Blogging

Blogging is something that is brand new to me. I have heard the term, however I have never created a blog or ever thought about incorporating them into my teaching. From reading the two articles and watching the video on YouTube, the authors made very convincing arguments as to why to incorporate them into your teaching. It appears it could be modified to fit the needs of all students. My question is: at what age would blogging be appropriate to begin? I teach first graders and they seem proficient in completing tasks on children’s websites, but would they be able to type? Also, with lack of resources (especially computers) in New York City, how do you make this a reality?

Being a special education teacher, I’m always looking for new ways to differentiate learning in my classroom. ESL and special education are closely linked in the strategies used to help students be successful. If blogging has been successful in helping ESL students be successful with academics, then perhaps it will work for special education as well. I also really like the idea of my students learning different cultures from each other and learning about other countries through blogging. I’m also big fan of student based learning where I am the students guide to their own academic path and I think this would be an excellent way to foster that student based learning and really let the students explore.