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As technology becomes more prevalent in today’s schools, students grow up with a greater awareness of the variety of uses of technology. For most of them, technological innovations are simply a way of life. Capitalizing on this is the classroom is essential and one of the best ways to accomplish that is through the creation of student blogs. in the classroom setting moves students beyond commentaries on life, entertainment, and other social ideas. It allows them to gain a deeper understanding of content they are learning as they actually synthesize the information. Students love the opportunity to express themselves and blogging allows them to do just that. Beyond the communication advantages though, allowing student blogging provides a variety of other benefits as well, such as: Generating Dialogue: Students often have a difficult time sharing ideas and information relevant to their topics. Through blogging, they have the opportunity to process and think about each of their comments, allowing for deeper and richer conversations and debates. Creating Ownership and Enthusiasm: While not every student will enjoy blogging, many will simply because it is a way to showcase their work in a format that is ‘theirs’. Because it combines technology and writing, many students become more excited about the idea of moving through the writing process. They look forward to reading comments that were posted and reflect upon the information. Teaching Responsibility: The idea of permanency is difficult for many students. They live in the ‘now’ and have a hard time with the idea that once your information is out there, it is permanently out there; you may be able to delete but someone, somewhere, can get a copy. Blogging allows students to begin to understand the concept of journalistic responsibility, of ensuring every fact is accurate and ever comment is appropriate which can carry over to their real lives as well. Connecting Students: Through discourse and debate, students have more of an opportunity to share their opinions within their blogs. While some students may be extremely quiet in class, they may be more likely to comment on a blog. Students who have spent very little time together in an academic sense will become connected. Producing Experts: Blogs allow students to become experts in the area they are reporting. They force the students to move beyond simple recall of the information to a realm of analyzing and synthesizing it. Additionally, as peers comment and ask questions, they have the opportunity to research deeper and respond, placing them in the role of expert. Lumos Learning’s newest step in elearning offers blogging to students and teacher. Their site, Lumos Learning Quillpad, provides students the opportunity to blog in a safe, academic atmosphere.
List of free resources: 1. Main Idea Questions for Grade 3 to Grade 8 2. PARCC Practice Tests 3. Reading List for Grade 4 4. How to help students with increasingly complex text 5. Smarter Balanced Sample Questions 6. Why are Parents opposed to PARCC Testing 7. Summer Learning Headstart 8. A survival Guide for Parents - Back to School
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