Utilizing Blogs in the Classroom

There are many ways to use a blog in the classroom. The question is, what would its purpose be if all my students have access to the blog? I believe there are so many ways a blog can be used in the classroom. For instance, students can interact within a professional setting on a prompt such as Kathy Martin (2008) used in her lessons.

Due Dates:
I have students who are terrible at writing down assignments, and parents are upset because they do not know what homework their child has. A blog would be a great tool to list the assigned assignments and their due dates. This may decrease the number of late assignments.

Frequently Asked Questions:
Parents and students would be able to ask questions about anything related to the class. Teachers would be able to reply. While this is happening, there maybe other students or parents who have the same questions and see that they are not the only one, like the classroom frequently asked questions we have in the Walden University. Other students would be able to respond to each other as well. The will enhance students’ social and academic socialization. This is very convenient, however; this would be ideal if everyone has access to the internet.

Cross Curriculum Project:
As a small school, we tend to like cross curriculum projects such as “The Road to Success”. We talked about bridges in every class. What type of math do we use to determine about the size of the bridge? What types of bridges are well known in History? What does science have to do with bridges? Are there bridges in the human body? Are there other ways to define “bridges” in literary work? Students could be prompt with these types of questions on a created blog. They would be able to contribute to this in their class and perhaps if students are confident in their original thoughts, they may even go into the other classes’ blogs and contribute. This would be great to have student use academic and social skills while learning how to use today’s technology. Students would also see that everything can be considered in each subject and how they coincide.

Student’s Subject Journal:
Students would be able to set up their own account and keep a journal of their subjects, any notes they would like to keep in an electric folder. This will require students to read their notes, type them out, then synthesis what they learned by reflecting on the new materials. Students would be able to interact with what they recent knowledge they acquired.

Class Statistics Report:
In my school, TAKS scores are very low. Students are wondering about what the class is doing. They always ask what the average score on tests are. This is a great way to post averages of grades, tests, and benchmarks. Students would be able to see the class averages improve or go down. They would be able to reflect on the strategies they used. Was it successful or unsuccessful? What could they have done differently to obtain a higher score? This could also be a competition between classes. Who has the highest class average? Students will see the need to raise their class averages.

After all is said and done, these are a few factors that blogging can be used in the classroom. Technology should be used to enhance learning and to boost their confidence. With a blog as their own personal journal, students would be able have access to their notes or study guides at their fingertips. If the students lose their notes, they will be able to recover it by just a click of a print button. With the class report, students will be able to see what is going on, grade wise, with their class as a whole. Cross curriculum project gives the students a chance to collaborate and discuss. Teaching students how to interact is a crucial lesson. After all, they will be interacting with the public or within a company. Students will learn how to answer and reply to a question, whether they agree or disagree. The frequently ask questions blog will allow communication between parents and students. At the same time, a paper trail will be drawn. It is like killing two birds with one stone.