I don't have much experience with blogs, but already I am beginning to see the benefits of this technology for the classroom. This blog that we created in class is my first attempt at blogging. I do "subscribe" to one local blog in my hometown, Dan Woog's "06880" and I receive a daily post via email. I read it always and often follow the links for more information on the topic of the day, which runs from local history and politics to the achievements of students and townspeople in the arts, and so forth. If the topic is particularly volatile (e.g. local politics) I will click on the link to read some of the comments, and I have occasionally posted comments myself.
Having read "Teddy Bears Go Blogging" I see how extremely valuable blogging can be for students, even in the primary grades. Teacher Brenda Sherry shares how easy it was to create her class' blog, to upload photos, to add links, and so forth. She notes that her students were more motivated to spell and edit correctly since their work was being published on the Web. And the cultural outreach project with students in Australia, which had run successfully in the past using email, was even more successful with the blog: students were able to work independently, to review previous postings, to comment, reflect, and even work from home. And the blog allowed the class to reach a wider audience and receive comments which was very exciting for them.
These same principles apply no matter what the age or grade of the students. Before this class I had thought that much blogging was a waste of time (still true in certain instances), and I also thought that the "casual" nature of it meant poor communication skills (sloppy writing, spelling, etc.), but I see now that properly used in the classroom setting, blogging can add value to the learning experience in a very exciting way.
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