This week has involved a lot of reading. The first chapter of our book, Blog, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms, had me thinking a lot about using an educational blog in my classroom. One thing that was stressed in the book was safety of the students and keeping their information secure. Recently, our IT director installed My Big Campus at school, which, from what I understand, is a way to keep the students' information secure. This is something that I plan to look into more and use in my classroom. Blogs seem like a great way to have students not only write more, but read more and learn to be an effective editor and collaborator at the same time. Another point that was stressed in this chapter was that teachers must understand that we are dealing with very technology-literate students and if we are going to implement new technologies, to make sure to be very comfortable with the technology.
The second chapter talked about the difference between blogging and journaling. Blogging should really take students' thinking to a higher level, rather than just discussing what they worked on or what they learned after completing an assignment. I also liked the point that was made that students who may be a little shy in class are given the opportunity to share their thoughts in a less intimidating way.
Our group work this week had a lot to do with blogs. We were asked to think about different topics and if they could be used in our environment or not. One of the topics really caught my attention and that was the topic of blogs for students with special needs. I hadn't ever really thought about this topic because I see blogs as something that can be used by all types of students. I hadn't really thought about the fact that they could be customized for certain groups of students. It was an interesting section for me.
