The Joy of Blogging

Blogging is an essential tool that promotes learning and instruction in schools.  Bringing blogs into classrooms supports 21st century learning by using a form of social media and technology and adapting it to provide for the educational needs of students. Teachers should use blogging as an instructional tool because:

-Students can connect with an audience that wouldn't be possible without blogging.

"I heard from someone in New Zealand," is not a likely statement from a traditional classroom as students don't generally have access to peers and teachers from around the world.(Davis & McGrail, 2009, np).    However, using blogs in the classroom makes this a possibility.  By blogging their thoughts and opinions, students can get a feel for how opinions from teachers and students around the world compare and contrast with their own.

-Student interest and self-directed learning is promoted 

Blogging allows students to receive feedback on their posts and then explore these comments.  Some students use the comments to fix spelling errors, some engage in lengthy discussion, and some take to the internet for further study.  "Not everyone was doing the same thing, but all were on a path to explore, experiment, and test their own understandings" (Davis & McGrail, 2009, np). 

-Students can develop their own unique voice

Blogs offer students an outlet to develop and use their own voice.  Students are able to express their thoughts and opinions in a much more efficient manner than in a typical essay. And as students developed this voice, " they began to move from peripheral to full participation," by controlling their blogging experience as they desire feedback on their own opinions and offer feedback to the opinions of others (Davis & McGrail, 2009, np). 

The following image serves to summarize the idea of using student blogging as an instructional tool.  The image shows a teacher explaining a portion of a blog to a student.  While student blogs are helpful for the previous reasons, they also help as a teacher can roam around the classroom and provide individual instruction as necessary to help each student to the best of his/her ability.

Student Blog Training by Project Exploration

Are you interested in have your students create their own blogs in your class?  If so, check out Kidblog.  This site gives you a place to set up your student blogs and control the access to them in order to promote safe and quality blogging.    

Reference List

Davis, A. P., & McGrail, E. (2009). The joy of blogging.Educational Leadership, 66(6), 74-77. Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/mar09/vol66/num06/The-Joy-of-Blogging.aspx

Project Exploration. (Photographer). (2011, June 27). Student Blog Training  [Web Photo]. Retrieved from http://www.flickr.com/photos/projectexploration/5926200875/