Old Dog, New Tricks

Blogging: An overview


A.--Professional Use

Holy cow, is this opening up a new world for me as a school media specialist! I am really drawn to the use of blogging in the media center as a student-led tool for book reviews (as mentioned in the American Libraries article). The use of blogging as a communication tool for upcoming library activities and connections is also something I am highly interested in implementing.



The classroom setting is an area that I can be teacher support for the use of blogging. I liked the idea of blogging as a format for state reports in the elementary school (Reading Teacher article), as well as the format for literature circle discussion (Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy article). Additionally, the Reading Teacher article made me think of blogging as the upgraded use of class pen-pals: the communication and inherent learning opportunities occur in a more focused and immediate manner.



2.--Personal Opinion

Ya know, this is interesting. I can surely see the merit of blogging after having read these articles. I also see the value in the professional discussion this opens up within my own blog (and its constructed audience). In the library, it is a fabulous way to review books and use another publishing medium that actually reaches more students. (Um, not everyone will be chosen as the one student per state that gets their poem printed in a book that year, but everyone can publish their poem on their class blog!)



I was struck immensely by the American Libraries article that described book reviews as moving from"about the book" to "about the conversation." Profound. Applicable. Overdue (no pun intended).



I was also resonating with the Gifted Child Today's comment about how the email mailbox remains uncluttered when blogging. Now that has value, to all of us.



I am also enough of a digital immigrant to be hesitant of blogging. For example, I have seen a person withdrawing from personal interaction with actual people in the room in order to blog on their personal site, for hours at a time. What was thought of as communication was actually withdrawing! I realize this is the realm of using the tool wisely and not a fault of the tool, but it is a factor (much like untaught cell-phone etiquette!).



A professional thought is that yes, we clearly need the technology integrated into every subject: technological use is in and of itself not the subject so much as it is the medium. A great way to do this is 1:1 computers and students. Which leads to...



...resource issues! An elementary student at a private school in St. Paul is the recipient of 1:1 laptop use--the computer is assigned to the student for the school year, and it "lives" with the student. An elementary student at the public school in rural MN is lucky to get the computer lab reserved for their class once every two or three weeks. There is a vast difference of what an educator can do with the tools, given the parameters to work with.



Overall:

Love the reachable publishing venue

Communication = a very good deal

High use of reflection = learning is personal and relevant



Finally, doesn't anything that reaches our students count as something worth pursuing?!? This is truly their, and our, world. Why would we ignore that?