As I am discovering, blogging is an obvious tool that can be used to promote communication between teacher and student. Once I become more familiar with this site and its functions I do intend on implementing it as part of my classes. I already use a similar website used to provide the students with any presentations they have missed, or as a means to contact me when they are stuck on information or have missed school due to being sick (click here to view). I believe that opening up a link to my blog will promote not only discussion on questions given to my students, but allow the students to view each other's thoughts and feel comfortable in debating and discussing ideas. Students commonly feel "stupid" if they ask something in class and other students may laugh or snicker, where on a technological medium such as a blog some students that normally would not participate in a class are more comfortable writing and may feel more confident in voicing their opinion free of teasing or ridicule from other students.
This medium also provides a beneficial means of reflection for some learners that tend to need more time to gather their thoughts than what a classroom may permit. Some students may also be able to reflect better in private than in front of their peers. This also reinforces the students to break out of their comfort zone to share their thoughts and ideas that they may not have had the opportunity to share, or weren't comfortable sharing in a large group. The blog could also be used for students to ask their own questions to be asked and answered by other students, thus promoting thought in higher levels of bloom's taxonomy.
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