Blogging in Education

Blogging was something I had never heard of until this class. I was somewhat familiar with "MySpace", which is similar to blogging, but I had no experience with blogs. It took me some time to learn how to navigate and effectively use my blog, but once I got the hang of it, it became very useful. I plan to keep my blog and continue adding to it throughout the years. I have published a lot of useful information that will help me during my teaching career.

I reviewed a few different student's blogs, because I found that some students did not understand the blogging assignments. I came across one student that did not have one single post that related to the actual blog assignments. The student's blogs were about their own personal life and interests. Other students were so far behind on posts that I really don't think they have time to catch up before the end of the semester.

There were several students that had completed the correct blog assignments, and I found there opinion to be informative and interesting. This allowed me to re-evaluate my stand on certain subjects and take their opinion into consideration. This was actually similar to class discussions without the heated arguments that take up class time. I found this to be a very effective way to have students listen to others opinions. This also showed me that some students put more effort into their post than others, and there were a few that only did enough to barely skim by.

I hope to work at a school that promotes the use of blogs in the classroom. I think it is a great way to promote parent involvement. Parents can view what their children are learning and contribute when appropriate. I do think there would be issues with students not having computers or internet access at home, so I would not require them to work on their blogs for homework. I would allow class time for blogging and help the students become more computer literate.