Saturday, September 25, 2010

Thing #3

Blogs are useful for so many things and in so many ways.  I know I will create a list here of how blogs are useful in education and still miss out on many other valid and insightful ways to use them. 
First, off the top of my head....
-Blogs are useful to reflect on teaching experiences with other educators.
-Blogs are useful to share classroom activities, lesson plans, and classroom management strategies and tips. 
-Blogs are a useful to keep parents and students informed regarding what is happening inside the classroom and current/upcoming school events.
-With the wealth of information "out there" on the internet, it is impossible to keep up with all the education news and trends, blogs are a great way to share what insights you have again from personal research in education that others may not be aware of.  I thought of this because the other day while reading the discussion board posts by fellow graduate classmates, someone had posted some really great articles about using iPads in the classroom.  I would not have been exposed to that, if my classmate had not taken the time to post those articles.

After reading through the Edublog Insights, I thought about how I might use a blog in the following ways (as a high school English teacher)...
-It is important in my school to not only use technology in education but allow students to connect to real world experiences.  What better way than letting students keep a blog and perhaps complete a modified 23 Things! 
-I teach in a college-prep school, today many professors require students to submit assignments online even if they are a part of a face-to-face classroom.  I like the idea of having a writing prompt blog.  Students would log into the blog, read the writing prompt, and respond by either leaving a comment or keeping up with their own blog (journaling).
-I like the idea of using blogs to connect to other classrooms.  The modern equivalent to pen-pals.
-Blogs are a great tool to use for online group projects, class newsletters (produced/published by students), and literature circles.

Coming up.....Thing #4 Why Commenting is Important

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