Blogging in the Classroom

After reading the article about implementing the concept of blogging and commenting in the classroom, I find the idea exciting and a possibly very useful tool. I think that blogging, whether it be on paper, or in a digital form can be a great tool to allow students to express their thoughts and ideas, practice their organizational and writing skills, and learn to properly communicate with each other and respect the ideas of others. Whenever I think of blogging, I generally think of an online forum. The paper version introduced in this article, however, could be a really interesting activity to use in the classroom as a tool to get to know your students and allow them to get to know each other, or even as a project surrounding a certain topic or aspect of their studies. I think that this idea could absolutely work in a secondary classroom. I think that although secondary students like nothing more than getting a chance to talk about themselves in a positive way, and express themselves without repercussion. I think that setting down ground rules for the blogging activity is extremely important. This protects the students from giving out too much information, and teaches them the importance of respecting others' opinions and work. I think that this will be helpful, not only in this activity, but with the environment of the classroom in general. Students will learn from this that everyone is entitled to their own thoughts and opinions, and your class and activities is a safe zone where cruelness or disrespect won't be tolerated. I don't know that I would change much about this activity. I think it can be a great getting to know you activity, and lays down important rules for courtesy in the classroom. I would just suggest that this activity be used more frequently as a recurring activity that deals with students thoughts and ideas surrounding topics being discussed in the classroom. Students could blog once a week for homework about the topic being covered and then spend time in class exchanging blogs and responding to their peers ideas.