Why could blogging change, or not change, the traditional classroom?

Until a few days ago I thought that blogging was primarily used as an online journal where people could post details about their personal lives. I am now coming to the realization that it could really be so much more- especially in the world of education! I think that our students respond whenever opportunites to interact with modern technology arise. They are constantly texting and facebook messaging outside of school (and maybe even during school). If teachers can find a way to include these elements in their classes, I think kids will respond in a very positive way. It seems to me that blogging is an easy way to connect to students outside of the classroom, as well encourage students to interact with one another in an educational way. I wonder if the quality of my students' work would increase whenever assignments are asked to be submitted via blog. The audience changes from just the teacher to the entire class, or even grade level. I plan on introducing blogging for my classes in the coming weeks and I am curious to see how my students will reflect on each other's responses to specific assignments. I visited the extreme biology blog suggested this week and I was surprised to see how well developed the site was. It seems that the teacher posts discussion questions and students answer and reflect on each others' responses. In other spots of the blog students start a thread and share picture, sites or articles that they find on the internet. There are many students involved, and it reminded me of a quote from the "Educational Blogging" article that we read: "The student who usually talks very loud in the classroom and the student who is very timid have the same writing space to voice their opinion." (Downes, 2004) This idea appeals to me because as any teacher can tell you, there are always some students who seem to be overlooked for being shy or reluctant to speak in class. I'm excited to start blogging with my students and I'm currently thinking of how I can do this in a way that will ensure students are respectful and appropriate. If you have any ideas, let me know!

1st time blogging

Hi everyone! This is my first time blogging- I'm curious to see how it works, and how I could use this with my classes :)