Journal 4

"Moderating and Ethics for the Classroom Instructional Blog" by Patricia Deubel

Patrica Deubel supports her theory that even in K-12 classrooms, class blogs are a good source of learning for students. She states that students can more actively engage in collaborative peer to peer learning through class discussions on blogs. Students who normally do not like to be called on or students who know answers to questions, but are too shy to answer, have a much more relaxed medium in which to express themselves. Blogs are also good tools for student journals, portfolios, as well as a means of communication between teachers and parents.

All of these mediums do however have one thing in common that must be determined by the teacher, what level of freedom will be given to personal expression on these mediums? Will the teacher take down offensive comments or not? Ground rules must be laid by the teacher, and must be followed by all students. Certain rules should include posting guidelines (i.e. minimum number of words or postings). HTML support is another important aspect of blog support. Finally, priority to student commentary for the teacher is an important stimulant in the process of student learning.

I partially agree with this article. I think blogs are a good source of collaborative learning, but I do not see the role of blogs as being as important as that of power points and computer generated reports in the K-8 classroom. I think blogs are more of a 9-college educational tool. I am a more traditional technology kind of teacher though and most likely would not utilize blogs in my classroom.

1)How would I monitor blogs in my classroom (i.e. offensive language, comments, etc.)?
I would not delete offensive language or comments on a class blog (even in the public sector) because it is a personal theory of mine that students need to be in a classroom environment that does not shelter them from the offensive nature of reality. Out in the "real world" people curse all of the time, and do make racist or offensive comments. So I believe it is not right to shelter students from the nature of our world. It's not always rainbows and butterflies! :D
2)What would the limitations of a class blog be in the classroom?
If I worked in a low income school or school district, using a blog as a means of communication between teacher and parents would not quite be a reality since some low income families can not afford desk top computers.