Lesson 8

I recently completed student teaching observation for my Classroom Management course.  While I was interacting with the students, I was reminded of how many questions can be prompted by the unintentional.  The ninth grade Language Arts class was absolutely flabbergasted.  Oddly enough, they had read a poem about poetry and it had lead to confusion.  The assignment was just one paragraph of a dozen sentences with some literary analysis.  They could not get past the fact that the answer to the question: what is the genre?, was the same as the answer to the question: what is the theme?  The teacher had made the assignment very clear and had even provided an outline that gave the students what each line of the paragraph should contain.
She could not have been more direct, but the students were still certain that they were wrong.  It could not be the same answer, it had to be a trick. 
I assured them(when they asked) that it was not a trick, the answer to both questions was poetry.  The teacher verified and they all slowly had that look that comprehension was dawning.
I think that that would be the best purpose for a teacher's blog; giving students some additional information about assignments.  Explaining to students the purpose behind assignments.  Providing extra structure or context in a blog format gives easy access when the student is working, maybe later at night than they should, and they are questioning themselves.  They should already have the framework, but if the project is flexible it might be just enough to confuse them.
If you could use the blog to also provide information on what past students had done for different projects, they could have a resource that gives them some guidance on what they should have for their output. 
The teachers blog could serve as an area to explain the purpose of curriculum as it lines up with standards; making the format a resource for the students and parents.