I really enjoyed reading this article by Diane Penrod, and found it very interesting and motivating. After reading this article, I learned how beneficial using blogs in the classroom can be. Penrod provided multiple positive reasons why using blogs in the classroom is helpful in building literacy in students.
I would like to mention three specific reasons she provided, that I especially liked. Firstly, Penrod claims that using blogs in the classroom increases students’ independence. If you think about it, when writing blogs—students have control of the learning and writing process. They are writing without the teacher’s constant supervision and are therefore able to write about topics that they are 100% interested in. Secondly, have students blog will build a strong literacy community; when blogging, students are able to communicate with dozens if not hundreds of other writers with similar interests. Lastly, blogging also increases a student’s fluency in writing. When students blog, they are having fun throughout the entire writing process—so what happens is that they want to write more and write more often. Also, blogging is very hands on and self-gratifying; when students blog, they are able to see both the teacher and their peer’s responses to their writings almost immediately.
Throughout the article, Penrod mentions how blogging is great for all students—but she also focuses on how blogging is even better for students with special needs. I would like to talk about the section in the article where Penrod discusses how blogging is helpful for ESOL learners. I was particularly interested in this section because the placement class that I am in right now is filled with 90% ESOL students, and I am always looking for different ways to help them learn.
Penrod provides the reader with three different ways blogging helps ESOL students learn. Her first reason for using blogging with ESOL students explains that having them write blogs with help develop and build their idiomatic English. Blogging will help the ESOL students build their conversational skills. Another reason to use blogging with ESOL students, that Penrod provides, is the fact that blogs are print-based mediums—therefore they will help ESOL students with their reading skills. Finally, if you have audio-blogging and podcasting available in your classroom—they are great tools that help ESOL learners with their spoken language skills.
By reading this article, Penrod made me realize that using blogs would be an engaging and fun way to build my ESOL students’ English language skills. She also helped me understand that blogs can help ESOL students share their amazing life stories. I know for a fact that my ESOL students have been through experiences that I could never imagine—but having them write it in a blog, could be a great way to let their peers know about their past experiences.
After reading this article, I am definitely going to be using blogs in my future classroom! I believe there are many ways and reasons to use blogs in the classroom. I found a good website that provides different reasons as to why to use blogs in the classroom.
