The Power of Blogs

I read Tamim Ansary's blog Blogs Invade Classrooms! in which he responds to a Newsweek article that essentially said that education boiled down to a teacher, a blackboard, and a classroom of kids eager to learn and that technology would have no significant impact.

Ansary discusses several benefits with which I absolutely agree. He points out that blogs facilitate discussion much like an in-class discussion. However, these online discussions have several benefits that face-to-face discussions do not have. Classroom discussions can be dominated by a select few (vocal) students. Often, these are the same students that respond every day in class. Online discussions require all students to participate, offering both new threads and commenting on peers' threads. As much as we as teachers try to get everyone involved in classroom discussions, often we cannot get everyone to contribute every day. Also, shy students often shine in these situations. I, as a shy high school student, often had insightful comments that I kept to myself, sometimes because I was intimidated by others in the class and sometimes because others were just so much louder and quicker in their responses.

Ansary also points out that blogs are an easy way to give students an authentic publishing outlet. I agree that when students have a wider audience than the classroom, they often produce higher quality work. Some classes even go so far as to write to the author of the novel they're discussing and inviting him/her to contribute to the blog. One example is a New Jersey high school's blog about Sue Monk Kidd's The Secret Life of Bees.


Another benefit of blogging is that it gives students another way to read and write. As much as some people don't think that texting and writing via Facebook and MySpace isn't true writing, students are engaged with language much more than they were in the past. And with the increase of hours spent online reading and writing, we should give them various writing outlets. As we do this, we also can help them realize the importance of switching between formal and informal writing styles and situations.

Blogs for Students to Read

I need to start to compile a list of blogs for my students to read. So far I've come across these:

Growing a Blog, which was helpful to me as well

Clay Burrell explains what makes a good blog and introduces us to Christina, one of his senior students.

Christina's blog

I'll continue to look around and add to this list.

Advantages of Blogging?

The more I read about blogging and implementing it in my classes, the more I realize I will have to take this slowly. I was all set to start the school year with my own blog and jump right into having my students create there blogs. However, I don't think this is a wise choice because I don't think I'll be a blogging "expert" by the time school begins.

I do plan to have my own English I blog, which would contain my syllabus and course materials. I also want to have a record of what we did in class that day, so students can access that information if they're absent before they even step foot back in the school. I'd also like to have all handouts available for them to print out. I know that in order for this to work I'm going to have to be extremely concientous about updating my blog every day. Every single day. I think it may be hard to have all of my handouts on the blog since I don't have electronic copies of all of my materials. However, I think it will be a valuable communication tool for students, parents, and special ed teachers.

Another issue I've been thinking about is whether the school will embrace students having their own blog. Looking around on Blogger I discovered the "Next Blog" button. I did find a way to get rid of that button. So that's one way to limit potential safety issues. Any others I may run into? Any advice?

Learning a Few New Features

Well, I think I'm slowly but surely learning some of the standard features. Here is my first attempt to create a link to a site: I found an interesting blog today, 365 to 42. A photographer is documenting his forty-first year, so he's publishing a photo every day.

Also, here is my attempt to publish a video link from YouTube. In case I end up showing this blog in class this year, here is a topic and a video that may interest some of my students. I know I've gotten caught up in the Twilight series, so here is an interview with Stephanie Meyers regarding Breaking Dawn. She mentions the literary connections. How many have you read? She mentions that Twilight loosely connects to Pride and Prejudice, New Moon's theme is Romeo and Juliet, Eclipse ties to Wuthering Heights, and Breaking Dawn draws on Midsummernight's Dream and some other novel (I haven't read it yet!). If you didn't click the link already, here is the interview: