Journal 9: Avoiding the 5 Most Common Mistakes in Using Blogs with Students by Ruth Reynard, Ph.D.

     The first thing that struck me about this article is that by having students create their own blogs, you encourage them to actually own use their minds for something other than repeating verbatim, information learned in class.  The reason this strikes me is because when I went to Grad School at San Jose State, I noticed how afraid the students were of not following exactly what they thought was being asked of them.  My professors had to push them to form their own opinions of the materials being presented.  Having students start to feel the power and freedom of being able to agree, disagree, form a conclusion and see how a concept may apply to life outside of class is such a powerful way of getting students to integrate information. It also makes them feel as though their opinions are valued.

     This article basically laid out points on how teachers should structure the use of a blog and how to decide whether or not it's the appropriate tool to use in class.  My experience working with children and teens has made me a very strong advocate of well laid out, clear structure as well as the ability for the student to make choices.....limited choices..... based on the structure!  Without clear guidelines for usage and reasons why this is a "cool" way to do the lesson, students may get discouraged and not participate. 

      Structured lesson plans are required so that students are presented with the objectives of the lesson i.e. analysis of material, synthesis, new ideas, and real life applications.  Students should be given an ample amount of time in class to research and  prepare the material they will eventually post.  THEN, they post. Step by step.  The teacher should, as the students post blogs, comment on the posts so that there's a structured procession throughout the lesson. 

     The guidelines for grading student's blogs need to be clearly defined in rubrics so that students know what they're being assessed on.  If the grading parameters are not clearly defined, some students will become discouraged and not participate. 

     Finally, the instructor must be sure that blogging is the correct tool for the academic goal.  Blogs are individual publications, they are not interactive, therefore the students can not have an on-line debate or discussion.

     My questions are: What are the most important contributions that I would make to my students by using this tool in class?  I would love to help instill pride in their own voices.  Creativity regarding how one views certain lessons.  I think it would raise self-esteem and enrich a lesson tremendously.   

What's the fallback?  I would need to be prepared and willing to spend a lot of extra time reading and responding to each blog, but I could do it from any computer so that would be handy.