As I alluded to in the last post, blogs don't always have to about nothing. They can be useful, too. For example, I've read blogs to get ideas about new recipes, good books to read, fun things to try, and so on. These blogs have inspired me to try new things, which is usually always a good thing!
As an educator, I look forward to reading other's blogs about teaching methods, lesson plans, classroom set-up, learning stations and all of the wonderful, work-intensive things that go along with this profession. Many of my professors have said things like, "There is no use in reinventing the wheel," or "Teaching is about begging, borrowing and stealing!" There is a lot of truth in these sayings; it is a waste of time to try to come up with a unique, never-been-taught lesson when there is a plethora of ready-made lessons out there. The trick is to put your own unique spin on these lessons. The beauty of being a teacher is that we have the ability to change, modify, and elaborate the lesson so that it fits the needs of the students in the classroom! Blogs are an excellent resource for teachers to share ideas and discuss the successes, failures, and improvements of a lesson.
Blogs can also be used in the classroom as online "classroom newsletters." I remember one of the coolest projects I did in middle school was to create my own newspaper about myself. I loved coming up with the name, creating a layout, inserting pictures, and so on. Creating a blog could be a classroom project; students could vote on titles, choose pictures to include, and create their own posts. Communication with parents is vitally important to the classroom community and a blog would be just one way to keep the parents "in the know." It is important to keep in mind that not all families will have access to the internet, so blogging should not be the only way to keep in touch with parents.
Older students can use blogs to write about their experiences with certain lessons or units, communicate with the teacher, or have discussions with classmates. Nowadays, students are more engaged if they are working with technology as opposed to pen and paper. There are endless ways to use blogging technology in the classroom!
As I was reading your blog it made me reflect on previous life experience. There is nothing worse than feeling alone or like you are the only person with particular issues. Blogging is in excellent way to get perspective as a new teacher and understand that other teachers face the same problems. Even reading everyone's blogs and realizing that there are so many others that this is a new experience for has given me some relief.
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