Classroom Blogs

After reading the first chapter of Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms by Will Richardson, I was reminded of a time in my childhood, particularly the nineties, when I was learning how to look up information in encyclopedias.  This was a skill that was described to me as essential to my academic future; one that I would use to get information for papers I would have to write and research I would have to do.  Then, in almost no time at all, the internet happened.  Now, in place of encyclopedias, students use websites, skype, social networks, and blogs to complete assignments at home, and now slowly are being introduced to educational websites within the classroom.  As a current substitute teacher, blogs, however, are not used in classrooms as much as other web tools. This blog post is therefore a reflection of how I may be able to use blogs in my future public school language classroom.

I like the idea of using a blog as an E-portfolio for each student.  These students can post any work that may be a work-in-progress, such as an essay, short story, or even sentences in the target language depending on their language level.  The use of a blog to do this would allow students to comment on posts by their peers with either words of encouragement or suggestions for improvement. I think this would help students work with each other within an engaged learning community to complete their best work.  It would also allow me as their teacher to be able to actually read the 'learning' that is taking place as they comment and adjust their work according to suggestions.  This aligns with the ACTFL Communities and Communication standards.

There are a lot of ways teachers can use blogs as a tool for professional development.  One way that I would be interested in trying would be to use the blogs as a source to gain endless ideas from other bloggers who have suggestions for teaching materials or post informative articles, or even suggest other sites to use with language learners.  The idea of a blog allowing anyone's voice or ideas is so mind-blowing when I think of how many teachers are out there who have years of experience under their belt.  The use of comments would allow suggestions or tips on any topic posted by a blogger who is either asking for opinions or simply sharing ideas.  I look forward to getting a chance to try these ideas out in my future classroom!