Introduction to Blogging

Hello, my name is Danny Dempsey. I am a junior at Northern Kentucky University, a double major in Middle Grades Education with a focus in History and English and Special Education (K-12). My hobbies include sports; baseball especially, music; I am a big fan of nineties music, and doing philanthropy events. I am youngest of four in my family. I have two sisters and a brother. At NKU, I am very involved. I am in a fraternity, Alpha Tau Omega where I am currently the chaplain. I am a member of Norse Leadership society, an organization devoted to instilling leadership in college students. I chose education as a major because I like working with kids more than adults. Teaching is one of the most stressful but rewarding occupations you can pursue. For me, the entire education field is exciting and I look forward to continuing my journey into the teaching world.

Blogging in the modern classroom is great new resource for so many reasons. Blogging allows students the opportunity to communicate with students, parents, and teachers through one living and active way. Students learn media literacy, how to work with students in a digital and interactive way, they learn technology skills which are essential in the world today. As a teacher all of these things are great to bring to the classroom. These are things new teachers must begin to incorporate into their classroom if they want their students to be successful later on in life. There are countless positive reasons for students to create a blog in the classroom. The main benefit for student blogging that I see personally is; students are able to write and receive feedback from not only the teacher, but other people all over the world that the teacher has invited to comment and participate on the blog. This networking is a great tool and a great way to instill learning in a non-traditional way. Another major benefit of blog posting is the use of multimedia. Students are able to upload videos, pictures, and websites of themselves learning which can be viewed by people all over. A great example of a blog like this comes from Ms. Cassidy's online blog. This blog is great example of students showing off their learning in a creative way using modern technology. Ms. Cassidy does an outstanding job of helping her students use and understand technology in her classroom.

Photo "Duke Ellington DNG 357" by Flickr user US Department 

of education / Creative Commons Licensed

Aside from blogging, there are a number of creative websites that help students learn through technology. A great example of a website like this is spelling city. This resource is applicable to students K-12, but especially to elementary aged students. Using this resource you can not only generate practice for spelling test in a number of creative ways, but also practice vocabulary. This site has list programmed in a way where the student, parent or teacher can input their own vocabulary words and definitions. This resource will be great for teachers that are striving to get students to retain information for an upcoming test. This interactive technology will help to keep the student engaged throughout the activities as well. This resource is extremely user friendly and is very accessible for parents and students.