Reasons to Use Blogs in the Classroom

I started this blog as a collection point about blogging in our schools today. Many of the ideas presented here have come from talking with other teachers, the web, and personal experiences.

Here is “Why we should use Blogs in our classrooms.”

1. Teachers can share links, documents and other relevant information related to classroom discussions to expand learning

2. Teachers can “pre-teach” by introducing basic elements/concepts before classroom discussion begins, students enter the classroom better prepared to learn.

3. Share Learning & Personal Experiences with others, Students see Issues from varied “Points of view” – children learn about different perspectives and to respect diversity.

4. Develop “Connections” with classmates/teacher - students develop a sense of community and foster personal relationships.

5. Extends Learning beyond Classroom – Both students and parents can access classroom information and direct learning 24/7

6. Can involve parents, as part of the learning experience – we are always looking for ways to get parents involved, what about shared learning or students as teachers.

7. Offers an alternative form of writing – In this time of increased emphasis on reading and writing skills, blogging offers an alternative to over-used: “Write me a paper about –“ mentality.

8. Develops reading skills (just think about how much text you have already read) children increase the amount of time they spending reading, and they aren’t even aware that they are “reading more”.

(Digital reading skills are different from reading text)

These are just a few ideas I came up with, I am sure there are many, many more.

Please feel free to add your own experiences and thoughts about blogging in the classroom.