First Blog

My K-12 education never used blogs for school work, this is my first experience with blogging.  I only saw girls blog while I was in school, so I never did blog because I thought it was only for girls. Having blogging in the classroom is a very good idea, students can have instant direct contact to their teachers, and classmates for grading, and possibly peer editing. It also gets students to be more comfortable talking to each other for future bonds.  There is always going to be a risk when involving students no matter what age to internet dangers such as, cyber bullies, and internet predators. Some parents may not be ready to send their kids to the internet world even at school.

If blogs are used correctly and effectively they can meet all the requirement for the National, and State standards of Oregon.  Students having blogs is good for their creativity, imagination, writing improvements, and much more.  More schools should get the funding to get their students to improve their technological skills at the start of having a blog. Blogs can be accessed anywhere, the students doesn't need a computer at home to access their blog.

The lesson plan I found is for the grades 7-9 in social studies.  I found this to be a very good project for middle schoolers to learn about the cold war. The assignment was called "Cold War Hotspots" They each pick an area and write a essay on their area in the Cold War. They need to cite at least 3 credible sources and use MLA format style.  They also have to create a Google site and make it look like a web news site article. Also after they are finished they publish the site and other students can comment on the page to see what the strengths and weaknesses are.  The students are meeting standards by being creative.  They are creating their own web page as well as learning effective writing techniques such as writing a paper and citing their sources. I personally am a big fan of this assignment, it is a great way to learn about the Cold War from multiple angles, instead of just learning about the United States and the Soviet Union, but learning about other countries that were involved.