Blogs within the classroom

Do reflection post based upon the information you have read and researched on blogs in education. How do you feel blogs can assist you in reaching your students? Provide examples from readings and additional research.

In today's society, we are undeniably reliant on technology. This is beyond true with the younger generation. They rely on technology to socialize, create, fight, find love, and even to share with the world who they are. It is undeniable that their lives are inexplicably entwined with technology, to the point, with the internet.
Today's students share this medium. Coming into today's classrooms, we often find they are amzingly lacking in the technology medium. This is often a huge oversight of the classroom teacher who overlooks the skills and powerful social and learning interaction that can take place online.
In one of the high school classrooms that I visited, this was not an oversight, but an insight of the classroom teacher who utilized blogs to empower her student's learning. This teacher allowed the students to post and comment, and extend their thinking of all units. She showed me the effects that this had, and the times that students posted. It was obvious that the students enjoyed posting and responding to eachother, and that this interaction allowed them to further their thinking and discover the way the others students thought.
It is evident that blogging has many potential benefits within a classroom and can be a valuable tool that helps further learning of all topics.

Wow....

It absolutely amazes me how much the internet is changing, both of itself and our society. The first chapter of our book really put this into perspective about how many children in our communities continually use the internet to socialize and create. This also helped me to realize how important it is to help our children channel this creativity and expertise within our classroom as well.