1.  Begin by describing student work that you might design using blogs. Use the TPACK Model to identify each aspect of the work. The following questions will help guide your thinking:   

• Content--What content you addressing? Considering the verb in the standard and Blooms Revised Taxonomy, what is the desired level of thinking from the standards?
• Pedagogy--What pedagogical stance (or which learning theories or theorists) does this work support? In other words, whose “shoulders” did you stand on?
• Technology--What affordances can you identify for the technology selected? Justify the match of your pedagogical stance/strategy with the technology affordances.

2.  Discuss other ways that this technology can be used in the learning environment.

3.  Identify any obstacles to using this tool. What makes this tool worth using even with these obstacles? 

          I believe students can form new knowledge both socially and independently through individual study but knowledge is best retained through social interactions.  Allowing students to discuss concepts causes them to internalize the information and mix prior knowledge with new knowledge.  I base my pedagogy on constructivist theories.  Many students learn best in a hands-on, experimental, and collaborative setting.  

            It can be difficult to create a collaborative environment in a library when classes are shuffled in and out every thirty minutes.  I believe a blog can solve the problem of limited interaction with students.  One of the standards for a librarian is to promote the success of all students and staff by facilitating the access, use, and integration of technology, telecommunications, and information systems to enrich the curriculum and enhance learning.  A library blog will allow students to access the library in an informal setting throughout the school day and at home.  A library blog fosters interaction with other students and the librarian while a library web site only provides information.    

  

            I have set up my blog to encourage students to write reviews of books they have selected in the library.  The reviews can be written for fiction or nonfiction material.  The variety of reviews will connect all content areas with technology from an analytical perspective.  The students will first need to comprehend the information, analyze it and then evaluate it by giving an opinion for others to see.

 

            While playing with the blog, I discovered the affordances are designed effectively.  By simply selecting the layout icon, I was able to add numerous gadgets to display.  The gadgets include surveys, lists, and translators among others.  This is a quick way to make the blog more visually appealing and more interactive.  I also discovered how to create more pages by selecting the pages icon.  This allows me to organize information in categories.  The affordances of blogger.com are well designed with icons listed on the left side and top of the page.  This site is very user friendly. 

            My only concern with using blogger.com in an elementary setting is allowing students to post comments.  I would like to preview the comments before the students are able to publish.  I did not discover how to preview comments during the play time.  Through further investigation, I believe I can either figure out how to preview comments or I may choose to use a different blogging site in the future.    

            Giving students an opportunity to participate in a blog is novel to them.  Many know about blogs but have not participated in one.  The blog is also effective in that the students are practicing writing skills including grammar, spelling, and sentence structure while sharing their opinions on a variety of concepts.  My hope is that the library blog will become part of the content area classroom routine.  I plan to post not only reviews but also information concerning units and activities taught while collaborating with the classroom teachers.