Catching Up! (Day 1 Reflection)

I have been convinced that blogging is a valuable tool for our classrooms. I was amazed when I watched the “Authentic Audiences” video. It’s true that our students write for a very limited audience in their 12 years of schooling. That leads me to public vs. private. Obviously, private blogs are more secure. I think that most users turn to private blogs because they give us a warm fuzzy feeling inside that provides us comfort in knowing that our thoughts are only being read by the audience that we have approved. Therefore, we know who will be reading and responding to what we write. I don’t think this is necessarily a good thing! By opening blogs to the public realm, we expand the opportunity for growth. Gaining feedback from a variety of sources challenges our beliefs and forces us to think outside of our comfort zone.

Students are publishing for the public every day. When they leave school they check and update facebook, myspace, and other social networking sites. When they walk into a school building, there is no connection. If we are to prepare our students for their world and not the past, we need to keep up. Blogging is a way of doing this. I read recently that, we are preparing our students for the past and not the future. As a teacher, it seems to me that student blogging is a step in the right direction. Using blogs will help our students close the “digital-divide” that currently exists between their lives and school.

Taking blogging to the classroom is a unique opportunity. Giving students time to reflect, internalize, and expand their beliefs is exciting. I don’t think enough emphasis is spent on personal growth. I would like to create an atmosphere where students are constantly thinking about the global connection of what they are learning. What better way to this then to give them a world to share it with. Realistically, I would like to begin this transition in my own classroom by providing a weekly “required” response and reflection time. While student will be encouraged to blog daily, I believe it’s more feasible to begin with a weekly “assignment.”

As we are taught, I have a few concerns about safety. Before I implement blogging into my classroom, I need to find a good tool. While I am comfortable with helping my students publish to the world, I’m still a little timid about letting the world comment to elementary students! As I stated earlier, it’s great to have a global audience. However, I believe there needs to be monitoring at the elementary level. Once I find a great tool that lets me monitor and approve posts, I will be more than thrilled to include blogging in my classroom!

~Lauren