Blog Basics

I chose my article because it discussed how teachers have picked up on the use of this Internet technology and put the blog to work in the classroom. The education blog can a very effective and essential technology tool in the classroom.
The article defined a blog as: a Web publishing tool that allows authors to quickly and easily self-publish text, artwork, links to other blogs or Web sites, and a whole array of other content.
Blog postings are text entries, similar to a diary or journal, and often include comments made by
people other than the author. Postings are often short and frequently updated. They appear on the web page in chronological order, starting with the most recent post.

The article discussed how blogs can serve at least four basic functions, including classroom management, collaboration, discussions, and student portfolios. Each of these function is important, and essential tool that has many advantages in the classroom. Classroom management blogs can help students stay updated by informing them of class requirements, due dates, homework assignments, and even act as a question and answer board. Blogs can serve as collaboration blogs, where teachers can offer instructional tips, and students can practice and benefit from peer review. Students can participate in cooperative learning activities, while sharing their ideas and suggestions with others. Also, a class blog opens the opportunity for students to discuss topics outside of the classroom. In discussion blogs, every student gets the chance to share their ideas and opinions with others. Finally, a blog can also be used for student portfolios. They can organize a student’s work, and become a digital portfolio. Students as well as teachers can look back at the work they did, and track improvement.

The article also provided information and steps for getting started on blogs. The steps that were given in the article are the same steps that we used to create the blogs for this class!

I think blogs are a really effective tool to use in the classroom. They are really easy to use, and require very little technological skills and knowledge. They can motivate students to participate in the virtual classroom, giving them excellent opportunities to read and write.

I would like to research some more ideas for using blogs in education. Some further research on first-person accounts for blog use in the classroom can be helpful, because one day, it can be me reading those blogs, instead of writing them!

This article can be found at the following link:
http://teachingtoday.glencoe.com/howtoarticles/blog-basics