My two cents regarding Chpt. 1 and 2

I had no idea the magnitude of all the things going on with the internet and all the different things you can do. Richardson cites that, in 2005, fifty-seven percent of teens were consider "content creators" for the internet. And the numbers today are likely much higher. Where do they get the time?? I'm lucky if I can get on the internet for more than 15 minutes a day. But I guess so much of what teens do today are directly linked to the computer. How times have changed......which leads me to the next point that Richardson makes (and that I totally agree with): education has been slow to adapt to these new tools and potentials (read/write web). I would think that with the many benefits that the computer/internet provide, the education system would jump at the chance to make it a part of classroom teaching and learning. But...... change is hard! My boss teaches Dental Biochemistry and he only just started using power point (before that he used transparencies and overhead projector)! I think one of the problems is that many educators did not grow up with (or even have in college) the technology being used today. And they get set in their ways taking the attitude that "if it ain't broke, don't fix it."

As teachers, however, we depend on our ability to communicate with our students. Richardson states that the way students communicate and learn are very different from our own. How true. If we hope to teach our students anything, we must force ourselves to rethink how we communicate. I think that if we do not adapt some of our teaching methods/curriculum by using current technology we will lose the students....to them we will be speaking a foreign language. Richardson was also correct when he wrote that implementing technology tools like Weblogs, wikis, etc., will better prepare students for a slew of new literacies and competencies in their post-education lives. Isn't that the point of what we do as educators......teaching, as best we can, our students to go out in the world prepared for what may come their way.

So, I can now relate to some of the things I read in chapter two on weblogs since I now have my own blog!! I must admit it is my first blog and until I created it I had no idea how easy it was to create a blog. It's has been a fun and beneficial learning experience to say the least. I agree with what Richardson says about the core reason for why weblogs have such huge potential in an educational setting: creating and writing to weblogs is easy and there is an audience to share your ideas, thoughts with. My only real struggle with writing on my blog is doing so in a manner that is more reflective and converstional.....something that Richardson also talks about. I guess with time I will get more relaxed in my thinking and writing but right now I tend to be more rigid, organized in thought versus just writing whatever comes to my mind. Practice makes perfect right? It was good to read about some real life examples of a teacher and a student who have blogs and how they use them. I can see how a teacher could use a blog in many different ways but most of all to communicate with other teaching professionals which I think is a must! We can definitely help each other out and learn from one another in such a way that it can only benefit our students. Although I have not done it yet, I think the part about adding links to interesting or educational sites on your blog is a good thing, too.

I actually had to laugh when I read the part about not everyone who creates a blog becomes a dedicated blogger and that two-thirds of all blogs go for more than two months without being updated. As soon as I read that I wanted to raise my hand and say, "yup, that would be me." And, don't get me wrong, I like having a blog. I just need about six more hours in my day to do everything I need/want to do. You should see all of the newspapers, etc., that pile up because I have not had time to read them, but I'm hope for a few minutes to open up. Anyway, just smiled when I read that.

I don't agree, however, that 'through the unique process of blogging,......students are learning to read more critically, think about that reading more analytically, and write more clearlly.' Well, that all depends on what they are reading. And as far as writing......with the advancements in word processing a lot of the writing is automatically corrected such as spell check, ect. Sure, writing a paper using Microsoft Word is easier than writing on paper (and certainly a time saver)....but I'm not sure if it is helping students to be better writers. That's not to say that I don't think blogs or blogging can be beneficially; I'm just not sure that it can take the place of a teacher. I think it can be an excellent tool for the teacher to use to facilitate critical thinking, writing. But by itself, no way.