Thing 4

I enjoyed reading the recommended blogs. One thing I noticed about the blogging style is that it is very personal while still being informative. Often blogs are persuasive in nature, such as in Why I Don't Assign Homework and Spies Like Us.

I loved the student blogs. Patrick's Update was particularly interesting to me. He spoke so well and with such conviction and determination, but what really got my attention were all the words of encouragement that came in the comments. Blogging is a great way to express yourself and get advice from other caring adults and students. I also thought the Extreme Biology blog was great for discussing the environmental issues of the drought, conservation, and environmentalism. Many students were passionate about their views, while some admitted to learning something new from their classmate. Another blog I really enjoyed was How to Prevent Another Leonardo da Vinci. Although I teach Special Ed, my two children are gifted. I often feel that our current education system is a disappointment for gifted children. I don't say this to put down any particular teachers. What I do know is that my kids' favorite school days have been Quest days, and when my son went to middle school and was in all AT classes he felt relieved to be in a class full of other kids like him. He always hated waiting around for the rest of the class to finish to move on. In fact his favorite elementary class was a 5th/6th split because he did his 5th grade work and then listened to the 6th grade lessons as well. Our current education system focuses so much on getting low achieving students to pass TAKS that our gifted students are often left unchallenged and unmotivated.

Why I Don't Assign Homework reminded me of the information I learned at the Ruby Payne conference. For students in poverty and/or lacking parental involvement homework serves very little purpose. I've always felt that nightly reading is important, as well as studying spelling and learning math facts. Homework for homework sake serves little purpose. Being a mom, I know that kids need some down time. Many kids have sports, dance, scouting, church, etc. to do in the evenings and these are important parts of their experience and life knowledge as well.

I think blogging is a valuable tool for educators and students to express themselves, demonstrate their learning, and to persuade others to their points of view. On top of that, they can receive valuable feedback and encouragement from others.