taking our classrooms into the blogoshpere

Many teachers who want to engage students by using technology are blogging. Its a really simple and easy way to make lessons accessible to students who are bred in a "technology" age. Ask any child of all ages what the first thing is that they do upon arriving home. Look at kids walking down the street with their eyes focussed on the phone in their hand rather than the people and/or objects in front of them. Kids are engaged in the internet, wireless devices, and other technology at least 60% a day. Probably anyone reading this will be thinking that that figure is on the extreme low side.

So instead of trying to pull kids away from their world in orger to teach them, why don't we find our way into their world in order to reach them. Blogs are one of our access portals. Teachers are using blogs in a variety of ways. They post lessons, or home assignments for the kids. They allow the kids to update approved material to the blog. They include images and audio footage to make the site more engaging for the students. They allow the kids to interact through the blog. Some let their students do their journaling online. Also, blogging can be used by kids to do some of their group work out of school, where before it could only have been worked on in class when all the students were present. One other great use is for students who for whatever reason, cannot physically be in the classroom.

Here are some good resources about using blogs in the classroom.