534 Week 2 Blog

This was an interesting week as I learned a great deal more about blogs and how they could really be an effective tool in my classroom. I guess what I found most interesting about blogs is that they give you the ability to help connect students to the world literally on a global scale. As I have mentioned before I am a Special Education Teacher and one of the classes I have taught in the past is Geography. I would love to get a blog started with a school from overseas. Specifically Africa as we spent a great deal of time studying Africa the last time I taught the course. It seems that many of my students fail to realize there is a world outside that of Wisconsin. Another cool resource would be to reconnect with some of the teachers that I taught with in Hawaii. I spent three years teaching there and could get some dialogue going between my class and some of my former colleges classes. Anyway, there are some really cool relevant resources that could come out of using blogs. I will also take away the idea that I should practice more on my own with blogging so I am even more comfortable teaching blogging basics. The only issue I have with getting started is that all social networks sites are blocked in my district. However, as an active member of my schools technology committee I feel like I could present a well thought out argument about the positives of using blogs in my classroom. Also, and probably most important I feel comfortable discussing the safety issues surrounding blogs.