Blogs For Math

Tuesday night I had the great pleasure of speaking to Dr. Linda Crawford's class of in-service and pre-service secondary math teachers at Augusta State University. During the class Dr. Crawford asked me to explain how a secondary math teachers could use blogs in their classroom. Below is a list of some of the ideas I shared.

Blogs could be used to ask a question and have students respond. For example, if I wanted students to think about real world applications of fractions here is a question I could ask in a blog.

Fractions are used all around us. One example of using fraction is while cooking. A recipe may ask for 1/2 a teaspoon of salt or 1/4 teaspoon of pepper. Think about other uses of fractions in everyday life. Post your example as a comment to this blog.

Blogs could also be used to pose questions to students that there is not a single correct answer. In this case you are asking students questions that require them to think about a topic. Questions must move from wanting a single answer to this is how I found my answer. This idea aligns very closely with Georgia Performance Standards.

A final way I shared that a blog could be used is as a way to reflect on what has been learned. Students would post a reflection journal listing things they have learned as well as questions about the topic the student did not understand. This would give the teacher as well as other students an opportunity to clarify understanding.

I encourage math teachers to add blogging to their math tool kit. Many school systems block many popular blogs. However, these same school systems usually have some version of a blog available through the teacher web site. So make use of whatever blog you have access too at school.