Why+Blog

1) Student Portfolios. Once you know how to set up a blog, you can take your students through the process. I have my students set up their personal blogs following safety procedures to maintain the integrity of graded work posted to the student's blog, yet maintain the vital openness that blogs naturally benefit from. Once the blog is set up, I have the students post original thoughts and reactions to things we've read no less than twice a week and I have them post all of their essays and tests directly to the blogs for grading. By the end of the year, they've created a completely manageable and portable chronological portfolio that measures just how far they've come. It makes parent-teacher conferences a cinch as well; I have the student's portfolio projected on the wall when parents come in so that they can see exactly and day-by-day how their student is performing in class.

2) Grading vocab quizzes / tests. This is what I do (note that all of my vocab quizzes are by dictation). The student opens their blog. As I recite vocab words, the student copies each into a post and then has three to five minutes to answer them all depending on quantity of words (usually between 20 to 30 in a given week). Once finished, the student posts his or her quiz. Now it has a time-stamp on it, so I will know if they have tried to go back and 'fix' things after time has been called (if they do, they forfeit their grade). Once posted, I have the students check their own work. They then post their grades as a comment to their original quiz posting along with corrections of missed words. Again it has a time stamp and when I go back and look over their checked work, if they commit an error in grading they forfeit their grade. This naturally makes for a very careful and honest self-grading where students both learn from their own mistakes and where they learn to take responsibility for their own work; they own the grade.

3) Posting graded essay questions. They post on their blog, I comment and leave a grade. If the student has questions, they can arrange to see me during off mods or we can discuss via a thread on their blog. Easy and authentic. I've even had students use this work in successful applications for scholarships.

4) Interactive real-time RSS calendar. This feature rocks. It's a calendar. And when I enter due dates / test dates / etc onto it, it is both posted online and a copy of the schedule is automatically sent to the student's email. For students who need a little extra 'push' when it comes to due dates, it can also automatically be sent to parents. No more excuse that "I didn't know what the homework was".

5) Podcasts: students will be able to make their own 'radio stations'. These 'radio stations' can be kept in one spot on the blog and downloaded into iTunes playlists for purposes of critique in class discussion, or for just having fun swapping mp3s of class projects. The teacher can create her or his own podcast of lectures, discussions, or models of assignments which can be set to automatically download into student's iTunes. (Students don't have to find it; it automatically comes to them.)

These are just a few ideas. We haven't even started talking about how to use the blog for research and in creating interactive bibliographies. And there's much much more. And the best thing about it is that the limits for classroom application are only limited by the imagination of the classroom teacher. So, think creatively.

Here's more ideas:

Ways to use weblogs in education

You might like to create a reflective, journal type blog to…


 * reflect on your teaching experiences.
 * keep a log of teacher-training experiences.
 * write a description of a specific teaching unit.
 * describe what worked for you in the classroom or what didn’t work.
 * provide some teaching tips for other teachers.
 * write about something you learned from another teacher.
 * explain teaching insights you gain from what happens in your classes.
 * share ideas for teaching activities or language games to use in the classroom.
 * provide some how-to’s on using specific technology in the class, describing how you used this technology in your own class.
 * explore important teaching and learning issues.

You might like to start a class blog to…


 * post class-related information such as calendars, events, homework assignments and other pertinent class information.
 * post assignments based on literature readings and have students respond on their own weblogs, creating a kind of portfolio of their work.
 * communicate with parents if you are teaching elementary school students.
 * post prompts for writing.
 * provide examples of classwork, vocabulary activities, or grammar games.
 * provide online readings for your students to read and react to.
 * gather and organize Internet resources for a specific course, providing links to appropriate sites and annotating the links as to what is relevant about them.
 * post photos and comment on class activities.
 * invite student comments or postings on issues in order to give them a writing voice.
 * publish examples of good student writing done in class.
 * show case student art, poetry, and creative stories.
 * create a dynamic teaching site, posting not only class-related information, but also activities, discussion topics, links to additional information about topics they are studying in class, and readings to inspire learning.
 * create a literature circle.
 * create an online book club.
 * make use of the commenting feature to have students publish messages on topics being used to develop language skills.
 * ask students to create their own individual course blogs, where they can post their own ideas, reactions and written work.
 * post tasks to carry out project-based learning tasks with students.
 * build a class newsletter, using student-written articles and photos they take.
 * link your class with another class somewhere else in the world

You can encourage your students (either on your weblog using the comments feature or on their own weblogs) to blog…


 * their reactions to thought-provoking questions.
 * their reactions to photos you post.
 * journal entries.
 * results of surveys they carry out as part of a class unit.
 * their ideas and opinions about topics discussed in class.

You can have your students create their own weblogs to…


 * learn how to blog
 * complete class writing assignments.
 * create an ongoing portfolio of samples of their writing.
 * express their opinions on topics you are studying in class.
 * write comments, opinions, or questions on daily news items or issues of interest.
 * discuss activities they did in class and tell what they think about them (You, the teacher, can learn a lot this way!).
 * write about class topics, using newly-learned vocabulary words and idioms.
 * showcase their best writing pieces.

You can also ask your class to create a shared weblog to…


 * complete project work in small groups, assigning each group a different task.
 * showcase products of project-based learning.
 * complete a WebQuest.