Post #2- Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Teaching With Authors' Blogs, HOT Blogging

Chapter 2

Right off the bat, I found some astounding facts on page 19: “Remember, two new blogs are being created every second, and that pace shows no sign of slowing down.  Now, that doesn’t mean that everyone who creates a blog becomes a dedicated blogger; two-thirds of all blogs go for more than two months without being updated.”  This surprised me, though I feel like it really shouldn’t considering how many blogs are out there on the web on almost any subject.  One thing I liked about reading about blogs is that they can be very useful in the classroom.  Similar to our blackboard site, blogs can be used to do just about anything for the class.  “From a teaching standpoint, having a place to publish the course curriculum, syllabus, class rules, homework assignments, rubrics, handouts, and presentations makes a Weblog a powerful course management tool (pg 21).”  I liked the fact that weblogs can be used as an “online filing cabinet,” so “students never misplace their work (pg 22).”  During my student teaching experience, I would have students who misplaced their work, forgot it or just didn’t do it.  I think using a blog would be better for students to submit their work because they need to log in to actually submit it, reducing the need for printing papers, “running out of ink or paper,” or any other excuse students might come up with as to why they don’t have their work done.

Chapter 3

It is important for a teacher to experience things for themselves in order to explain it to their students; blogs is one of these.  “The best way to fully understand the potential of Weblogs as a teaching and learning tool is to become a blogger.  Just as writing teachers should write, and literature teachers should read, teachers who use blogs should use blogs (pg 43).”  I think this is very important to teach their students how to use blogs in the class as well as outside of school.  That way, students and teachers can collaborate using the blogs outside of class, expanding time in the classroom and each other’s knowledge.  “Don’t be afraid to include some posts that are totally personal or just fun; your readers want to see the person behind the blog as well (pg 44).”  I think it’s important for students to see how their teachers are outside of school, and teachers blogging about their lives outside of school will let the students be even more in tune with their teachers.  While a teacher shouldn’t reveal everything about their personal lives in their blogs, it is important to highlight some interesting things; what sports they watch, what they did during their day with their pets or children, etc.  I also liked how this chapter highlighted how to use blogger; I actually wished while I read that I had this book for last semester when I had to do the literature blogs for Sunita’s class.  Even though everything is pretty self explanatory, it takes a little while to get used to everything on the site. 

Teaching With Authors’ Blogs

One thing that struck me right off the bat in this article was on the first page.  In Sunita’s class we had our literature blogs, and one of my classmates was lucky enough to actually get a comment on her page by one of the authors of a book featured on her blog.  We thought it was really interesting how she got a comment from the author, and it showed that the author could take time out of their schedules and reach out to the community.  That said, the quote that reminded me of Sunita’s class was: “Rather than remaining at a distance, many of these authors desire to create a stronger connection with their readers, which blogging allows them to do (pg 172).” I definitely think this is true, and teachers could use author’s blogs to make important points in their classes.  “Another way students develop depth of knowledge about authors is by understanding their perspectives on varying issues.  Authors often post their thoughts about issues of importance to them (pg 174).”  I think this is also important to do, especially when looking at different blogs in the classroom.  If students are passionate about certain issues in our society, they will want to see if their favorite authors are too, or at least their standings on the issues.  This way, the students can look up to their favorite authors even more and appreciate their work. 

HOT Blogging

I liked how the definition of a blog was right on the first page of the article, for those who don’t know what the technical term of a blog is.  I think that’s always important to have, because people know what a blog is usually but can’t explain exactly what it is.  I think that using blogs in the classroom is important as it develops students’ communication skills but can also develop their thinking and analyzing skills: “As online readers gather information to solve a problem, they frequently analyze information, critically evaluate, synthesize across multiple texts and communicate with others using instant messengers, e-mail, blogs, wikis, or other communication vehicles.  These essential new literacies of online reading comprehension emphasize higher order thinking skills like analysis, synthesis and evaluation (pg 652).”  I think these skills are very important, especially with using blogs in the classroom, or even instead of a physical classroom, like I have had in some college courses.  The professor will pose questions to the class, and we as the students need to find the answers as well as analyze the importance or significance of what we’ve found.  It makes you think deeper about what you’re posting, which is what I think students need to do.  They can’t just post what they think is the answer without reading it through and thinking it over first.  An important fact for all students was under the Prime the Pump headline, stating that, “A final aspect of prime the pump is to require students to read what others in the class have posted to prepare for a conversation (pg 657).”  This is important because the students may agree or disagree with something another student has posted, but it’s not just enough to agree or disagree with the posting; the student should back up their opinions with facts from the conversation or from other sources.