Blogs Continued....

    I started doing research into the ways you can incorporate blogs in the classroom by first looking into the textbook we are using for my technology class Web 2.0: new tools, new schools. It described blogs as "a set of personal commentaries on issues the author deems important. It contains texts, images, and links to related information on other blogs, Web pages, and media...in which both the bloggers and commenters exchange opinions, ideas, and attitues."(55)
    The textbook also gave quite a few examples of ways teachers have used blogs in their classrooms. There were quite a few I thought were interesting. One teacher used her blog to give her students the list of homework and answers to previous homework assignments. She also used it as a way to put up the class notes, which contain the main idea learned in that particular class. Another teacher at Paine Elementary in Trussville, Alabama used a blog as a way for students to communicate and ask questions of soldiers who were fighting in the war in Iraq. (http://www.paineandthesoldiers.blogspot.com/) Other teachers have used their blogs as a discussion area where the teacher or student posts questions about the curriculum topics and let an open discussion take place. Obviously there are quite a few ways to incorporate blogs educationally into the classroom and next time I will continue my research topic with the safety issues of blogs.

Using Blogs in the Classroom

Over the course of doing this blog I have come to wonder: just how do teachers incorporate blogs into their classrooms? How do they make them educational? How do they make it safe for the students? These are all questions that I hope to answer in the next couple posts. I will be doing research on this and post examples of blogs teachers have used. I will also post some of my own ideas and insights on ways that blogs can be successfully used in the classroom to encourage learning.

Classroom Websites!

   Lately we have been working on our classroom websites. They have been a challenge for me since I have never before attempted to build a website, but I think I am finally starting to get the hang of it. Our websites have pages for parents, students, and other teachers. They also have to incorporate items such as a page on the curriculum the students are learning, a presentation, and Picasa slideshow. When I first began working on the site I did not realize just what all you can do on a classroom webpage, but as I have researched and worked on it more I have come to see the possibilities. I can assign homework, have parents fill out forms, have links to 'homework help' web pages, and discuss what we are learning about in class. I can also incorporate media such as educational videos and pictures of work the class has been doing. I can use the website as a way to keep parents involved and informed on what is going on in our classroom.
   The website can also help improve student learning by having fun games and activities that can help teach them concepts they find difficult. I can also post practice questions that the students can fill out. The students can use these to review over material and I can use them as an assessment to see if the class as a whole has an understanding of the material. I can also post the homework assignments on the website so that if a student forgot or is unsure of what they are suppose to be doing they can easily access it. Our world today has become more and more technology based. By incorporating technology such as interactive classroom websites students can experience learning in a fun, more meaningful way.