blogs as an alternative to paper literacy responses

Recently, I had the opportunity to see how some teachers are using blogs in the classroom. One idea is to have students write responses about the books they are reading at home. The students typically write responses and letters weekly, and this was a fun and unique format for them to try.  It gave the students a creative outlet and a way to also communicate with their classmates. Very quickly, the students were asking eachother questions, and showing a genuine interest in what others were reading. This collaborative envioronment was easily made possible by the blog.

One thing to be aware of, is that each student has access to a computer. Many students may not have home computers and it is important to have classroom or school computers available to those students for their use. Overall, it was interesting to see how students responded to the blogging assignment- many of them enjoyed it. From a teachers perspective, it was fairly easy to view student responses and see which students were participating. This is something I would certainly like to try.