I am new to blogging. I have always resisted it because I used to think it that it took a certain kind of arrogance to think that people would be interested in whatever I have to say. I have come a long way since then, and just being in this class has opened my eyes in a sense.
There are all sorts of ways that blogging could be useful in classrooms. As a history teacher, it is a little bit more difficult to keep their use relevant, but I have thought up a few ways that I could utilize blogging in my classroom.
Firstly, assignments could be submitted just like this one is being done. Any essay or question assignment I give to my students could be handed in via a blog. This would allow to me access them wherever I am and cuts down on the amount of paper my class is using as well as the weight of paper I would drag between home and work everyday. This can only be seen as a positive.
Getting more creative, the variety of assignments I could issue to my students would blow up. One example could be a history I-Spy, that would require students to find links, pictures, or other online sources and post them in their blog. I could be doing a unit on the battles of World War One and the students could be assigned the task of finding 5 major battle sites on Google Maps and embedding the views in their blog. The opportunities are endless really.
So. This concludes the first written blog entry in this future educator’s career. It will not be the last, as the value of such a medium is infinitely clear to me now.
Great post! I really liked your history scavenger hunt idea, I feel like it would really encourage students to participate in class and hopefully enjoy the assignment a bit more than they would if they were required to locate the photos in an atlas (I’m not even certain that our students today would know what an atlas was or how to use one..). I also agree with your comment about how student blogging will cut down the amount of paper that teachers will need to cart back and forth for marking.
Nice picture, useful hyperlinks, and good insight. Great work!
Thank you Kayla. I appreciate the input.