Thursday, September 29, 2011

Thing #3 – Blog Benefits in the Classroom

A blog can be an effective tool for today’s busy teacher.  It is an easy time-saver that can quickly inform parents about classroom activities and student learning.  I have always viewed teachers as “professional communicators” (among other things), and blog postings about curriculum and current assignments can provide notification faster than the traditional classroom newsletter.
As a teacher, I can blog about my successes and failures and evaluate my postings, in order to modify my teaching plans.  My blog becomes a place where I can objectify the ever-changing, unpredictable activities of the classroom and then use my observations for review and analysis –much like an after-action report.  I think the most beneficial thing about this type of self-education blog is that it keeps a record of classroom specifics, and it gives teachers time to reflect and regroup for professional growth and more dynamic teaching.
I believe that blogging can be very beneficial to math students, who struggle with abstract concepts and have difficulty conceptualizing.  Integrating a writing element into the math program has always intrigued me – probably because it was virtually unheard of when I was in school.   I think a blogging project can be used to help students, who are strong in reading and writing but struggle in their math class.  A self-paced, reflective writing project, similar to 23 Things, can cause students to think through the more difficult, abstract concepts and ultimately be able to understand new lessons.  I believe math blogging can be a great way to evaluate student abilities.  As their teacher, I can also provide constructive feedback and use their blog comments to measure their individual progress.

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