So I've never blogged before and I'm a little nervous. I have avoid online personal information due to being a teacher as well as all of the horrible stories about stealing identities and the fact that online information is available to EVERYONE!
Since I have been playing around with blogs I have found some interesting things. You can add a calendar, pictures, games, etc. to your blog. Isn't the point of a blog to get your ideas and information out to the masses? Isn't the point of a blog to clear your ideas? Why put all sorts of extra distracting items onto your personal space for thinking?
I know that my students are all about the internet and blogging. My students come running in and tell me all about something they have read on the internet. I have been thinking about the benefit of blogs. My students LOVE the days when they get to write about anything they want. Some of them have trouble getting started, but the majority of them are engaged and interested since it's personal to them. Giving the students the opportunity to blog about any topic they want seems to me something my students would throughly enjoy. I have to find a way to make it enjoyable to the students, on topic that I give them, and have them actually do it. It seems that would be more work for me. I would have to go on multiple times to check who's posted, when they've posted, if it's appropriate, if the students are really showing me they understand the concept, etc. At the same time, since blogging is something my students would enjoy, they could get into it, add to others post, read other's ideas, etc. Pros and cons of everything......
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I was interested in your comment about all the distractions. I like all the little gadgets, but I could see them distracting people from the purpose. I could see limiting them on a blog that has a message or a goal to things that have to deal with that topic so that people are focused on what you are trying to get across.
ReplyDeleteDo our kids get distracted? Seems they always set up so much input. I don't know how they do it! I have to plug my ears to read a paragraph.
ReplyDeleteYour comment about the more work for you with the blogs seems to be one we say a lot in this class, so here is the answer we keep saying, "In the long run it will save us time..." :) We can hope!
I agree with you. I too have avoided blogging in order to keep my personal life at bay from my school life. As I continued reading I realized I never thought about allowing students to write about whatever they wanted to. I think that is very neat that your students engage and work when you have time to allow them to write their own information.
ReplyDeleteDo you think if you allow them to create a blog where they can write about their own information it would improve their enjoyment of writing?
Karilee, thank you for your agreement. Sometimes I wonder if I am becoming that teacher that always looks for the negatives in new things. Glad to know at least some of my points are valid! :)
ReplyDeleteShanae, I know! Students are able to drown out noise and other distractions with no problem! I should know....when I was in college I could not study without TV or something else in the background. I was thinking of more like the games where students could say "I went to the site and I was there for 45 minutes" but really were playing a game!
Katie, I like to give students the opportunity to write about things that they are thinking or feeling or just want to share! I do this because they have things on their mind and this gets it out in a productive way. They no longer need to run and share things with their friend or neighbor, they get it out by writing it. It does not completely shut out the need for sharing, but it cuts it down a lot!