Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Thing #4

Again I'm amazed at the doors educators are opening for their students through blogging. Blog reading is different from other types of reading because it is so current. We love peaking into the lives of others and blogs give us permission to do that. It is also a type of communication that is efficient and resourceful. I can keep up with my friends when our schedules don't align and I can also stay on top of assignments for classes at the click of my mouse. I love that Mr. Meyer allows his students to explore blogs during SSR in Is this SSR 2.0. My students would love the novelty and I bet every kid would be totally engaged! Better yet they could probably summarize everything they read!
Blogging is different from other types of writing because it can be pretty casual. My favorite sample blog was that of Mrs. Edmison's Class. Being that I was a 4th grade teacher of writing for many years, this one was near and dear to my heart! I can't wait to share it with my colleagues.
What a better way to encourage young kids in their writing journey by talking to a real author and letting her share her struggles/successes!
The feedback blogging provides is incredible. Having conversations in such a way allows for meaningful thought processing. One has time to mull over what he is reading and give feedback on his own time. We all know the importance of wait time and this allows as much as needed. In this way blogging facilitates learning. It can enhance the way we learn and mesh with our different learning styles/interests. Therefore, our learning is customized and much more meaningful.

2 comments:

  1. Your comments on sharing with your colleagues is great. I love to see excitement about something that can be productive for both the student and the teacher. I think that blogging would really give our students an even stronger reason to write well because they know that anyone and everyone could read their work (grandparents would love to see this!) I'm anxious to see which teachers will be willing to attempt this with their students.

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  2. I, too, loved that Mr. Meyer allowed his students to read blogs for SSR. I wrote about that in my own blog as well. I agree...I bet they would all be engaged and could probably summarize what they read as well!! :) I am thinking of incorporating that with my 6th graders next year.

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