ETEC 524: My First Educational Blog...

I cannot figure out how to set up a new Blog on my new computer, as I have no figured out how to use it 100% yet, so I will write blog posts on my existing blog...at least, for now. I hope that's okay!

Since I attended the first workshop in this alternative certification program, I have been very interested in starting a blog as a teacher in the classroom. It was a major topic of discussion during that workshop and needless to say, it peeked my interest. 

Blogging is a popular way of keeping record of things on what is like an online journal, to share posts with others. As a student growing up, I never experience this until college, when a few of my professors used a blog to update students on ongoings in the classroom or changes to the syllabus. Just like with anything, it has its pros and cons. 

I would be very interested in putting a blog to use in a junior high or high school classroom. Blogging in the classroom can engage students who are not particularly interested in reading or writing. If this is a grade, it may spark their interest and cause them to do it simply because it's online rather than just picking up a book and reading it. Along these same lines, the teacher could post incentives on the blog or even encouragement to keep students interested. If students are having to blog themselves, some people may say, it's not teaching them to spell because the computer has spell check, or it's not teaching them to write and work on their penmanship. A counter reason for these two issues would be that the teacher disables the spellcheck feature on the blog and encourages students to check their own spelling. Also, while it does not necessarily allow students to work on their penmanship, it does however allow them to work on their typing skills. Again, pros and cons.

 Secondly, most of these students' parents are at work all day, and each of their jobs, has a computer or they have access to the internet on their phone. Parents will have simple and quick access to their children's grades, homework assignments, etc.
As a teacher, I believe I will utilize blogging as much as I will incorporate it into the students' learning and assignments, if not more.