I see myself using blogs sparingly in my personal life, and only under a few circumstances. I might set up a blog once I have children to keep far away relatives updated with pictures and funny stories. Or I might set up a blog if I was going on an extended adventure to other countries and wanted to keep my family informed and jealous about all of the cool stuff I was doing. Other than that, I think I would probably only set up a blog and attend to it if it were part of a class I was taking. As I have said in a previous post, I am not very good at maintaining online communication.
As a teacher I would try my best to maintain a blog for my students. One particular use I see would be maintaining a discussion forum where I would post topics of discussion and they would comment on those topics. Also, it could be a place for students to raise questions for the rest of the class and myself. I believe I would prefer to maintain a website for all of my classes and department combined (I am writing this with being a high school drama teacher in mind) with particular blogs for the different classes.
If I were writing a blog for other educators I would share and ask for ideas for the classroom and use the space to discuss issues that were relevant to our district.
I know there is an endless list of uses for blogs and hopefully I will gain ideas by looking through my classmates blogs!
Hi Alyssa,
ReplyDeleteI would not use a blog for myself personally either! I feel the way you do about trying to keep up with facebook and emailing! I am beginning to see the value in it from a journaling perspective however. Professor B mentioned to me in my blog that it can show a progression of learning which I think can really help a student when they reach a frustration point and feel as if they aren't getting something. As the teacher, it could be pointed out how far along they have come, if a blog had been used. Nice post! :-)
Hi, Alyssa and Lisa!
ReplyDeleteI think I also would sort of shirk away from a personal blog. I like the idea of blogs with a specific purpose. They'd be easier to manage and to market.
I read on one of the class blogs (I think it was one of our blogs, sorry, can't recall which one ;-<) that kids really don't blog and they don't twitter. Adults do. Kids prefer to text and Facebook, probably because it's quicker and they aren't limited to a specific number of characters.
As we get further into studying the tools available to us, I am really seeing the different applications for various tools, which is kind of neat!
Some place in the last several days I've asked the class to consider how they would promote their blogs. Two factors come to mind as to why someone might read a particular blog; the topic is interesting or the writing is fun to read. I fail in both cases. My best option is having a blogging class where I force students to read my blog.
ReplyDeleteCan you fit in this picture?
Hahaha! You have achieved your goal then... Good work! I read that some of the top blogs were related to technology, entertainment, popular people/leaders, beauty, and babies... oh, and people with really interesting stories.
ReplyDelete