Educational Blogs Week 3

After reading the articles on blogging in education I am convinced that the blogs applications is endless in the classroom. Blogs can be used across the entire curriculum.  For example, I teach a third grade class. I am currently working on an extended unit on Communities. Students can use the World Wide Web to visit websites that have information about their surrounding communities that they live in. There is information about El Paso’s climate, landforms and communities. Students could learn about the Franklin Mountains, and its vegetation, and animals. Students can then use that information to post short blogs about what they learned. After that students can take time to read what other students said about their blogs. I currently have a lab top that is set up with a projector. I can easily put the blogs on the overhead and do a shared reading with the class and maybe have some student read from them too. This can teach the students that blogs involve reading and writing. It is digital reading and writing but never the less it is the same but just done online. Students can also take digital pictures of their community either through cell phones or digital cameras and upload them at home or at school.  Parents can help their children upload the information into the blog page. This activity seems to interest children because they are interested in learning about their community. The simple facts that the El Paso and New Mexico area has two mountain ranges crossing through two states is interesting for kids while the Rio Grande valley makes it even more interesting because we live in a desert that has a source of water that is used from irrigation and  recreation.  Students can add their stories to the blog about the day they visited the mountains or the Rio Grande. For example, writing an entry about their visit to the mountains or the river with a story photo would be great. I need to find out how I can access a blog on the schools computer. I will need to speak to the IT specialist and try to gain a special permission to have a class blog. Blogging will have an impact on the depth of knowledge that students will gain from using it because it teaches the critical thinking skills in reading, writing and technology. In the past I have used the email to communicate with parents but blogging has added another tool for parent contact.