Journal #4

In Five Don’t of Classroom Blogging by Julie Sturgeon, the author discusses web etiquette. She beings by discussing the “technicaleducaphobia” of teachers inability to implement technology into the classroom. She then goes into her five main points. First, don’t just dive in (research your technology). Many teachers go into the blog without getting parental support or establishing boundaries. Don’t confuse blogging with social networking. Students need to talk to each other and help each other through assignments, but it shouldn’t be used as a way to find out where parties are, or who did what. Do not jump at freebies such as blogger because they do not offer the structure a school setting needs. I disagree personally. That is to say there are not better sites, just a teacher has a limited budget especially in California. The next point is to use blog formats based on topic rather than date because good articles can get lost. I agree with this because I have a hard time finding things sometimes. Lastly, don’t leave the blogging to the students. Basically we need to teach the skills required to use blogs properly.

Questions:

1. Throughout the article I was wondering, in what ways can I get parents involved with technology to help the students. Then I thought of creating a blog forum or discussion board in which parents, teachers, and students come together to help each other out.
2. What would be something I would add to a blog discussion? I would have said something about making the discussions and assignments meaningful so student responses won’t be superficial.