Thursday, March 11, 2010

Top Three Ways to Use Blogs in the Classroom

There are many great ways to use blogs in the classroom for students of all ages. Not only does a blog increase a student's access to the internet and current technology, but it also has the ability to increase both communication and learning. Of the many ways to incorporate the blog into the classroom, below are three ways I feel would be effective ways to do so.



1. Basic Communication With Students and Parents: Being able to communicate with both students and parents is an important responsibility of the teacher. Through creating a blog that reaches out to both audiences at once, the teacher has made the first step in accomplishing this goal. A blog with the intent in communication would be something as basic as providing a brief entry each day reviewing with both students and parents the content that was reviewed and anything special that might have happened that day. This would allow for the parents to see what was going on in the classroom and would also allow the students to ask any questions about the material covered as well as post comments on what they liked or even didn't like about the material. Homework, upcoming tests, and other important information could also be posted. This way students would have a nice review, and parents would be kept in the loop!

2. Interactive Student Portfolios: In many classes, students are expected to collect pieces of work and compile such pieces into a comprehensive portfolio which shows their ongoing growth and achievement. Through the use of blogs, students could post all of their assignments online for the teacher to observe as well as for other students to read and comment on. For example, in a Language Arts class, students could post their best poems and short stories on their blog for other students in the class to see. The students, as well as the teacher, could then offer suggestions, make positive comments, and ask questions about the works. The student author of the blog would then respond to the students and teacher by making changes to the work and posting it again. This would allow the student as well as the teacher to view the effort and progression of each piece of work.

3. Additional Help: Many students may not understand a concept but are simply too shy or unsure of how to ask for help. A teacher could create a blog that would provide additional help and activities to ensure that students truly understand concepts from class. Such a blog could include a review of material, vocabulary words with definitions, tricks/nemonic devices to remember material, or quizzes. The teacher could also provide links to web sites that may explain the material differently or in simplier terms, provide a game or activity to test the student's knowledge, or even provide some sort of visual for the student, such as a youtube video explaining the doppler effect. In additional, students could post questions or even answer each other's questions, thus encouraging not only additional help but communication from teacher to student and from student to student.

3 comments:

  1. I'm going to agree with you on the extra help part. I have soooo many students that miss school right now and to have a place where you can write down the students homework and maybe put a little responsibility on them to get their work and get it done would be nice.

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  2. Love your blog...love the use of color...and love the format. I think you have found some really practical uses for a blog in the classroom. Well done!

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  3. I love the idea of creating a blog for BOTH parents and students. So many times, it seems natural to keep the communication seperate. If students can see the blog as an open forum, they know where they stand with both parents and teacher. This is a great idea! I, like Tom, love the extra help part. I am one of those students that understand when I am in class and then get home and haven't a clue. This is another great tool for your students!

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