Blogging in the Classroom

In reading the materials from last week and this week, I am beginning to identify a number of ways that blogging can be a useful resource in my classroom. One particular use for blogs in my classroom that I am interested in pursuing is the use of an online blog to replace the daily journal entries that I have students work on. In the past, I have asked students to respond to a particular prompt at the beginning of class and asked them to write for approximately five minutes on the subject. This was all done on paper and the students turned in their journals at the end of each quarter. At the end of each quarter, I was left with a mountain of spiral and composition notebooks to sort through and grade.

Instead of focusing on a daily question, I see my students working on a weekly blog post that pertains to a certain issue (or possibly allow them a choice of issues to discuss) with their response due on Friday of each week. There are obviously a number of pre-teaching exercises that need to occur before my students are able to create quality blog entries and I'm in the beginning stages of this idea which means I also need to research the facilitation of this idea.

Reading through the Stiler and Philleo (2003) reading was an excellent way to read about the pros and cons of blogging in a classroom, albeit at a collegiate level. One statement in particular that caught my attention was that "the depth and breadth of student reflectivity appeared to be positively affected by their use of Blogger." Having students go deeper in their reflection is something I ask for consistently and if the use of a blog is a tool that will make it easier for students to do so, I am excited to use it.

Reading the Shoffner article, I really focused on the idea of meaningfully incorporating technology into the classwork. Having a better than 1:1 ratio of technology in my classroom creates access for every student and creates the opportunity my students need. The article mentioned and I have seen that students are coming into the classroom with previous experience in technology use. In my experience, the one area where students need help seems to be understanding how to use technology in an academic setting and not just for entertainment.

Shoffner, M. (2007). Preservice English teachers and technology: A consideration of weblogs for the English classroom. Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education, 7(4), 245-255.

Stiler, G. M., & Philleo, T. (2003). Blogging and blogspots: An alternative format for encouraging reflective practice among preservice teachers. Education, 123(4), 789-797.