Responding to the use of Web 2.0’s Blogs

Blogs found their way into the classroom shortly after their creation. The whole gamut of instructional strategies could be utilized with blogs in an educational setting. The idea of students creating reflection pieces that become classroom discussions can be used to fit both student-led and teacher-led models. At the most basic level: a teacher could create a blog related to a piece of content, and students could take part in the online discussion. I teach mathematics at a high school that has at least a laptop for every two students. Students could easily use their blogs as a place for a mathematical journal. Students would explain how they used the mathematics. If the site for the blog was able to use math type, then students could really explain their problem solving strategies.

Both inquiry and idea-based models could be explored by the students using blogs as reflection pieces. Other students would be responsible for commenting on their peers blogs and a great discussion could be documented. The value of a blog does not disappear once the assignment is completed. The record is kept, and you can have the students return to a particular student blog later in the course to connect content. I think that student blogs would work most effectively with an idea-based instructional strategy. Students would attempt to apply and explore this big idea and document their thoughts. The high level of thinking that observed would leave a larger imprint in the students’ minds.
It is important that a system is created in which the teacher monitors the blogs. It would be very easy to subscribe to each blog using their RSS feeder page. The teacher has to take an active approach when dealing with these particular sites. In addition, it will take considerable scaffolding on the part of the teachers at this school (from all of the core areas) to ensure that students are using the blogs effectively.

I would love to experiment with blogs in my classrooms. However, it seems that our intermediate school district has blocked most sites that include the word blog in it. I am still searching for a way that does not cost the school district money to employ the use of blogs. I am not sure if I would be immediately ready to have the students create blogs that are completely public. I have witnessed many blogs and other threads contain public comments that attack the other in inappropriate ways. I could imagine that my older students could handle these types of comments better than my younger students. Again, there is scaffolding involved with having students manage their own blogs. I realize that there is great value in creating global dialogues for students, but it has to be monitored very closely.

I could see myself using blogs as a reflective journal piece where students comment on the application of various pieces of content. For example, students might discuss how they might apply quadratics in problem solving situations. They might comment that they can use a quadratic model to solve physical science problems that involve the trajectory of an object. The student would have to explain the process of finding the x-intercepts and their relationship to the objects height and so forth. I like the idea of using blogs to discuss the problem solving strategies and real life applications, because students will be able to come back and reference the great blog entries. The students will be able to use them as study tools when they get closer to a traditional type of assessment. I could also see myself as a tool to use when students are involved in an inquiry-based or idea-based project. Students would use blogs to document their progress and their individual or group’s line of thinking. The other groups and myself would be able to reply to their post and engage in a group discussion.