Reflection to "The New Conversation, Using Weblogs for Reflective Practice in the Studio Art Classroom"

Article Reflection

This article gave me insight as to wanting to incorporate blogging into my future classroom. Overall I enjoyed this article. After having to blog for a few classes I could see the benefits of blogging. Blogging enables the writer to think more critically about what they are writing while still writing using their own voice. Blogging is something that is less formal than a research paper and this article highlighted that point. I believe that a student feels less pressure to write and feels more open to thinking and recording their thoughts and questions when writing blogs. I believe this because many times while I was writing blogs it was outside of the classroom, and I was able to really take time to think about the topic and search for answers.

One section of the article that I enjoyed was when it talked about the challenges that the teacher and the students faced when writing blogs. The article talked about the technical challenges including the student’s accessibility to the internet.

This teacher stumbled upon what can be a very useful tool to incorporate into students’ education. And the teacher had the student’s blog mainly because she was going on maternity leave… Genius…

Reasons for Blogging

Important reasons were brought up in this article about using blogs in a classroom as a tool for furthering a student’s education. One of the reasons brought up was that of extending the classroom conversation. Blogging is a way to have students continue a conversation held in class or to continue and put there thoughts in about a topic covered in class. Another reason for using blogs was because blogs let the teacher be the mediator and not the authoritarian figure. Blogging allows for free talk with directed questions. The teacher is no longer leading a lecture in the classroom but it the one sitting on the couch listening and asking a few questions to dig farther into the topic. Blogging is a more relaxed and free environment because the student are blogging on their own time most of the time in the environment of their choice. The last reason for using blogs in the classroom is because it expands a student’s analysis and critical thinking. I believe this is because like mentioned students write in a comfortable environment where they are free to think and question. If the student is focused on the topic and the questions raised by their peers then the student will think deeper and more critically of what is being said especially because it is not the teacher talking in front of the classroom.

What about Academic and Social Skills?

While I believe that the introverted child should be pushed a nudge to try things out of their comfort zone because they will have to in their future, I believe blogging is a great way for the introverted and shy child to speak. As well as to begin a conversation outside of the classroom that may lead to be discussed with each other inside the classroom. Drawing from personal experience I would have loved to have blogged during my middle-high school years. While it may not seem to build social skills on the surface I believe that topics can be brought up again in the classroom for all students to discuss. Also, once the teacher talks about the proper etiquette for writing blogs the students will understand how to write constructively but also positively.

A student’s academic skill can also be improved when writing blogs because it challenges them to be on point and precise making the student think about what they are writing and what they want to say in their posts. Blogs also allow students to be on a computer with internet while writing the blog; this allows them to search for answers to their questions and also gives them the ability to search for other artists/ works that they think of that could help other students out with the project.