The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

During our January 20th class, we discussed what a "good blog" consists of, and I was able to come up with a few ideas. However, I must confess that before this class, I hated the idea of blogging. The second someone said the word "blog" my thoughts traveled to the world of MySpace and Live-Journal, the places where teens and teenyboppers complain about their lives and gossip about kids at their school. After reading the two articles about blogging however, I began to realize that blogging was a lot more useful than I originally thought. Blogging, like many other webpages, can be used as a resource for others. Blogs consisting of book reviews are a simple easy way to keep up with new literature. A while ago, learning that elementary school students are getting involved with blogging would have upset me. But with the guidance of teachers and discussions about what makes a "good blog", students can use blogs to communicate with others about subjects that interest them.

There is no doubt in my mind that terrible blogs exist, but I also believe that peoples' reaction to blogging can be improved a great deal and blogging can become a more respectable source of literature. As a future teacher, of course I will encourage my students to use technology. However, I will caution them about the pitfalls of the internet and how to use technology wisely. How will you incorporate technology in your classroom??