ideas on workworking projects and have other students in the class comment on the materials they chose or the design they decided on. Another example could be students posting poetry on their blogs and having classmates comment constructively.

Whatever way you introduce blogging that you find effective will be rewarding for your students. Just to have a chance to experience blogs and how they work is vital to every high school student. Where they take it from there is up to them.


And now for something completely different...