Use of Blogging in Classrooms

Throughout the last couple years of my college career, blogging has become more and more popular. At least one class a semester has a requirement of making a blog and posting/commenting throughout the week. I think this is a great tool for those who can fully read and write (elementary and middle school). Being an elementary education major, I think it would be hard to have students blog in the classroom. However, I think that as an elementary teacher it would be really useful to have a blog to share ideas and lesson plans. Collaboration is a large part of teaching, therefore having a blog and communicating with other teachers that may not be in your building could be very beneficial. If I were to ever work in a middle/high school classroom, I think that blogging could be very useful. Blogging offers a wide variety of sources the students could incorporate such as pictures, videos and hyperlinks. Although Word also has these features, being able to throw your ideas out to the world, instead of having them on paper makes receiving feedback much easier. Not only would classmates and teachers see a students blog, but other viewers on the internet as well that could offer inside to the blog post. I also believe that blogs have more personality to them, than writing a paper. Students can express themselves in a blog rather than having to follow certain MLA directions. Overall, I believe the use of blogs in a classroom, or for classroom ideas are very beneficial to both students and teachers. I will most definitely be using blogs in my future classrooms.