Benefits of Classroom Blogs

Since my eighth grade language arts students are beginning book clubs this quarter, it would be appropriate to use blogs to communicate responses to literature. Students would interact with their book club members about the content and interact with their classmates in other book clubs to evaluate common themes. Because time is always a limiting factor, all students would be able to participate in the discussion and all voices would be heard. As Richardson (2009) discussed, it provides opportunities for students to communicate in a different mode. It may allow shy students a way to express ideas that may otherwise be silenced.

Implementing a classroom blog is advantageous for many reasons. It provides students an authentic purpose and audience, which aligns with language arts state standards. Using a class blog may be incentive for students to “step it up.” When students know that the whole world can view their writing, it brings them to another level of consciousness. Close attention is paid to word choice, accuracy, and publishing. Blog comments force the author to reflect on their ideas, increasing critical thinking and meta-cognition (Richardson, 2009). Along with this, students’ need to read accurately will increase as they dialogue with others about content and themes. Essentially, students will learn that what they write is a snap shot of who they are to others. Blogs will foster continual personal growth. It has the capability of tearing down the walls of the classroom to the world of endless ideas and possibilities.

Resources
Richardson, W. (2009). Blogs, wikkis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.