"We cannot fight the technology." I find myself saying this in the teacher's lounge as SOME teachers complain about the kids and their dependence on technology these days. I do agree that using technology to replace personal socialization in general is a dangerous trend; however, if we can use technology in our classroom to improve student engagement, I am all for it.
As I am new to blogging myself, I find myself excited to learn in more detail about how to implement the use of blogs in the classroom. With social networking sites like Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter taking up a lot of a teenagers home life; why not get on-line with them. It not only gives a forum for discussion outside of the classroom, but it enters a world that many students have become comfortable with using.
A teacher could use blogging in a variety of different ways. They could use it to post readings and have students comment on the readings. It could be used to allow students to develop their own blogs on a guided topic, or something that they are interested in. Whatever it might be it is just another tool that we should embrace as teachers and use to our advantage to better engage students in education.
2 years ago
Great Post! I agree with you completely that blogs could be very beneficial to my social studies classroom by allowing students to communicate with each other as well as with their peers all over the world. (I admit this while also admitting that I am finding learning all of this new technology myself quite challenging!) However, I think we need to embrace the technological advances that are out there and find new and creative ways to adapt them to classroom use. Blogs seem like a truly authentic way for students to engage in real-world skills that will make them more prepared for the world after high school. The better we prepare them, the further they will be able to go!
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