From this week’s readings I was able to gather that not only do blogs have a place in the classroom, they are revolutionizing it.  Blogs in the classroom allow shy, meek students to voice their opinion on matters without having to physically do so which at times can be intimidating.  It also gives a time cushion for students to gather their thoughts and consolidate them so that they no longer have as great a fear of being embarrassed in front of their peers.  Blogs also allow students to express their creative side because when designing their blogs they can choice things such as their blogs titles, layouts, colors, designs, links, pictures, etc.  While at first I thought that at times having underage high school students blogging on the internet could be harmful to their safety. After all any computer with an internet connection could access, read, and comment “perhaps cruelly” to a student’s writing; which would have the opposite effect that a teacher is seeking when they are trying to build up a student’s confidence as a writer.  I thought it was fascinating that there was a device out there called the Intranet, which is just like the internet, but can be cut off from the outside digital world.  This is a perfect device to still allow your students to enjoy and learn to use blogs while keeping your students safe from cyber bullies and cyber predators.

In a private setting blogs are good because they get students use to a regular writing schedule.  A student keeping a personal blog over the summer would allow students to keep their writing skills sharp when many students’s writing skills begin to digress from the long absence of not using them. While the context of a personal blog is not always academic, the fact that students are often writing to their friends are in fact learning a literary practice because they are practicing writing for a specific audience.