You may wonder why I titled this blog post "Read All A-Blog It," well wonder no more. This entry will be based on answering some questions about an article I found from The New York Times. It was based on the logic of blogging in the classroom. As anyone could tell from my former posts I feel strongly about blogging being used in classrooms, so when I was reviewing articles to post about I felt this one was the most relevant to my own school blogging assignment.
The author of this article is clearly responding to the use of blogs being used in the classroom as an effective way of teaching. This article is based on blogging at an elementary level, but it exceeds the possibilities to be relevant for any age group. The author is trying to get across that if small children can use blogs and it be an effective way for them to express themselves, why not older students as well?
The author is agreeing with the use of blogs. It can be seen that he is agreeing because of the references and quotes he is using from the school mentioned in the article. He gets the opinions of teachers that not only agree with the use of blogs but are doing everything they can to incorporate the use of blogs into there own classrooms. These teachers discuss using the blogs on assignments, because it is an easy way to give the students immediate feedback. I see what he is saying and I agree with him. As a student myself this is such a great mechanism for students. When doing a writing assignment it is always so important to have any kind of feedback. I realize this article is addressing it in the form of younger students but it can be seen in a versatile light for the effective use of feedback on writings from the older students to.
There is a lot of motivation for this argument. The author who is interviewing these teachers is seeing a whole new side to blogging. These teachers are looking ahead to the future. This is something that the author picks up on. The author is aware, as are the teachers, that technology is constantly changing. Having the younger kids pick up on the constant changing is something will benefit throughout their educational experience.
Anyone who reads this article would be able to tell that the article is mainly centered around the use of blogging in this one particular school, but I chose to dig deeper into the words. The people the author interviewed are the educators that are teaching the future of society. If these kids aren't motivated to do well in school then that decreases the chance of a successful working class in the future. Writing is a big part of the process of getting a respectable education. Encouraging these young students to write about even a simple field trip could forever change the way they perceive writing. They are getting a hands on learning experience with immediate feedback. Teachers are being trained in the use of this technology and it is helping further there technology skills along with the students.
This brings in another point that the use of blogging in a classroom is not only benefiting the students technological advances, but also benefiting the teachers.
You can't have blogging without the use of technology. This article explores the use of blogging in the education system so I believe it is necessary to showcase technology as a form of educational use in schools, too. Technology is a 'hot topic' in the education world because it is constantly changing. Teachers need to stay on top of the ever changing track of technology as much as the students. Blogging is a huge part of technology and if the teachers want to have an advantage along with students, this use of technology will be helpful to them in there careers.
On another note, this article is dated back in 2004. Most people would have wanted something more current. I used an article from that year to show how far the blogging system in schools has come throughout the years. In the year 2004, blogs were just being introduced and now I am using one on my college English assignment. I used this article to show how effective blogging can be and has been, since it was first discovered as a teaching mechanism. This article shows how relevant blogging is and how much it has improved after eight years.
No matter who you are, whether it be a student, a teacher, or anyone else, get yourself a blog. You'd be amazed at how writing in a constructive way can change the way you perceive things.
Have a lovely day, always remember to stop and enjoy the sunshine.
~Kelsey
Article Cited:
Selingo , Jeffrey. "In the Classroom, Web Logs are the New Bulletin Boards." Technology. The New York Times, 19 August 2004. Web. 23 Sep 2012.
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