Creating
a blog for your classroom can be helpful for many different reasons. While
communicating with parents is one, and a great one at that, it goes much deeper
than this. Students are also able to check the classroom blog to check in
on upcoming events and assignments in the classroom. They are also being opened
to a new and different way of interacting with their teachers and with
their peers. An article tiled, "9 Reasons Why Teachers Should Blog,"
listed "Showcase Student Work" as one of those reasons, and I could
not agree more. Students deserve praise and recognition for their handwork
and they will feel noticed and important when they see their handwork
showcased on their teachers blogs. It will also be a great resource for other
teachers to be able to see how different classrooms tackle assignments
with various approaches. To read more about that article and the other reasons
why teacher should blog, click here.
Having students create their own blog could be beneficial in multiple different ways. Giving them the freedom to write about a topic that they choose will allow them to let their creative minds flow. Allowing them to put their thoughts and feelings down and share them for the world to see in an appropriate manner is a great skill to have. They will carry those skills with them as they grow throughout schooling and into adulthood. We need to encourage our students more often to run with what they are passionate about, and something as simple as having them create their own blog is planting the seeds for those creative minds to run.
Palmer, Tsisana. "9 Reasons Why Teachers Should Blog." Edutopia. Edutopia , 30 Mar. 2016. Web. 23 Feb. 2017.
Thanks, Beth, for sharing about yourself and allowing us to get to know you better. The Royal Prom sounds like an amazing event.
ReplyDeleteYou are right about blogs being an easy way to communicate with others. I would also encourage you to think about how a blog can be great for self-reflection. This would allow a teacher to really think through what has worked and not worked in his/her classroom.
On the student side, also think about editing and commenting skills. These skills could prove to be big benefits for blogging students. Learning how to comment and give constructive feedback to a fellow student will help as they move forward as a student.
Here's another article on blogging that you might find interesting. http://www.emergingedtech.com/2015/09/the-state-of-blogging-in-the-classroom/