With so many technological advances in today’s world, educators are provided
with so many options. But that’s just it…all of the options. Blogs,
Wikis, Podcasts. Where does one even begin? How about beginning
somewhere simple? Somewhere that provides a level of ease and
comfort. But that’s just the half of it. How about the
legalities? Richardson brings up many good points in the first two
chapters of his book, Blogs,
Wikis, Podcasts and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms. With
safety concerns, both students and teachers must be aware of what is being
shared. Richardson states that research has showed that blogs can promote
critical thinking in students (20). Through the use of blogging, students
can post assignments, journals, links, etc. Although I have not seen
these types of technologies utilized in the lower grades, I'm
wondering how common they might be for teachers and students in secondary
education.
As a middle school and high school teacher, I know that my schools use blogging quite a bit. While I personally don't feel they align very well with my classes (I teach beginning levels - they are barely learning to string sentences together!) I know that the Tech Ed class and several Language Arts classes use blogging regularly. Similar to what was mentioned in our book about kids blogging with the author of Secret Life of Bees, my colleague has mentioned how cool it is that students get comments from people all over the world: other teachers, other students, and even professionals in the field they write about. It's a great way to connect globally!
ReplyDeleteIn our local elementary school here in West Hartford, there are some very forward-thinking teachers who have set up scenarios using KidBlog to great effect. Two of my three children have experienced the fun and challenge of working on a blog and I believe they are better students as a result. Also, they have used Glogster to create some very interesting projects. And did I mention? This is in 2nd grade!
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