Blogging FOR the Classroom

Creating a blog for a "pretend" classroom has been an interesting experience.  Originally I thought it would be extremely difficult to imagine that students would be reading this on a daily basis and using it to enhance their learning.  However, I then thought about it being like creating lesson plans for imaginary students in the Teacher Education program and how these are not meant to be perfect, but a way to experience what it would be like in the real world and learn from it.  That's what I did with this blog.

http://pedagogy.cwrl.utexas.edu/

Keeping a blog for students is very useful because children of extremely young ages are using technology to learn and experience their world.  If I can bring "their world" into my classroom, then their learning can only improve and become more engaging because it is more meaningful.

Differentiated Instruction is something I've heard a lot about this year, and maintaining a classroom blog can reach students of various learning styles.  Adding a variety of videos and audio clips is one way to engage your visual and auditory learners, and to add in interactive websites where students can drag-and-drop objects or type in text boxes is a way to engage kinaesthetic learners.  Even better, these things will benefit all students - which provides further evidence that a Universal Design for Learning is effective and very attainable.

A classroom blog can be a convenient way to combine various curricular subjects.  Websites such as BitStrips and SlideRocket can combine Language, Visual Arts, and Technology all into one performance-based task.  Webquests or Scavenger Hunts can allow students to explore an endless variety of educational websites while recording their findings on a website like Popplet, which could aid them in creating a piece of writing that is research-based.

Finally, updating a classroom blog can keep students and their families up-to-date on current classroom and school events, which eliminates having to e-mail parents or send out paper newsletters - it's eco-friendly!

I can't wait to be able to create a blog for a real life classroom one day!