W200 Pp Project
- 2. " The Pro’s of Blogging (and a Few Con’s Too)” "Five Don'ts of Classroom Blogging“ "ePals Delivers Free E-Mail, Blogging for Schools“
- 3. Barry Bachenheimer set out to prove that educational blogging could improve writing skills. He began a study with 5 high school teachers to test the effects of blogging on educational achievement. The results include: Students write more frequently Students comment on each other’s work Blogging helps students “organize their thoughts, develop their ideas, synthesize their research, and benefit from their classmates’ constructive criticism.” (Ramaswami, par. 7) Students who write more write better Students receive teacher feedback throughout the writing process which improves the quality of their final drafts
- 4. BLOG WITH A PURPOSE Blogging should be used as a cross-curricular tool in education. Students should think and write about what they learn in each class. This helps the student to reflect and retain what they’ve learned. continued
- 5. A study conducted by Barry Bachenheimer “showed that students who blogged felt better about writing overall, and about writing research papers in particular” (Ramaswami, par. 6) continued
- 6. I appreciated the amount of time and effort the author put into this article. I believe blogging in education, if used appropriately, can improve reading and writing skills along with increasing positive communication between students and teachers. Students are already blogging and love it, so why not give them opportunities to use it to benefit them educationally? Three “aha moments” Students don’t complain about blogging for school Blogging helps student begin their writing assignments faster. They have less trouble finding a ‘starting point’ because of blogging. I didn’t know research has been done regarding blogging in education. I’ve learned a lot about the benefits of this technology in a classroom setting.
- 7. T his article offers advice when using blogging in education. For example: DON’T begin without setting up procedures and guidelines. Set up a teacher classroom blog and monitor it. “ DON'T confuse blogging with social networking” (Sturgeon, p. 2 par. 3) DON’T sign up for just any free blog because “there is no way to build a cyber-fence around a particular classroom project, students have access to the entire blogging world-and vice versa.” (Sturgeon, p. 3, par. 3) ePals offers free email/blogging/literacy curriculum for teachers! DON’T leave the blogging to only the students. Create a blog and invite participation.
- 8. This article was interesting. I chose not to include a lot of this article since it discussed some of the same things the others did. The title of this article caught my attention. We often focus on the excitement of a new project only to find out we’ve failed to think about the things we ought not to do. Three “aha” moments: A child who is normally quiet and doesn’t participate in class will participate in a blog! “ Students perform better when they know their peers will be reviewing their work as opposed to merely having to face the judgment of their teacher.” (Sturgeon, par. 1) Blogging helps student write long papers by enabling them to write short pieces at a time and then putting them all together.
- 9. ePals is an education technology provider that offers free email services (SchoolMail), free blogging (SchoolBlog), and a free online literacy-based curriculum to schools around the world. SchoolBlog provides message boards to students that are supervised by teachers. SchoolBlog encourages students to communicate their thoughts and ideas with teachers and other students. SchoolBlog provides opportunities for students to collaborate ideas and work together via the web in a safe environment.
- 10. SchoolBlog enables opportunities for parents to be involved in the learning process. You can’t get any cheaper than FREE! “ From a district perspective, this is a big win-win," said Stan Salagaj, director of instructional technology at Newark Public Schools in New Jersey, in a statement issued with the ePals announcement. "We get to acquire a leading K-12 designed collaborative tool suite and, in the process, eliminate budget constraints, eRate paperwork and the application process to apply for partial government technology subsidies, saving us time and money.” (Nagel, par. ) continued
- 11. "ePals Delivers Free E-Mail, Blogging for Schools" Dave Nagel writes about a wonderful FREE resource available for teachers and students that enables them communicate with each other via the web. ePals formerly charged a fee to use the site but now offers its services free of charge. Blogging is considered a literacy tool that should be used to encourage students to participate in lessons, discussions, and projects. ePals is a secure site that enables teachers to monitor the content and interaction between students. The site also offers FREE SchoolMail (email) and In2Books (literacy curriculum designed to help increase standardized test scores). Visit http://www.epals.com to learn more about this wonderful resource.
- 12. Citations: Nagel, Dave. "ePals Delivers Free E-Mail, Blogging for Schools," T.H.E. Journal, 9/10/2007, http://www.thejournal.com/articles/21246 Ramaswami , Rama. "The Prose of Blogging (and a Few Cons, Too)," T.H.E. Journal, 11/1/2008, http://www.thejournal.com/articles/23562 Sturgeon , Julie. "Five Don'ts of Classroom Blogging," T.H.E. Journal, 2/1/2008, http://www.thejournal.com/articles/22014 Blogging is an excellent tool teachers can use to enhance the way they teach and engage their students. Student already love to be on the computer and blog, so why not give them an opportunity to learn in the process? Blogging is a great way to collaborate with other students, to increase the amount of writing students produce, to stay connected with your students, and to reach and communicate with students that normally have trouble participating in a crowded classroom. I encourage everyone to consider blogging as a beneficial technology tool for their classroom.