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When I consider blogs for language arts classes, I generally think of students expressing themselves in reaction to a given topic. But there are many more uses for blogs. Consider using a blog as a way to alert students to new assignments or to have them view a video or article to be discussed further either in class or through blogging. To see what I mean, take a look at Julia Osteen’s blog that she uses with her English classes. She’s done everything from putting assignments on her blog to posting class notes. I think it’s a very effective way to utilize blogging with students.

To view Julia’s blog, click HERE.

Because of its nature, blogging is a great way to encourage students to write more and express themselves in ways that they might not during a class discussion. Writing allows one the time to think about word choice and offers teachers a great way to incorporate technology into classroom practices.

This next teacher brings up an important point if you are considering blogging for your class. Many districts block various sites and this may prevent you from either starting a blogging project or from continuing one. It looks like this is what happened to Mr. Caldwell with his English class.

Click HERE to see Mr. Caldwell’s last post alerting his students that the class blog is moving due to filtering issues. This is a good reason to check with those in power before you start using this great technology.

At his new blogspot, one of the things you’ll see Mr. Caldwell teach about is the concept of satirical devices. He posts a few cartoons and instructs his students to explain why they think a particular cartoon is satirizing. His manner of using blogging with his class definitely provides lots of ideas for language arts teachers.

To view Mr. Caldwell’s current blog site, click HERE.

This next blog is hosted by Mr. Sale, an English teacher in Littleton, CO. He presents some interesting things for his students to comment on. Two things really stand out to me. The first is that he addresses reading habits and has students comment on where, when and how they read. From having taught for a few years myself, this is something that might be somewhat dull to discuss in the classroom. The 19 responses from his students are proof that you’ll get more responses if you give students a medium that they feel comfortable with.

The second thing that stands out is Mr. Sale’s approach to poetry. He worked with his students in class on a particular poetry style called pantoum. He published some of the student’s work so that others could determine what the rules are for this kind of poetry. What a great outlet for creativity!

To view Mr. Sale’s blog, click HERE.

Finally, I’ll leave you with a short video called Blogging in English class. Students reflect on how they used blogging in English class.

When considering how interactive clickers could be used in an English Language Arts class, my first inclinations were to use them somehow for vocabulary development. Some other ideas that come to mind are for teaching grammar rules. But they can also be used for taking surveys in response to a debate topic. Getting students’ reactions (either for it or against it) would be a great way to open up discussion, especially when talking about how characters behaved in a book.

The first video in this segment comes from a news interview that shows how a teacher in Polk county is using clickers to help her students with vocabulary development. As you’ll see, the students love every minute of it.

Clickers can also be used with younger student to develop things like spelling and reading. In the next example, we’ll see a teacher in Winston Salem, NC use clickers in conjunction with an interactive whiteboard to develop spelling and phonetic awareness. She’s using the Activote product from Promethean.

Digital video is perhaps one of the most fascinating forms of technology for students to work with. In language arts classes, there are several applications such as video book reports, poetry and the acting out of plays on film. If you are using video with your classes and intend to put the work on the Internet, be sure to get all necessary permission forms signed by all that are taking part in the project.

The examples below highlight what you can do with video and book reports. The first is a young girl named Daisy that talks about a book called Binky Rules. It’s pretty simple, however, it requires a different kind of expression.

To watch Daisy’s video book review, click on the player below.

The next example takes book reviews to a whole different technological level. It is a review of Tolan’s Surviving the Applewhites and is a cross curriculum project that incorporates elements of Language Arts and keyboarding. It combined elements of an avatar project in keyboarding class with a book review. It was edited using Windows Movie Maker. Very impressive!!

Finally, I’ll leave you with an example of what can be done with video and various types of poetry. Using iMovies ‘08, the students in the next video combined shots of a river to demonstrate Haiku, Kenning, and Cinquain.

To view the video, click HERE.

In English Language Arts classes, podcasts can be used in a wide variety of ways. When considering the possibilities, consider this: whether using podcasts, digital video or blogging, today’s generation of students like to utilize technology to let the world know what they are about. These next set of links really showcase some of the ways podcasting can be used to encourage expression.

These first couple of links come from Mr. Pence’s ELA 6th grade classes at Florine Dial Johnston Elementary School in Woodstock, GA. The first link will take you to a podcast of Mr. Pence’s students reading summary sentences of the Thanksgiving essays they had written. It was interesting to hear what each student was thankful for.

To begin the podcast, click HERE.

Mr. Pence also used podcasting as a means for completing book reviews. Ask a student to do a book report, and he or she will probably cringe. Request a book review via podcast and I bet you get some pretty interested looks from the students.

To see what I mean, listen a book review by Woody HERE.

The following link brings you to a collection of podcasts created by the students of Mabry Middle School. What a great way to use podcasts!!

Click HERE for Mabry’s impressive display of podcasts.

Finally, I wanted to leave you with a link to Tami Brass’s blog about Podcasting in Language Arts. She provides 12 great ideas for using podcasting in the English Language Arts classroom.

To go to Tami’s blog, click HERE.

I see Whiteboards as being a key element in developing writing skills in English class. The video below shows how a Whiteboard can be used to encourage students to utilize adjectives more in their writing assignments.

This next video is designed to highlight the value of Whiteboards in building the foundation when it comes to reading and writing. If you get your students to understand these concepts at the early levels, their chances of succeeding later in life will be much better.

Finally, the next video you’ll see spotlights Antonio Coleman’s use of Promethean’s Whiteboard in his fourth grade English class. He has his students organizing the events of a story on the Whiteboard as well as some other pretty amazing things. It definitely beats the old chalk board!

To see the video, click HERE.