Blogs can serve many purposes in the middle school classroom. Amongst these are to extend classroom discussions, to facilitate classroom projects and collaborations, or as a classroom management tool.
A blog can be very useful as a classroom management tool. Students and parents can be kept up to date on classroom rules and procedures, as well as class events, assignments and due dates. In lieu of a classroom newsletter, a classroom blog can be constantly updated to give frequent updates to students and their parents. Students or parents can then post questions as comments and the answers provided will be visible to others so as to provide more effective communication to the whole class. The benefits of such use would be that only one source must be maintained for class information. The downside is that not all parents are computer literate or have access at home. In these cases the teacher could print the blog for them and send it home (Baskind, 2010). Either way a written tutorial or some form of instructions should be sent home first to all parents, with possibly a form to send back either that they understand or would like accommodations (such as a print form).
Using blogs to induce or extend discussions outside of class benefits students in that they have time to think, reflect, research and respond to one another and to any question posed by the teacher. The blog can have access limited only to the teacher and students to protect their identities. Students will also learn about how to responsibly use blogging as a professional communication tool where their writing is published for others to read. A very important aspect is that classroom blogs require students to read and write. Reading and writing are critical skills that should constantly be reinforced across all content areas. Blogs also allow for participation from students who may be shy about speaking up in class, or come across and make their points better in written form. Another benefit of classroom blogs is that an ongoing discussion can be established allowing time for all students to research the topic. This way, students with less background knowledge of the topic have time to research and contribute to the discussion, instead of fading into the background and just listening because they don’t have anything to contribute.
A possible problem is that students may get sidetracked either in responding to blogs or posting their own. Students will have to be reminded that classroom rules extend into cyberspace and they must treat each other with the same respect they are expected to exhibit in the classroom. The teacher will have to constantly monitor the blogs to make sure students follow these rules, stay on track with the assignment, and follow school codes of conduct as well. Parental permission may need to be granted in some cases to ensure that policies having to do with display of student work are being adhered to (Crie, 2006).
Students can blog about class projects and receive peer feedback or collaborative effort from others in their group. Students can also share resources with each other and learn how to use hyperlinks. A creative teacher can use blogging to accomplish many purposes is his/her classroom, as long as specific directions are given so students don’t get off track. Benefits to this are that students can be assigned a group project with work to be completed outside of class and won’t have to worry about logistics. They can work through a group blog to keep in touch with research and to communicate what each student has accomplished. It would also be a great way for the teacher to be able to grade participation.
A general problem with using blogs in the classroom is that there is an off chance that a parent may not grant permission for their child to participate. If this happens the importance of the exercise must be taken into consideration along with the rest of the class. An alternate assignment may have to be provided for that student, just as would be done for a student whose parent did not sign a permission slip for a field trip.
Overall, blogs can serve many useful purposes to supplement classroom instruction as long as they are monitored properly and students are taught proper use. I believe that problems presented have reasonable solutions, and the benefits of classroom blogging will definitely make it worthwhile.
Works Cited
Baskind, S. (2010, August 22). What purposes can blogs be used in the
classroom? Message posted to https://blackboard.dcccd.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_17617_1%26url%3D
Crie, M. (2006, October). Using Blogs to integrate technology in the
classroom. Retrieved from http://www.glencoe.com/sec/teachingtoday/educationupclose.phtml/47
