Three ways that I can use blogs in my teaching!

Are you using the internet everyday?
Are you making friends through internet?
Are you get some information through internet?

But have you ever used internet for teaching your students?
Here are three ways you can teach your students by using blog.
Students already have much knowledge about using the internet and blog.
If you decide to use that, they will follow you easily.


First!
You can use blog for teaching writing. Make the blog for your class or have them make the blog for thier own. And then let them write in the blog. Even thought they are very young like elementary school students, they can write!
For example, how about having them write some simple diary. They can write some sentences about their day.  When they write diary, you can write some coments and other classmates can write comments.
Reading other people's comments is quite interesting to the student who wrote the diary. This can give some motivation for writing and make them think writing is interesting.  In Korea, many teachers give homework about writing diary but if you give them as just paperwork, the students would be bored because this writing is not communication. However if they write the diary in their blog, adding comments make this writing task as the ways of communication.


(Standards related to digital writing)

12. Students use spoken, written, and visual language to accomplish their own purposes (e.g., for learning, enjoyment, persuasion, and the exchange of information).

PreK–12 English Language Proficiency Standards Framework
Standard 2: English language learners communicate information, ideas, and concepts necessary for academic success in the area of language arts.

Writing
English language learners use written communication for a variety of purposes and audiences. Writing can be used to express meaning through drawing, symbols, or text. English language learners may come with writing styles influenced by their home cultures.


Second!
You can use blog to seach and collect the resources for reading and writing class.
In the sea of internet, there are tons of authentic materials you can use in your English class.
If you are teaching young studets, you can use fairy tales but if you are teaching middle or high school students, you can use literatures and novels.
Only you can do is just writing down the proper link. Otherwise you can join the reading education website. It allows you to read many reading materials in cheap price. May you and your school purchase this together.
In EFL situations like Korea, the students have less opportunities to improve their English. That means by reading, they can have more chances to contact with English. Almost every children like stories so through stories they can access the English and English and American culture. Therefore this is a good way to teach English.
Find proper reading material for you students level and put them on the blog. Make the students read the stories and write about their short book reports.

(Standards related to digital writing)
1.  Students read a wide range of print and nonprint texts to build an understanding of texts, of themselves, and of the cultures of the United States and the world; to acquire new information; to respond to the needs and demands of society and the workplace; and for personal fulfillment. Among these texts are fiction and nonfiction, classic and contemporary works.

PreK–12 English Language Proficiency Standards FrameworkReading
English language learners process, interpret, and evaluate written language, symbols, and text with understanding and fluency. Learning to read in a second language may be enhanced or hindered by students’ level of literacy in their native language. Students who have a strong foundation in reading in their first language bring with them skills that can be readily transferred in the process of learning to read in English.



Third!
You can use blog for giving homework assignments. There are many ways for giving homework assignments. First, you can set the students homework by providing the worksheet. You can upload your worksheets and let them do that. And then you can make them upload their homework on your weblogs. You don't have to print out or copy for the worksheets and it can save your time.
Aslo, you can make the students search the material that is related to the thing they are going to learn or they already learned. For example, you are going to teach the protection of environement, you can make them search for the ways about how to protect the environment before the class. If they searched them, they have background knowledge and this can make concentrate more in class.
Lastly, you can post the assignment on your blog. Students always assess the blog and then there they can know what the homework is. If they have questions, they can ask you in the weblog. How convinent it is!

(Standards related to digital writing)
5. Students employ a wide range of strategies as they write and use different writing process elements appropriately to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes.
7. Students conduct research on issues and interests by generating ideas and questions, and by posing problems. They gather, evaluate, and synthesize data from a variety of sources (e.g., print and nonprint texts, artifacts, and people) to communicate their discoveries in ways that suit their purpose and audience.



If you try to find your way of using blog for your teaching, you can find out the better methods than this. How about letting me know your ideas for this? I am really looking forward to hearing your creative ways! If you have any, don't hesitate writing the comments in my blog!