Blogging Discussion Questions. Week of Jan 28 - Feb. 4

   This week our assignment was to answer the following Blogging Discussion Questions:

1. How can you use blogs in your classroom? Remember - blogging can contain video recording, this is normally called vlogging.
2. Where or how will blogs fit into your curriculum?
3. What is the purpose of blogging in the classroom?

     As a future educator, I am so excited by just some of the possibilities to incorporate blogging into the classroom.  Here are just a few examples.  Create a blog to communicate class/school information with parents. Post field trip information, field trip forms, parent helper calendars, general classroom guidelines and more.  Create a blog with daily lessons listed for students who are sick or gone.  I can use a blog to showcase individual art projects throughout the year.  Create a blog where students share stories about their favorite holiday, or a blog about special holiday traditions in their family.
  
   Blogging can be incorporated into the curriculum in a similar manner any writing or research assignment is applied.  For example, I could post a daily writing prompt that students can access and respond to in the blog. They can read their classmates responses, and learn to develop their own ideas. I can even have the students respond to each other’s posts to encourage the students to expand their ideas by responding to their classmate’s questions.

     There are numerous purposes and benefits of blogging in the classroom.  Here are just a few examples.  It is highly motivating to students, especially those who otherwise might not become participants in classrooms. It is an excellent opportunity for students to read and write.  It is also an effective forum for collaborating and discussion.  Blogging also serves as a powerful tool to enable scaffolded learning or mentoring to occur.