My First Experiance With Blogging!!!

Wow, I find it incredibly amazing that after all of the years that I have spent using technology at home and within the classroom that I have never been introduced to the idea of blogging till now. Blogging is something that intimidates and challenges me, but I look forward to becoming more knowledgeable and confident when dealing with this brand new teaching tool.

On to me, hi my name is Tory Doty and I am extremely excited to be a part of the Education Faculty at the University of Lethbridge. I am a third year student currently working towards by Bachelor of Arts in Kinesiology and my Bachelor of Education focusing primarily on Physical Education. For as long as I can remember, being active and participating in physical activity is something that I have had a passion and a drive for. At the age of three I began my gymnastics career which lead me through many amazing journeys till the age of seventeen. Throughout that time I travelled long and far distances competing all over Canada and in events such as the Western Canadian Championships as well as trials to the Canadian Championships. Throughout my high school years I loved playing volleyball, badminton and any other sports that were available to me.

I am the middle child of three girls and a sister to both Ainsley and Leighton. Ainsley just completed her Bachelor of Education from the U of L and was one of my main mentors and influences during the time when I decided to head in the teaching direction. My mom Lisa has been a teacher for over thirty years and also encouraged me to follow in her footsteps. My dad Tobin is a dentist and another professional who I greatly admire.

During my spare time I enjoy working with youth as often as possible. For the past six summers I have spent my time off in the beautiful northern tip of Ontario at a sports and arts camp called Celtic, located on Lake Huron. At this camp I specialized in coaching waterfront activities such as sailing, kayaking, canoeing, and wind surfing. A also taught activities such as rock climbing and golf which are all sports that I enjoy participating in on my spare time. Throughout the years I have also enjoyed coaching competitive gymnastics as well as volleyball.

I can see how blogging as a whole can be an amazing tool to be used within the classroom, however there are certain aspects about it that leave me sceptical. I find that the internet is an amazing learning device if it is used a safe and respectable manner, yet there are many areas online that are extremely inappropriate and unsafe for young learners experimenting with the internet for the first time. Despite the dangers that can be found on the internet, through the use of blogs students are introduced to a new technology based learning tool that can be used for journals, bulletin boards, and class websites.

Blogging introduces students to an idea of sharing ideas with other classmates and communicating with one another online which is something that students are already comfortable doing. In this day and age where computer games are so popular, asking students to partake in online activities will be exciting to them.

Another advantage of introducing the idea of blogging into a classroom or a school is the administrative role that it can play. If parents are aware of the class website that has been created, then they can be encouraged to use it as a communication tool between them and their child’s teachers. They can also be aware of upcoming activities and assignments that their children are participating in. The downfall to this type of communication is that it takes away from the personal parent teacher relationship that can be gained through phone calls and one on one meetings.

Blogging is still something that is brand new to me, and before I would feel comfortable and confident using this learning and communicative technique within a classroom of my own, I would want to see an active system set up in another classroom. I look forward to increasing my knowledge in this area and learning more about this potential teaching tool.