Our society is more plugged in than ever. Will Richardson says in his book Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms that "the fastest growing age group for using the internet is 2 to 5 year olds and that today's students, of almost any age, are far ahead of their teachers in computer literacy." What does this mean for our classrooms today? What needs to change in our curriculum to meet the needs of today's digital learners?
One thing we must do is rethink our idea of literacy. Our students are not only readers and writers in the linear classroom, but thanks to Web 2.0 tools have the opportunities to reach out globally and become readers, writers, editors, collaborators and publishers in the non-linear, hypermedia world of the internet. It's no longer good enough to be literate in the book sense...our students MUST become digitally literate as well. The perfect way for students to hone these skills are by using blogs in the classroom.
What in the world could you use blogs for in the classroom, especially in an elementary classroom? Here's a list from Richardson's book
- learn how to blog
- class writing assignments (think of the trees saved)
- express opinions on topics you are studying in class
- complete project work in small groups
- showcase products of project-based learning
- reactions to thought provoking questions you post
- journal entries
The Edublogger
Web 2.0 in the Classroom
http://www.scoop.it/t/using-blogs-in-the-elementary-classroom
My goal in the upcoming months is to create a blog for use with students at my school. I'm not sure what grade level I'll be using as my guinea pigs...but I'll keep you posted.
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