I think using Blogs in the classroom is an exciting thought. I see most of the uses for Blogs in the area of Language Arts because it has been noted to be an online personal journal as stated in the Winer 2003 article, but I think it can be used in many more subject areas. Below are some of my ideas:
Reading - I often have the children respond to their reading by writing me a letter about their book, writing a summary of a chapter, writing a letter to the author, etc. Instead of doing this in their Reading Journal, they could write it on their Blog. This would provide more feedback. They could also do book reviews. In fact, I might set up a separate Blog just for Book Reviews from our class. Then maybe we could open this up for other students in the school to look at.
Social Studies and Science - If the children are doing research to find out more information about certain topics, they could post their information on a Blog to share with others instead of doing a report or poster. Then, maybe other students could respond to the blogs.
Math - I'm thinking for math a Blog could be used for children to write a math story, or to write how they solved a certain problem.
Homework - This was my first thought of what I could do in my classroom. I like my students to do some of their writing at home. They have a writer's notebook for this, but I was thinking sometimes it might be a good idea to change it up and let them do their writing on their Blog.
Reflecting - I also have my children do a lot of reflecting, i.e. what did they like about this unit, what are some things they've learned, do they have more questions about the subject, etc. They could do this on their Blog.
I think Blogs are well-suited for using deductive and inductive strategies because you can have the children respond with explanations. Idea-based learning can also be done this way. I think simulation and problem solving is tougher to do, although I do think it would be a good way for students to have to think about how they solved something and then write it. I know this would be a challenge. Blogs are a great way to individualize learning and to respond with comments.
Bonus Question: The bonus question is interesting to me, especially the example of math facts. This seems to be the most difficult for me to get my head around. I'm thinking you could have a link to a math site that practices the facts and after the children are done with the site or have done it for a certain amount of time, they could write a reflection on the experience (what did they think about the site, was it good practice, etc.).
3 comments:
I especially liked your idea of using blogs for students to respond during Reading. Having students do this creates a nice record of their writing. It would be cool to print out the progression at the end of the year and see how their writing improved since September. I'm sure parents would love to see that as well as students. This is an organized and effortless way to do it.
I also really liked the homework idea... how great to never again have to hear 'I did it, but I left it at home.'
The idea of using a blog for book reviews is great to me! The students in your class could all have authorship to the blog and write a review each time they finish a book. Then, if they are wondering what book to read next, they can look at their classmates' opinions to help them choose. Once they finish a book that has been reviewed already, they can add a comment expanding on the thoughts already mentioned.
Blogs definitely have some unique ways of being included in regular classroom life. I like the ideas you mentioned.
I loved your post... it was very insightful. I completely agree with you that blogs can be used across all subject matter. I am really looking forward to attempting to use blogs in my classroom!
Post a Comment