Blogging about Blogs - week 4

I think blogs are a great tool for the classroom. There are so many different uses for them:

-discussion thread for book reviews or book club
-a place to share information and resources with staff, students, and parents
-a way for students to journal their learning and reflections

These are only some suggestions, but there are many more creative ideas out there.

A couple of years ago when I taught Science 9, my class worked on a year long sustainability project. The main goal of the project was that students had to "green" one part of their school or community.

Students created their own groups and picked topics that interested them - in the end the areas of focus were:

- conservation of water
- conservation of energy (electricity)
- carbon footprinting and leadership in sustainability
- composting
- recycling

Not only did individual groups have to research and actively green an area of choice, I had each student create a blog as a way to record their journey through this project.

At first, I was met with a few groans - more work and reflecting is not their favorite thing to do - but once we got into the project, many of them really seemed to enjoy the electronic journaling.

I will always remember this experience - it was such a great learning moment for the entire school. And it taught me how important it is to try new things...you never know where it can take you - two of these students had the opportunity to go to Montreal, a few more participated in a web conference with the founder of "takingitglobal", and even more participated in a district summit (student-led) on sustainability.

And I am so happy that they journaled their adventure - I still smile when I read their blogs! What a great memory!

Check out some of their blogs:
Robin's blog

Aiko's blog

Minna's Blog

Ralph's Blog