I have contemplated the advantages and disadvantages of blogging with 5th graders in mathematics. One advantage of blogging within the classroom setting is that students and teacher have an opportunity to be better informed about standards, indicators, classroom management, non-curricular activities, etc. This communication piece can strengthen student/teacher and student/student relationships. All parties involved can share knowledge. The teacher, as well as other students, can provide feedback on questions, comments, and/or suggestions to strengthen understanding of a specific idea. The teacher can use this as a means to monitor student’s learning.
On the other hand there are disadvantages to implementing blogging within the elementary setting. One disadvantage of blogging is student access to technology. Many of the students I teach do not have a computer, much less access to the Internet. Another disadvantage is the appropriateness of responses on the blog. Since the school has not address this aspect of technology, it does not have jurisdiction on the responses from the students while they are at home. Last, keeping the blogs organized could potentially be very time-consuming.
With this in mind, I believe that blogging has many advantages that outweigh the disadvantages. First, I would have to be creative to ensure all students had access to responding on the blog. Next, I would have to have some sort of organization set up and share this with the students to ensure that blogging would enhance learning..
One way to keep it organized and maximize student learning is to post a problem for the week. Having students show how they solved the problem would benefit all students. I could pull up the blog at school and we could discuss the problem and how different students solved the same problem. Blogging would also allow students the opportunity to share their understanding of certain skills and assist each other in gaining a deeper understanding of specific skills/concepts.
When you talked about one disadvantage of your students not having computers, are your students allowed computer time at school? This would be a great way to have all students on computers. You could still post your blog with your question of the day. The students would be able to participate at the same time. This is only a suggestion. The reason I suggest this is because I am thinking of the students at my school also. I have students who do not access to computers and I was trying to come up with a way for all students to be involved. Students would be allowed to discuss and solve problems before they leave school and they would have someone available to help if help is needed.
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