Thing 3

There are endless ways to use a blog in the classroom. I teach fifth grade so the most usable way to incorporate a blog into my classroom would be for parental communication and to showcase student work. The students and parents could use the blog to check on up and coming events or reminders for assignments. Pictures of student work could be posted for everyone to see. The downside would be that there are 8 out of 17 students in my class that do not have any Internet access in their home, so it could really only be used as a back up for info. Since fifth graders have a writing assessment, I think that putting their best work on the blog would be very beneficial and fun for the students who have Internet access.
As far as using my blog in my teacher education program, the most helpful way would be for communication between myself and my instructors and classmates. The good thing about it is that you can express yourself and your opinions and feelings for others to view and comment on without face to face contact. It opens up the entire world to who you are and and makes it possible to collaborate world wide with others in your field. I can also use this blog to obtain and give advice and opinions to other teachers and those in the education field.