Blog to communicate

A blog, short for web log, is defined as “ a personal online journal that is frequently updated and intended for general public consumption. Blogs are defined by their format: a series of entries posted to a single page in reverse-chronological order.” [1] Beyond this simple definition, blogs can be many things, reflecting the purpose and personality of its creator. Blogs can be created to reflect the many needs of teachers. One basic need is the ability to communicate to other professionals, and teachers have used blogs to express displeasure, create connections to outside teacher groups, and to share lesson plans. A teacher must be aware that a blog is essentially a public document and must use common sense in order to avoid trouble. Another potential advantage of a blog is the ability to market oneself to other schools. The blog, still relatively unusual in education and business (a search of Technorati under teacher and education showed a total of 2,972 blogs on 12-16-06), can demonstrate creativity, a teacher’s desire to continue their own learning, and allows the hiring school to see specific lesson plans and examples of student learning. One issue that the teacher needs to be careful of is protecting student privacy. The solutions could range from requiring the use of pseudonyms by students (something from personal experience most students enjoyed) or obtaining parent permission.

1. SearchVB.com. Definitions. 2000-2006, TechTarget