Using Blogs in English Class

During the school year I often spend many hours creating exciting, inventive ways to instruct my students in writing.  This is usually a very difficult task because majority of students do not enjoy the act of writing, especially standardized testing writing.  Often my students struggle with reading deeper into writing prompts and also expanding on their writing.  I try to vary topics that students write about so that different students will be interested with different ideas.  I feel blogs may create a different and exciting approach to writing.  Here are some ideas I think would be beneficial to use in an English classroom.

One idea I had for using blogs within my English class is to post issues in the news and have students comment on these issues.  Students often have much knowledge in issues our state, country, town are currently facing.  Many of my students are well informed about the current actions Governor Christie is taking toward budgeting in New Jersey public education.  I feel this is an issue in the news that impacts their learning and therefore they would have an opinion they could share with others.

Another way to use blogging in the classroom would be for students to write journal entries in their personal blog space.  I, as the teacher, can use the blogs as a grade, comment on their remarks and create a closer relationship with students in my classroom.  By discussing issues important to them, the student- teacher bond could be made stronger.

The last way in which to use blogging in my class would be for students to write original pieces and post to the blog.  Students would receive comments from myself as well as other students on how to improve their writing.  This is one idea that I am a little uncertain about because of student's harsh wording at times. This use of blogs would take much preparation on the part of the teacher and in discussing proper ways to critique writings with students.