Benefits of Blogging in the Classroom

"What is real learning? This is when students are more engaged in learning activities in which they take ownership." When reading the assignment for this week, this quote stood out to me. Learning is when children can explore and expand their zone of proximal development (the space in between what they already know and what they are capable of learning with guidance from a more experienced person). Nowadays, more and more schools are having children write their own blogs. You may ask: "What are the benefits?" "How will this help children to learn?

Keeping a blog allows students to take control of what they are learning. I have learned that Blogs are basically electronic journals where students can type reflections, create discussion questions, and even add videos or images that they feel relate to their topic. Blogs give students a choice of what to reflect on and allow them to see what they may need to improve. Along with reflections, blogging expands students' Literacy because not only will they read and write in their blogs, they will also read the blogs of their peers and post comments for their peers to read and to discuss with each other.

According to David Wetzel,there are several benefits to using blogs in the classroom environment. First, they allow students to increase collaboration and discussions with each other. Not only can students read blogs that their classmates wrote, but students can also access blogs that other children all over the world have written. Students will then be able to read about and discuss any similarities or differences that they may have with people all over the world.Next, it is suggested that blogs allow for continual learning. Students can find information for their blogs in magaines, encyclopedias, informational books, the internet, etc. There is endless information that students can use to create and keep up with their blogs. After finding the information, students can then create their blogs and teach their peers. The benefit that I find to be the most important is differentiated instruction. Blogging allows students to be creative- from the style of writing that they use to the text format to the template and pictures that they add. It allows students to have their creativity infiltrate into their writing.

Aside from increasing students' writing skills, reading skills, and peer collaboration, blogs allow the teacher to see if students fully understand what it is that they are learning. They are a good way for teachers to see what information students are retaining or where there may be confusion.

All in all, I think that allowing students to write blogs will be beneficial. They allow students to be creative, making them more fun and intriguing to write.

Until next time...

New Approach to Learning

In classrooms today, I have seen many new techniques for teaching being implemented. I feel as though right now is sort of an experimental time in education because we are figuring out how to bridge the gap between a classroom where the teacher is in total control and a classroom where the students control their learning process. The pyramid shows the retention rates for passive teaching methods (teacher is in control) and participatory teaching methods (students participate in discussions, conferences, teaching peers etc.). The pyramid clearly indicates that students have a much higher retention rate when they are involved in the lessons. Having done several classroom observations, I find that this is true. The passive teaching style is often only targeted for one group of students and will not reach many of the students in the class. This style often is geared for the more advanced students who do not need futher practice or even further explanation. However, participatoy teaching methods allow all students to be involved in the lessons. All students are guided by the teacher and participate in discussions and collaboration with peers. This piques students' interests and maintins their attention, therefore increasing their retention rates. Also, this method teaches students to listen to others before providing input and learn how to communicate effectively.