Journal #4

Five Don'ts of Classroom Blogging
by Julie Sturgeon

Avoiding these pitfalls will help students get the full benefits of online journaling.

This article discussed using bogging in a academic avenue that would challenge students as well as hopefully motivate them. The many examples that were given were mostly positive. The teachers that implemented this into there curriculum found that when they know there peers would see there work started giving more to the assignments. The exception or downside of blogging as that they found students constantly pushed the envelope with choice vocabulary or inappropriate links. Since there are no "Internet fences" they came up with five don ts of blogging in the classroom to help avoid pitfalls that give the student the best chance to be successful. Here they are,
1. DON'T just dive in.
2. DON'T confuse blogging with social networking. MySpace, Facebook, and other social networking tools are just that-social networking platforms.
3. DON'T leap at the freebies.
4. DON'T force a sequential style.
5. DON'T leave the blogging to the students.
I thought this article was very interesting. I found my mind wondering about how great this would have worked for me in my schooling. I could see myself getting very excited about coming home and my homework being to go make a blog post that my peers would all see. My mind also raced about how this strategy would work better now than ever. We live in a technological era where kids are becoming more technologically savvy at younger and younger ages. I look forward to seeing and hearing more about blogging in education.

1. Would this take away from more formal writing that students will be asked to produce as they move on in there education?

I think we would have to use it for what it is...a blog. I remember having to journal in school so maybe the blog could be the daily journal writings or weekly journal entries that i remember as a boy.

2. How would blogging help self conscience students who dont want others to see their work?

This is a valid question and i think that when we step outside of our comfort zones and experience discomfort, even in learning, that we start to really learn who we are and where are strengths and weaknesses are. If done in the right way i could see this motivating certain self conscience students through positive reinforcement by the teacher.