The benefits of blogging

After completing this week’s reading I have a whole new appreciation for how to use blogs in my classroom and the value that they hold beyond simply getting students to write more and giving them an authentic audience. Some of Richardson’s comments in Chapter 2 really hit home with me. He writes, “more than just reading, bloggers that write in this way learn to read critically, because as they read, they look for important ideas to write about” (p. 30). In the next paragraph he continues, “Many times, one post in the synthesis of the reading of many texts, so bloggers must be able to find connections and articulate the relevance of those connections. In composing the post, this genre of writing demands organization and clarity as well as a keen awareness of audience” (p. 30). These two passages are excellent examples of some of the higher level skills that we can teach our students simply by integrating a free Web 2.0 tool into our classroom. I know that this is just the tip of the iceberg and I am excited to learn more.

Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms. Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin