What stood out the most for me was "How can I teacher expect her students to blog (or use any other tool, strategy or technique) if she doesn't use it herself. I can't state how true this statement is. I can't imagine expecting my students to blog if I first had not done it myself, researched it, and put it to use. In order for me to help students understand the purpose of a blog I need to understand it myself.
I also understood what the author meant by stating that students will stop using these tools at the end of the semester if we don't share with them how important it is to keep using them and to keep learning. I had a blog for a class last semester. I had never blogged before and wasn't real sure of the purpose other then an easy way for my teacher and classmates to see what I was thinking. I quit using it as soon as the class was over. I now understand the deeper meaning and relevance that blogs can have. I can see myself really using blogs in my future classroom.
I am working with my cooperative teacher to possible use a blog for our fourth grade class to publish their memoirs that they are working on. I know that the district is very conservative with blogger.com, so I was happy to see that we could control the users and viewers of the blog. I hope to get to try this with these students.
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I myself was skeptical of using a blog for class and then continuing after the class was over, but I've begun to see the relevance and convinence that comes with it and really enjoy it now. That is really awesome that you might get to start a blog with your 4th graders, I'm sure they will really enjoy it!
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