Opinions and Such...

I think that blogging is a great tool to be used in the classroom. Just as the teachers in the article "In the Classroom, Web Logs are the new Bulletin Boards" said, Blogs are a way that quieter children in class can voice their thoughts and ideas with out feeling intimidated or scared. It is also a good tool for teachers as well because it allows them to read students journals faster than hand written journals. They are faster because you don't waist any time to trying to figure out what a student wrote if their hand writing is illegible. It also allows teachers to respond quicker to their students journals. On the other hand, I understand that there are concerns with slang being used in the Blogs but that can be fixed if you require the students to pre-write their journals before typing them and posting them on the blog site. In conclusion, it can be argued that there are pros and cons to blogging being used in Education, but in my opinion there are more pros than cons and I think that blogs should be used in the classroom.

Jeffery Selingo proposes positive and negative opinions and reflections in his article, "In the Classroom Web Logs Are the New Bulletin Boards." It is obvious, as with any new technological inventions or creations, there is a certain amount of negatives attached to the idea of blogs. However, in this article, the positives seem to outweigh the negatives. Mrs. Dudiak, a second grade teacher in Frederick County, Md. States, "it (blogs) allowed them to interact with their piers more quickly than a journal and it evened the playing field." By evening the playing field Mrs. Dudiak means that each student had a chance to express themselves via blogs. I agree that blogs are a great tool for child expression, given that some children may resist sharing their thoughts and ideas if they are required to speak in front of the class or pressured to use neat handwriting. Another key idea in the article is that "class does not have to end when the bell rings." I think it is great that in addition to doing homework at home, students may go on the web and participate in their class blog rather than playing video games, internet games or watching T.V. Although the article states, "few entries seem to come after school hours," I think it is important to note that the article was written in 2004, almost four years ago, meaning that participation in online blogging and an increase in technology and internet education has already occurred. I am sure, with updates and changes to blog sites, that blogging could possibly be much simpler as well as more interesting for students than it might have been in 2004. Another great point addressed in the article is, "the Web has turned bloggers into modern-day pen pals, allowing students to collaborate easily with their peers in other classes or even other countries." This extension of communication is another positive aspect of blogging. Communication with foreign neighbors is a facet of multicultural education, and should be highly useful in integrating cultural education into the classroom. This article is a great example of the usefulness of blogs and technology in the classroom. It would sure be interesting to discover Mrs. Dudiak's experiences with blogging in her classroom during the past three years and compare that finding with her proposed expectations and experiences from 2004.

In response to this article, I feel that blogs are a necessary means of learning to have in the classroom. I personally feel it's easier to interact and get more involved in education when you have an ultimatum to hard copied journals. I feel it makes students more enthusiastic because internet holds attention more than that of just writing in hard copied journals. Blogging gives students the opportunity to express their thoughts in a more structured manner. I also think it's an accurate way for parents to get involved with their child's education. Parents would feel more self assured if there able to log on to the blog and see their child's progress in class. I agree with the article in the sense that when students think it's more than just there peers reading their work, they put more thought and effort into it. Blogging also offers the opportunity for students to interact with peers in other countries which gives them a feel for diversity. Overall, I think blogging is an accurate means of communication and learning throughout the classroom.

There was a two sided view of having blogs in Education and in the classroom. Some teachers gave great reviews toward the blogging. They mentioned that it helped thosed students who were more quiet in the classroom to open up and express how they feel towards certain subjects provided by the teacher. One teacher had mentioned that "It allowed them to interact with their peers more quickly than a journal," (http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C04E5D7113FF93AA2575BC0A9629C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=print) On the opposing side, blogs do not really enforce grammar with the students. The teachers who are reading these blogs tend to focus on how much more the students are writing more with online blogs. There are some things that critics are worried about and that is the grammar from people and also those students using the blogs. Also when one is writing and email grammar is not important to them. Those critics are worried that abbreviations and computer slang will over rule the correct way of spelling. In my own opinion I believe that blogs are a great way for students and also other people to express themselves. Some people do not like to speak and answer questions in front of the class, but by posting a blog about a question would be more effective to grab students' attention.