Students are faced with drill and practice teaching because that is a form of teaching that shows results in standardized testing. This can be seen as fact in my school district because of the pacing and teaching materials provided. The training in repetitive test taking skills is laughable in Florida classrooms right now. Material is covered and then rapidly relegated to the ‘done pile’ as teachers struggle to keep up with pacing guides that outpace most students and most teachers.
Blogging allows teachers and students to have a little more reflection on what was learned and why it was relevant. For example, a student learning how to multiply fractions may wonder why in the world it is important to know the skill. Blogging about the topic makes students think about why learned material is important. A student might spend 10 minutes thinking about a real life example of multiplying fractions, but after the “forced” higher order thinking exercise, the student will know how to multiply fractions because they were expected to explain why it needed to be learned.
Exploring this kind of reflection in a Web 2.0 tool like the blog, excites many students and makes them want to please an audience of readers. This “forced” reflection becomes more relavant and important because the students like the delivery format.
There are many “benefits of using blogs in a multicultural education course include(ing) fostering students’ critical thinking about important issues, connecting theoretical and popular texts and practice, encouraging dialogue among the class community.” (Hong 2008)
Hong, W. (2008). Exploring Educational Use of Blogs in U.S. Education. Online Submission, Retrieved from ERIC database.
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