After watching the video Blogs in Plain English, I have been inspired by and exposed to how blogs
work and how useful they actually are. The video does a good job at explaining
that blogs are a way to share news. And really, any kind of information is considered news from
gardening ideas to a student’s day at school. Anything you decide to write
a blog about, there is someone out there who will be interested in reading it.
At this point, I have only barely skimmed the surface of
blogging in my 4th grade classroom. Using an online communication
platform similar to Facebook, Schoology, our class has been linked in our own
course. There is a blogging option on Schoology where students can type blogs
as well as follow each other. I started using Schoology’s blogging option when
our class started participating in Mystery Skypes in the spring. Each time,
there was a pair of students working together to share the news of our Skype
session. Over time, students started to share information about exciting days
in the science lab to time spent in enrichment classes. I was also able to
increase participation when I asked fellow faculty, staff and administration to
start following the blogs of my students. Writing for an audience really –encouraged
them to write more!
After reading an article called: “Blogging? It’s Elementary my Dear Watson!” I have had my eyes opened to all of the benefits of classroom
blogging in the elementary setting. The article explains that blogs aren’t only
for sharing news, but also for sharing thoughts and feelings. Also, because of
the option of a vast audience, students tend to focus more on proper writing
mechanics such as punctuation, spelling and grammar. Blogging is the perfect
way for students to take advantage for more writing time and experience.
*This blog was inspired by my mind map from
bubbl.us
References:
Jackson, L. (2012). Blogging? It's elementary my dear watson! Retrieved from http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/tech/tech217.shtml
“Using an online communication platform similar to Facebook, Schoology, our class has been linked in our own course. There is a blogging option on Schoology where students can type blogs as well as follow each other. I started using Schoology’s blogging option when our class started participating in Mystery Skypes in the spring.”
ReplyDeleteYour classroom seems very 21st century. I am very happy you posted links to these sites! I will have to check them out for my classes. I wrote my post on a similar topic and I definitely agree with your statement about Blogs in Plain English:
“The video does a good job at explaining that blogs are a way to share news.”
Before I watched the video, I was skeptical of a practical use for blogs in education. However, after thinking about blogs as sharing news, I was able to understand them as a different form of communication.
Another point you make is how writing for an audience seems to improve the quality of the students writing. This is another great reason for introducing blogging to students. I have been having my students do writing responses at the end of lessons, but perhaps I should have them write blog posts as reflections so they know their ideas as being shared with a number of people.
Thank you for posting this! You really have some great ideas!
-Hope
Hello Hope,
DeleteThank you for your comment! I appreciate your idea of writing blog posts at the end of lessons as reflections. We could really learn a lot from our students about the lessons. It could help us improve them in the future and see what our students are getting out of each lesson.
Thank you for sharing your ideas as well!
Kelly