Blog Reflection C

I think that blogs can be integrated appropriately and effectively in K-12 classrooms. The concerns over security and managing content can be address through educating the students and using features within the blog to review a post before allowing it to be published. The teacher's role is to design the instruction that incorporates the blog, manage the content, and coach the students through the process of posting appropriate content.

To be effective, there needs to be a reason the blog is created and a reason for authors and viewers to visit the blog. Inside the classroom, those reasons can include a place to publish student work, an opportuntity for students to comment on each other's work, a place to find resources needed to complete classwork such as instruction, websites, and helpful postings.

Outside of the classroom, the blog is available to students and parents at home as a platform for communication and a resource for information. One of my current students is learning long division for the first time as a 5th grader (this is usually learned in 4th grade). Her parents are from another country and learned another process for long division. I have located an on-line demonstration example through our math text book and linked it to my blog. I was able to show the parent how to get to my blog through our school blog and the link at a parent conference on Friday. The mother now has the resource she needs to support her daughter's practice of long division. I also let the mom know that this math resource has all of the required vocabulary her daughter is expected to know, such as quotient. The student will need to know the process as well as the specific vocabulary to be successful in math. I've posted this information on a math resources page. Students and their parents go to these resources for help with homework and to remediate the skills they need to achieve their grade-level standards.

A blog could also be established to support a specific project for older students. It would be a way for a grade-level or various sections of the same class to communicate with each other on their progress. Students could be responsible for designing the blog and making posts as they develop content. The security feature that allows only specific viewers could be used while the blog is "under construction". Once the teacher has approved the content, it could then be released to a wider audience.

The blog itself is also an excellent tool to teach copyright law and critical thinking when evaluating information on the Internet. The teacher would have the opportunity to model appropriate Internet practices and the class would have the opportunity to demonstrate and reflect upon their understanding of developing and accessing Internet content. So many students are posting pictures and information on Internet sites without considering the consequences. Blogging in class would be another opportunity to reinforce the responsibilities and dangers that come with making your thoughts and information available through the Internet and other networks such as Twitter. Blogging in class would also help students learn how important it is for one to evaluate the information learned through these sources.