Tech Play 1- Now We're "Bloggin'"

It's time to get real now... real techie! I'm in 2 tech classes right now and we are starting to "play" with different forms of media to become familiar with how they work and how we can implement them in the education setting. In my case, this is this best way to learn, by doing! First up for my blog is, funny enough, BLOGS!

I consider a blog an informal, journal type writing that reflects your personal thoughts and viewpoints. They usually have a theme but not always. There are blogs for basically EVERYTHING. The blogs I follow the most are teacher blogs, fashion blogs, mom blogs and cooking blogs. In my opinion blogs serve the purpose of entertainment and idea sharing. Blogs can be useful tools, especially in teaching and parenting. If I’m wanting ideas about a fun back to school activity I can hop on over to one of the teacher blogs I follow and see what he/she has come up with. Maybe someone has just attended an awesome teacher conference and is full of new ideas, they can share those ideas on their blog and spread the word on the latest and greatest.

I tried out, or played with, 3 different blog hosting sites; Blogger, Wix and Weebly. Blogger seemed to be strictly for blogging, hence the name, and I was looking for something where I could have more of a website with a blog. Wix and Weebly were definitely more my style. They were both very user friendly, had pre-made "themes" and allowed you make it as personalized as you'd like. Weebly didn't haveas many themes that I likes and I didn't find it to be quite as user friendly as the Wix site. As you can see here, I went with Wix! I chose it for the design aspects and the ease of use.

There are so many uses for blogs. I feel like I would primarily use my blog for communication with both students and parents. It would be great for posting weekly newsletters, keeping everyone in the know of upcoming events and just good ole fashion bragging on student work. I'd love to set up students blogs where students can reflect on assignments and get feedback from their peers.

Blogs support pedagogy by being a support tool. It would be beneficial for teachers PDAS evaluations. Blogs would show the constant open communication between the teacher, students and parents. They also support Bloom's Taxonomy strategies by allowing students an open window for higher level thinking through discussions, debates and producing/ designing their own online space. Blogs allow for both educators and students to have a space to share their thoughts and ideas with the world by using a simple model. Most of us already use the web so we have the technology affordances in place and are familiar with journaling. A blog simply ties these thing together.

The only obstacles that could be encountered would be learning your way around the blog and of course having the necessary components; use of a computer and internet.

I'm excited to use all I've learned about blogs in my classroom and beyond!

#blog #education #technology #classroom #teachercommunication