Ways that I could use Blogs within my own classroom!

Once I become a teacher, I hope to integrate technology into my classroom to help engage and motivate my students. Since today’s students are constantly embedding technology within their everyday lives, like using their cell phones, using social network sites such as facebook, twitter, etc., they already will have a “blog” mentality. Even if blogging isn’t something I as the teacher am not used to just yet, I know my students will find it “second nature.” Therefore I plan on getting acclimated to the “world of blogging” now, getting some practice so that I will feel comfortable enough embedding this resource into my teaching.


At first, especially until I get used to teaching with the use of blogs, I will mainly use a blog for my sole personal use. As the teacher, my blog will be informational for students and parents so they can always know what is going on in my classroom. I really think it will be a great way to communicate information about the class! I will upload my classroom rules and procedures (“code of conduct”), a class syllabus, and information on the curriculum of the course. I also will develop an archive of class materials: copies of daily classnotes, handouts, presentations, homework assignments, any answer keys I give to my students, projects, rubrics for assignments, etc. I will have an informative calendar where each day will include what we do in class and what homework is assigned. I will have a page for important and useful websites that I come across in which I feel would benefit my students, especially if they are having a hard time with a certain concept, it would be a great resource for them to look at some of the suggested websites. This blog will definitely save class time trying to explain what absent students missed, or if they lose/misplace any class materials. There will be no excuse from a student claiming they “didn’t know what was going on, or what was due today.” I think the website will give parents a great “in” on their child’s time within in my class. They will always have a way to be informed about what is going on, and they will be able to access of the materials.

Secondly, aside from using my blog as a great source of communicate information to my students and their parents, I hope to eventually open up the blog for student use. Since research shows that blogging has positive results within students such as promoting critical and analytical thinking, I definitely would consider using it as a form of assessment. Since I am not an English teacher, I don’t really intend on asking my students to create e-portfolios, since I will not be assigning them large writing assignments. However, it is a common misconception that students do not have to read or write in a math classroom…even though it is an important necessity. Therefore I would really like to use a blog to get my students to read and write about math, without them even noticing it. Asking students to explain their mathematical thoughts of how they arrived upon an answer/explain what method they used, pushes students to go beyond simple computations. They are forced to actually think about their solving processes and are therefore gaining a deeper understanding of the material. This is a goal I have for students, instead of just being able to merely, rotely, arrive at answers. I want my students to become problem solvers and actually understand what they are doing as they work through a problem. This is why I think a blog will be a great asset to my math classroom. I would give students credit for posting a response to a question I post, pertaining to how they solved a math problem. It could be apart of their homework assignments each week to check the blog and respond, as a formal assessment.

Another way I think blogs would work great in my classroom would be as a form of informal assessment. Let’s say in class one day the students start discussing something at the end of class, but I realize that we are running out of time to get as in depth as I would like.  If we do not have time in class for a discussion, I can spontaneously tell my students that they need to take some time in the evening to put a post on the blog with their opinion – as a part of the homework assignment.  I think that a great discussion could evolve if every student puts one post. I would then take the time to read all of the posts and it would give me an idea of how my students are thinking/how well they were doing with a certain math concept.  Also if I had a closure activity planned for class and we ran out of time to get to it, I could try to put it on the blog for students to respond to. Either scenario would become a great instance of informal assessment, allowing me to see how well my students comprehended the material and to determine if I need to reteach/reiterate anything.  I could also continue the next day with the informal data I received by using it as an anticipatory set to get the student’s attention.  I am looking forward to personally learning more about blogging while in this course so that I will feel comfortable enough to live up to these high hopes I have about using blogs in my own classroom!