A good reason to convert

At the beginning of this class I was somewhat focused on how I wanted my classroom to operate. One thing I was absolutely positive on doing was journals. I believe journal entries create an opportunity to practice writing skills and reinforce content. While reading Wilbur's chapters on Blogs, Wiki's, and Digital Stories, I couldn't help but thinking how much more efficient it would be to have students keep their journal as blogs. The most influential quote that got me to jump on the bandwagon was on page 66 in chapter 4, "In fact, I tell them to only use their first name and last initial, and I keep a list of their Gmail accounts with their full names so I know whose blogs and comments belong to whom and I can keep track. This protects their privacy online while still allowing me to create accountability. In addition since blogs are public, parents, other teachers, and even administrators may be invited to read what students have been writing about a particular topic." This stuck a huge chord for me because the number one priority I have learned since student teaching is to keep a paper trail. With new programs and adaptations to teacher assessment, teachers are constantly being challenged to prove that they are doing their job. The best way to do that is to keep a paper trail of everything and anything that goes on in your classroom. By forcing the students to create a blog instead of a paper journal your entire paper trail for who is participating and how they are participating is located in one convenient spot on the internet. Of course there are always cons. The largest problem that a teacher would find in implementing this strategy is the availability of computers and internet. If a student does not have access to a computer or internet how can he or she be held accountable for keeping a consistent blog? Wilbur definitely turned a light on in my head and I will continue to try and find ways to perfect this journal keeping strategy. Any questions, comments, criticisms, or concerns are welcome.