Using Blogs in the Classroom

Here are 3 different websites that explain how and why blogs are used in the classroom.  I found them to be useful resources that each look at classroom blogs in a different light:

http://www.glencoe.com/sec/teachingtoday/educationupclose.phtml/47

http://etc.usf.edu/techease/win/internet/what-is-blogging-and-how-can-i-use-it-as-a-classroom-activity/

http://edtechreview.in/trends-insights/insights/687-best-ways-to-use-blogging-in-classroom

My teaching philosophy...from a soon to be teacher...

As a kid I was smart and had very little difficulty in school.  This didn’t always mean that I liked school or had the best scores.  Education should be fun, engaging, and challenging.  I learned better when I knew that my teachers loved what they taught and spent their time teaching it to me because they cared about me and my education.  That is the type of teacher I will continuously work to be.

I will have a degree in Mathematics Education with an English Teaching minor.  This will allow me to teach math and English in 7^th-12^th grade classrooms.  However, I will teach kids.  That is what I will teach.  They will be my main priority and I will work very hard to share with them my love of education, especially math and English.  I believe when the person, the student, is placed first it is easier to educate them.  None of us care to listen to people who don’t care about us.  I want to have a classroom atmosphere of acceptance, discussion, learning, and cooperation where ideas are shared and accepted from teacher to student and student to teacher.  I see myself moving throughout my classroom and interacting with all of my students.  I want them to feel connected to what is happening in our discussions and learning process.

I will work within a few different educational philosophies.  I respond to the ideas of realism, progressivism, and social reconstructivism.  I like the idea of having my students learn to problem solve first by example and then on their own.  I want to be a source of knowledge and a resource to my students, but I want them to be a large part of the process.  I want them to have a voice in what and how they learn, I want them to research ideas and problems, and I want my classroom to be student centered. 

My effectiveness as a teacher won’t always be immediately visible.  I don’t believe that effectiveness is measured in assignment and test scores.  That is a way to know if I’m being effective in my teaching methods, but it doesn’t tell me if I’m an effective teacher or not.  Sometimes it may be years before I know how effective I was, and it’s possible with some students that I will never know.  When I worked at the middle school there were days that I didn’t know if I was really making that much of a difference or not.  While I was a special education aide, I worked with many students in all different subjects.  It was always a wonderful feeling when those students thanked me for what I did that day, when I say that look when a student finally “got it,” or when a student returned once they had moved on to high school to thank me for what I taught them and how much I cared about them.  I look forward to experiencing those same things as a teacher.  There may be times that I wonder if I’m helping at all, but as long as I keep teaching like it is the most important thing in the world to me and my students, I know it will be effective and make a difference.