Blogging in my Classroom

Children’s interest in academics goes a long way in determining their level of attention and willingness to learn. Technology happens to be a tremendous point of interest to children; so using the medium will lighten them up, arouse their curiosity and motivate them to learn. Students have a preference for the internet to assess the latest information about their course content, which usually poses a challenge to their teachers who are just trying to tag along with the notion of using the internet (Richardson, 2010). One of the reasons educators should imbibe the use of technology in the classrooms is that they may be a step ahead of their students (Thornburg, 2004).

A blog is a simple, cheap and useful tool for the classroom because the teachers are able to set up blogs at no extra cost while students are given the opportunity to interact academically with each other and the teacher; and exchange ideas with the world so that they can get to know other people’s perspectives of any discussion matter.

In my classroom, I intend to use the blog for my grades one to six mathematics students but for the purpose of this presentation I will like to focus on my third graders. I will make use of discussion on working methods for mathematical problems from across the curriculum. Students will be expected to state how they intend solving a problem. This will give room for interaction among pupils as if they are working in discussion groups while I moderate. Several ideas will come from contributors so that the students will be able to expand their knowledge base. Right now the topic we are treating is equivalent fractions. I also intend to have number games of fractions that are equivalent to each other so that students will make a choice of which fraction is equivalent to the given one and discuss why. Since the knowledge of multiplication is important to performing equivalent fractions, I will post questions that will generate their ability to recall their multiplication values and how to apply same to equivalent fractions. Word problems will also feature prominently. The blog will be an avenue for students to interact about content in an interesting manner. Mathematics becomes easy when students derive fun in doing it. The sense that they are playing around with the technology, helps them relax and focus, because they do not like to be defeated by the computer in their games.

The simple idea of sharing their ideas gives them the satisfaction of achievement as they feel that they have important views, and this consequently builds confidence in them that makes him work hard at his given task so that it can be of global standard. On the other hand, blogging shifts the focus from the confines of the classroom to the glare of a global audience where every bit of information written can be readily accessed and assessed by anyone, including their parents who will be able to compare their children’s work with his classmates. It is however important for the teacher to take the time to oversee and model safe and acceptable level of communication during blogging (November, 2008).

References

November, A. (2008). Web literacy for educators. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
Chapter 6, “Expanding the Boundaries: Blogs, RSS, Podcasts, and Wikis”

Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

Thornburg, D. (2004). Technology and education: Expectations, not options. (Executive Briefing No. 401). Retrieved from http://www.tcpdpodcast.org/briefings/expectations.pdf