Blogging for Education

I have a cousin that is in the Peace Corps and currently living in Jamaica. She has a blog and posts frequently with updates about how and what she's doing. Her blog is the only blog I've ever really read prior to this class. This blog assignment has encouraged me to explore the blogging universe, look at some of the blogs out there and consider how I might use a blog in an educational setting. I found a couple of really great blogs (http://clive-shepherd.blogspot.com/ and http://www.thisweekineducation.com/ ) and have begun to compile a list of ways I might be able to use a blog in a classroom setting. A blog can be a great way to communicate with other educators and share ideas, experiences & lesson plans. A blog can be a great tool for communicating with students and parents, sharing classroom activities and events as well as links to sites that may benefit parents and students. A blog could be used as a modern day newspaper for the classroom. Students could be given article assignments and allowed to post on the classroom blog (in the class or computer lab and under teacher supervision of course). I'm excited about exploring this idea further and talking to teachers about their thoughts on blogging in the classroom.