Using Blogs in the Classroom

Mr. Harbeck’s blog was great. I thought it was such a great use of a blog to connect with his students. I can see his students keeping his blog as one of their regularly visited sites just to check if there is anything new. They can look around at all the videos, pictures, and other posts whenever they want. How often would a student just go to their binder to look at all their math handouts? My guess is not very often. I loved how he put an encouragement on there to keep them motivated for the remainder of the year. I think that is such a great way to communicate a message like that. Students are much more accustomed to and willing to read short posts of someone’s thoughts accompanied by a picture than they are to listen to an adult lecture them about their lack of motivation. It is also a great way for students to help themselves by looking at the extra help he posted for the test and this may save class time.

Mr. Harbeck’s blog made me realize that teachers can use a blog for any subject. As a Spanish teacher I could have my students create a travel blog. They could choose a country and research the popular tourist attractions. They would then write, in Spanish, about their experiences in that country based on their research as if they were really traveling. They could post pictures and videos and if they wanted to get creative, could even photoshop themselves into pictures to make it even more realistic. Like Mr. Harbeck, I could post homework, practice exercises, vocabulary lists, extra help, study guides, and fun activities on the blog for constant student access. I could even post videos of native Spanish speakers paired with questions to check for comprehension. There seems to be endless possibilities.
I thought the “Don’t Feed the Trolls” article made good points. Just like any other new assignment, student online discourse needs clear guidelines. A lot of these suggestions sounded very familiar to what we have been taught to do in the classroom: role play rules, involve students in the creation of the guidelines, and model the rules for students. The only difference is that this is all being done online. I really liked the idea of students being able to give each other feedback. It is a form of immediate peer-review. Just as utilizing civil in-class discussions is important, so is online discourse essential for this generation of students.