Blogs in the k-12 classroom could be a useful tool if managed properly. Writing is often thought of as a painful task that many students avoid. Blogging uses a format similar to the social networking and texting environment teenagers live in making the sharing of ideas seem less daunting. In the article "That's online writing, not boring school writing" author Shelbie Witte tells about her 8th grade language arts students who were spending hours each night writing to each other on Xanga, while putting forth very little effort to write for school. It appears that students view sharing ideas online differently than sharing them on paper.
I found the benefits of online discussions useful in my GTL classes this summer. I learned a lot by reading assignments and answering the questions that went with them, but I obtained higher order thinking when required to read my classmates' posts and comment. As noted in "Five Don'ts of Classroom Blogging", "students perform better when they know their peers will be reviewing their work as opposed to merely having to face the judgment of their teacher" (p26).
My main concern in the k-12 environment would be managing blogging. Clear guidelines and expectations would have to be set, and strict monitoring would have to occur. I am unsure if this would be more time consuming than traditional paper grading.
Like many other forms of technology that have entered our classrooms, blogs could be a useful tool in education. I think teachers and media specialists need to stay current with the tools available to provide a variety of educational stratagies. However, this is not an easy task. Often times, students seem more comfortable with technology than adults.
