JOURNAL #3
WEB 2.0 - Five Don’ts of Classroom Blogging
Julie Sturgeon
In this article the author poses five potential problems to blogging in the classroom. The first is “Don’t just dive in.” The importance here is to set up guidelines with both students and their parents making sure that both parties understand the blogging project and what sort of conduct will be tolerated when blogging. There should also be consequences such as losing Internet privileges if the conduct is not followed. Teachers should thoroughly research blogging by searching for interesting educational blogs and contacting the educators behind them for advice. It is important to recognize what blogging can do for students. It is a great way to get students to begin writing non-fiction works. Blogging allows students to use images, video, and music which enhances the students desire to write. The second “don’t” is “don’t confuse blogging with social networking.” You should remember that blogging is not for socializing. It should be used to assist student to get through there coursework with input from their peers. Students should be including thought provoking questions at the end of their entries to invite valuable comments. The next is “Don’t leap at the freebies.” Most of the free platforms do not offer the structure and safety that a school might need. They are often filled with advertisements which teachers have no ability to block out. Class Blogmeister is recommended because it filters each student’s entry through the teacher before posting. The fourth pitfall is “Don’t force a sequential style.” It is recommended to structure entries by topic rather than by time to help readers make more sense of the blog. Some good information might get buried among the blog structure. It is important to map out what is the important gain for students from the blog so that you don’t develop a product that does not have the impact it could have. The final is “don’t leave the blogging to the students.” Teachers need to be involved in the blogging both on the classroom blog and possibly even their own blog. It is important to be a part of the community that blogging creates.
Questions:
1. Should the potential problems mentioned in the article inhibit teachers from including blogging in their classrooms? I do not believe these problems should stop a teacher from starting a blog for the classroom. First these are potential problems and I think it is important for teachers to have a grasp of all the issues surrounding a class project in order to make it better. It is important to look at the rewards. Blogging allows teachers to see their students through another light. It gives children the opportunity to speak up when in regular classroom situations they might not. Blogging gives students the opportunity to read, write, and process information in an interesting way.
2. How can blogging help teacher to become better at their craft? The same way it is used to improve student’s learning, it could work the same for teachers.
By creating a blog that includes teaching artifact and tentative projects, a teacher can get feedback from others in the field. Suggestions can be made to improve the ideas and/or other ideas from a different point of view to enhance the teaching process
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