There are many reasons why teachers have begun to integrate technology and the Internet into their classrooms. Blogs have proven to be one of the most user-friendly (and kid-friendly) ways to communicate with students, and increase investment in the content and instruction.
Depending on resources available, teacher experience and comfort, and time, there are many different things that can be done with blogs to achieve these goals. In this class’ lecture we will begin discussing them, and you will begin to brainstorm what kind of role a teacher blog could (and will) play in your classroom.
EXAMPLE OF BLOGGING INCREASING STUDENT INVESTMENT:
Quick win for vocab… every week on Wednesdays my students homework assignment is to use their lingo (vocab) to create a script of some kind (“Script it Out” if you will). They can create a movie script, TV show script, commercial, song, rap, poem, fiction story… the options are really endless as long as the product is well thought out and uses their lingo in sentences, in a way that shows they understand the meaning.
Well, needless to say, while at first this can be exciting and a little different, eventually it becomes just another homework assignment they have to complete. Quick easy win= YOUTUBE! The best scripts are performed the next day (Thursday Theatre) in class, and recorded on my small digital still camera. The good ones are then uploaded on YouTube. If you teach in a computer/Tech lab, it’s easy to embed it on your blog and have them all watch it the next day. If you don’t, just put it on your website (or tell them what it’s titled) and you’d be amazed at how many kids will find a way to look at it outside of school.
Following a class discussion earlier this year about how YouTube is revolutionizing fame, and every middle schooler wants to be famous, kids will do whatever it takes to get their work (and performance) on YouTube. Whatever it takes in this case is quality homework. What a beautiful win-win situation 
Just another way technology can help invest kids in your subject…
P.S. Struggling to get videos in a format that upload easily on YouTube? Try VisualHub- best converter I’ve found. VERY user friendly.
Once you’ve watched the lecture and completed the assignments, it’ll be time to move on to creating your own!
Check out the Class 1 Lecture by downloading it from the Box.net widget on the left side of this page.
All assignments for this class are also included on the Class 8 section of the class wiki.
