Assignment #1: Blogging Thoughts

Here are my comments on some of the blogging-related articles...

Article:
Cool Tools on the Web ("The Educator's Guide...")

My Thoughts:
Whoa. I feel like a technology dinosaur when I read this kind of article. I thought I was somewhat technologically savvy before. Oh well. There's a lot more to learn, and each day/month/year something new is happening on the web, so I may just have to accept the fact that it's going to be a lifelong learning process!

I really love the idea of pod casting. I teach students that are still learning English, and this would be a great tool for them. Now, some of them don't have Internet access at their houses, but many go to the library and could hop online there. Sometimes, their reading assignments are a bit lengthy and overwhelming for them. Wouldn't it be great if they could go to our classroom blog and read along while I, or another student, read the passage? And that's just one way we could use pod-casting.

One more thought: I read the little box with the 2005 Teacher Survey results and it struck a little bell. I don't remember exactly when, but I filled out a survey with questions like this and more either in 2006 or 2007. Pretty cool. Those surveys and results do actually get processed and posted somewhere! (And I will have been a part of shaping the percentages!)

Article:
Blogs & Teaching ("The Educator's Guide...")

My Thoughts:
First thought: What is an auto-summarizer? Let me go to my too-often used reference source and "google" it... Hold on a moment, please... Oh. Okay. I went to a website that would auto-summarized any copied and pasted text and it summarized my above article thoughts into three sentences. It didn't make much sense, but I get the idea of what it does now. Hmmm...

It was interesting to read a professor's perspective on using open-ended blogging with his college students. He made a point that I agree with; he said that he could find out a little more about the students who weren't so vocal in class. I teach students that are amazing writers with advanced thoughts, but are also the most hesitant to share with the whole class. I would like to see them find their voice through blogging with our class.

I can see the benefits of using blogging in the classroom, and I know it has been done with middle school, high school, and college students. I would like to read more articles about elementary school teachers who use blogs with their students and the considerations for that age group.

Here are some links to articles posted on blogging with elementary-aged students:
http://www.education-world.com/a_tech/tech/tech217.shtml
http://www.education-world.com/a_curr/voice/voice123.shtml
http://www97.intel.com/odyssey/Story.aspx?StoryID=302
http://itc.blogs.com/thewriteweblog/2004/11/who_says_elemen.html

Here I come, blog-world!