Web 2.0 Technologies

I think that the instructional strategies that would fit well with using blogs in the classroom would be either constructivist or idea based learning. These two processes of learning offer more opportunities for reflection, group interaction and cooperative learning. I do not think that blogs would be very effective in a didactic classroom. I think it would interrupt the flow of a lesson because it doesn't fit with the sage on the stage approach. I have a hard time with the question "How would you use a blog in a didactic classroom?". For this, I have no answer.

I think there are several great ways to use blogs in the classroom. I have often thought about using a blog on my classroom website where kids are responsible for posting about our learning for the day. This would be informative for the parent and give students a chance to reflect on the day's activities. A new idea this week for me was using a blog to complete weekly vocabulary homework. In third grade, I really hammer home the idea of using context clues to help understand words. So, each week, students have to take home their 6 or 7 vocabulary words and create a meaningful paragraph using those words. Unfortunately, they never see how creative their classmates are. A blog would be a great place for students to submit their assignment. Then, they could read their classmates blogs and make comments. I think they would learn a lot more from seeing how many different ways there are to incorporate the same words into a paragraph or short story!

A creative way to use a Web 2.0 technology to support learning might be using a Wiki to teach number patterns. In our third grade Next Generation Math Standards, students not only have to be able to find and complete patterns but also write a rule for a pattern and create it. I would use a wiki and give each student a page. Then, he or she could post the beginning of a pattern. Students could then edit each other's wikis figure out the rule and complete the pattern. However, I would create a rule that if you complete a pattern, you must begin a new one on that page. I think students would learn a lot from seeing each other's patterns, creating new patterns and challenging each other.