Thing 1 and Thing 2 Blogs

I've been following David Warlick for a number of years and, in theory, totally agree with his idea of how schools (life) should function. But that's not the world we live in. It would be great if students could use their cell phones for the applications he describes, but the reality is they will use them for "off task" purposes more often than not. It's just not possible to keep a whole class so engaged that they wouldn't consider texting their bff in the middle of class. Even in college classes, where students pay for the privilege of attending (with their laptop), according to many reports I've seen, much time is spent surfing or checking e-mail, etc. I'm guilty of this myself. There is also the very prevalent reality of using 2.0 tools to cheat.
And then there's the whole equity issue. Even at the high school there are many students who don't have cell phones, ipods or even internet access at home. And with the economy the way it is, these have-nots are increasing, not decreasing. I think podcasts are super and I do think we could manage to use them more effectively. As a matter of fact, I thought a special ed student was listening to one the other day (I am aware that the science department has created several). I was wrong. She was listening to music, which was allowed because it was part of her IEP. Wouldn't she have been better served listening to a podcast on the subject she was supposedly reviewing?
Blogs... I totally think they're great. My experience, not so much.
Several years ago I created one to use with my book club. I was very excited at the possibilities. After many months of cajoling studnets to post, I gave up on it. I think I had a total of five posts. I was also surprised at the quality of the writing. In theory, students should be more careful considering the wide audience, but I did not find this to be true. It was atrocious.
Quite a few teachers have created classroom blogs that I think are being used effectively. Several, I suspect, we're created in this class. Anyway, I thought it would be a great idea to post the links on the library website so that students and parents could access them more easily. So did others, until the approval process got to the top. Now I have a print-out posted in the library with the addresses for students who can't remember how to get to their homework assignment.
However there is hope.
My principal and I think this will be a great communicaation tool for staff. Can't wait to get that going!