Like I said before, blogs can be used in a large variety of ways. But the first thing most people think about when they think of blogs is writing. Blogs can teach about more than just writing, however. In fact, because the writing component is unavoidable, it would probably be beneficial to try to teach other lessons through blogs (especially for elementary teachers who have to teach several subjects to the same set of students).
Through blog/journal reflection, I could pose questions or problems for students to solve. For example, if I was asking students to reflect on math concepts we learned during class for the week, I could present a word problem for students to solve somewhere in their blog post. This would encourage creativity and problem-solving in my students.
Another option is to require students to reflect through podcasts or vodcasts. These tools require planning and, if working in a group, collaboration. It is really difficult to teach students how to work together. Giving students a fun project will encourage them to work together because they WANT to produce something of good quality to share with the class, and possibly the world.
I like how you are encouraging students to reflect on the school work that was just given and answer in the blog so they won't forget the work they just did in class.
ReplyDeleteI like the individual math question posts, that way students couldn't really cheat. Great ideas!
ReplyDeleteIncorporating subjects other than English is a good idea, even within a blog for a middle/high school class that is only one subject.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of wanting them to want to do something. When a child wants to do the work there are better outcomes than when they don not try at all.
ReplyDeleteI love how you are incorporating a variety of subjects for students to use blogs, and bringing in other types of technologies like podcast.
ReplyDeleteI like that you talk about the student wanting to do quality work that can be shared with the world. After all that is the goal- to teach our kids to impact the world positively.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of incorporating podcasts. This is a new fun way for students to express their voice. It also helps the kids who do not like standing up in front of their peers and talking.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. I think that giving students a fun project does encourage them to want to learn. It helped me want to learn when I was in school.
ReplyDeleteI love how broad your idea's are! There are so many different ways to execute teaching using blogs.
ReplyDeleteI like how you point out that learning writing skills through blogging is unavoidable, so lessons should be focused more on a specific subject. I think that all of the resources you mentioned: blogging, podcasts, and vodcasts, are going to become more popular when teachers become more aware of the positive effects they all have on students.
ReplyDeleteI like how you would incorporate podcasts or vogcasts along with blogging. I also like how you think that having students work together on something fun because it may make them learn more about a subject than just a packet of reading materials/work.
ReplyDeleteI like the math concept because I'm learning to be a math teacher as well and those are good ideas that will help the students understand and be creative all in one.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of having the students work together on a fun project to help teach the idea of collaborative learning. Hands-on lessons always seem to stick with the students more!
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of having the students work together on a fun project to help teach the idea of collaborative learning. Hands-on lessons always seem to stick with the students more!
ReplyDeleteI like how you would use blogs not just for a writing or English class but for other subjects as well. Also giving group projects this way is a good idea.
ReplyDeleteI really like the idea you have to push for creativity and problem solving skills, on more than just a level of writing, but for something like math too.
ReplyDeleteI like how you're incorporating other subjects in your blog rather than just writing.
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