I currently use a blog for my classroom to convey due dates, trip information, testing logistics, and some assignment details. If parents or students have a remaining question after reading the blog, they can post it in the comments section. This allows all readers to have access to the question and answer, just in case someone else shared that question. Blogging certainly has its place in a K-12 classroom, as it is adaptable at any school age group (Huffaker, 2005). It is making a difference in my classroom as blogging is used to benefit parents and be used to explore content.
My students are enrolled in a virtual academy so technically my students are distance learners. While they are at home and busy learning content, I work to find ways to effectively manage the content they learn as well as verify mastery of the concepts. Because the students have broken the mold of the being in a traditional classroom setting, we must be unique in presenting content as well as demonstrating mastery of the content. We must work together to allow students to collaborate in learning (Beldarrain, 2006). By allowing my students to blog, I can effectively assess student mastery since blogging can be done across the curriculum. Following a science lab exercise, students can use a blog to express their findings. Because of the collaborative nature of blogs, other students can comment on the results and I would have the opportunity to confirm that students meet the lab objectives. A similar plan can be adapted for math. Students can blog about their thought process as they are solving equations and other problems. Huffaker mentions students can “develop highly personalized content.” I’m sure this will enhance the learning process and make the content meaningful to the student.
Beldarrain, Y. (2006). Distance education trends: Integrating new technologies to foster student interaction and collaboration. Distance Education , 139-155.
Huffaker, D. (2005). The educated blogger: Using weblogs to promote literacy in the classroom. AACE Journal , 91-98.
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I am excited to actually hear of someone using blogs in the classroom. I am really interested in incorporating a blog into my classroom as part of an entire social networking program to prevent bullying in our school for my AR project. I have to say I am a little nervous about allowing parents into our classroom in this manner. Do you find you have any issues with privacy and membership in your blog. I teach health in a middle school, grades 7-8. I would really like to open the blog up to parents but how do you assure the privacy and safety of the students along with keeping up with monitoring the information that has been posted. Because of the topic I teach I am a bit worried that the variety of different cultures, values and opinions surrounding topics we learn will lead to controversial posts. What suggestions do you have for me?
ReplyDeleteI use Weebly for my class website and blog. Parents do have access to my blog and their student's blogs, but that's the nature of my school. I can see how this can pose a problem in a traditional school setting.
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