A blog is a great way for a student to express what they might be going through at home, school, or work. It is important for every teacher to get to know their students, because that is how a teacher gains respect and learns how to push each individual student toward success. Yes, of course a teacher should know how they do in the school arena, but what about the 16 hours they spend outside of school. These 16 hours are a large chunk of the development of a child, teenager, and in some cases adults. If I were to have my students blog on a daily basis, like a journal, think of the skills they could learn. Proper grammar and different writing styles would definitely be incorporated within the lesson. Plus, I would be learning about each student individually which would help with the class cohesion and the relationship between teacher and student.
Not only would I be able to allow the students to use blogging as a journal, but I could post various assignments on my blog. Or, they could post and ask their classmates a question about the homework. There are endless possibilities that could be beneficial for all students and teachers if blogging was implemented in the classrooms. These are just a few that I have thought of. I find it interesting to think about the different ways teachers can use up-to-date technology like blogging in a classroom. It will gain the students attention and immediately you have a captive audience which in an eleventh grade US history classroom is exactly what you need.
Of course, you make great points about how blogging could be effective in a classroom; however, what I liked most was your idea about personal journalism. I was only thinking of ways to communicate with a group, but just like we are in THIS class, students can use a blog to write on specific topics, free style writing, and asking questions to other students. Great idea!
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