.
I know for me, the fact that it isn't necessarily embedded in our curriculum (and we are always in search for extra time) it can be difficult to implement this idea. So I set out to go look for those ideas... what have other teachers found when blogging with their students.
Here's an article I found that points out how blogging improves writing abilities.
http://www.edutopia.org/blog/blogging-in-21st-century-classroom-michelle-lampinen
The author states students show "improved skills transfer to formal work". This includes including textual evidence, providing quotes from the text. Hopefully students take these skills from blogging into their writing.
Also, students have found that blogging is less "painful". Probably because there is no real structure to blogging, nor actual "rules" for what is needs to look like. As one student pointed out, blogging "is a good way to have us write without it being formal or full of pressure. I also like the fact that I have control over what I write about, and that definitely makes the assignment easier." Shouldn't that be one of our first steps in grabbing students' attention for writing purposes?
I think about how I just completed this post. I didn't create a graphic organizer or outline to write. I just typed up my thoughts and already I have multiple paragraphs. I could see how promoting this type of writing may encourage students to love writing.
I also checked for possible examples of Blogs used by teachers and their students. Here is a link with some samples. Here you can see how teachers and students use this for sharing information, what they're learning in the classroom, discussing their ideas.
http://kidblogworkshop.weebly.com/sample-kidblogs.html
Kidblog.org (http://kidblog.org/home/) seems to be a popular site that teachers are using. I checked it out and saw that this is a free site that can be used as a platform for a classroom blog. Just like blogger, the site is easy for naviagtion, posting blogs, and designs. A teachers sets up a class site for the bog, and allows each student to have their own account and access to the site.
If there are any other ideas/sites for blogging... please share!
Fatima
Fatima, you make great points about how free blogging can make you feel when writing. I have been sitting in Universal Design for Learning professional development sessions for the last two years and the common theme every time is allowing students to have control over their own learning and create meaningful activities that give students choice and freedom to express themselves. Blogging is a great example that hits all three principles of UDL and give students the freedom to be themselves. The lack of structure will allow many students to write and not feel so constricted. I definitely think this will foster better writing in the long run.
ReplyDeleteJeanette and Fatima,
DeleteYour comments about the ability for students to shape the path of learning reminds me of some of our discussions about hypertext last semester. It is amazing how much we can alter the playing field of our learning using just a few links. Take our blogs for example, although we are all in the same program, we are sending each other all around the web. This is an incredible thing to explore, reinforcing the ideas that learning is truly individualized, as no two brains make the same connections.
Brittany
Fatima,
ReplyDeleteYour comments about the freedom of blogging made me think about how great this could be for creative writing assignments. Let students write without pressure and then reflect on the process, edit, or publish work. I find that any form of technology seems to automatically equal engagement and it would be wonderful to get students excited about reading and writing online.
Jess
Jeanette and Jess,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comments. I'm glad to see that other educators have the same thoughts. There are third graders I work with now who have difficulties in writing (generating ideas, adding supporting details). We don't want them to hate writing. So maybe taking a creative apporach may be the key (it still targets the same writing skills).
Fatima,
ReplyDeleteI too have seen a lot of these comments about blogs opening up the world of writing to more and more students. I think that in addition to encouraging students to write it could take off some of the pressure of spelling too. My students are constantly stopping in the middle of writing in order to find out how something is spelled. Then when they go back, they lost their train of thought. By using the blogs it could encourage students to get their thoughts down first and then spell check could help them after.
I also like the benefit of having students practice typing skills. I know that with all the lessons in school that I took as a student, I didn't become a proficient typer until I used it in my own life through AIM.
Also big thanks on the site for kids blogs!!!
Andrew
Hi Fatima,
ReplyDeleteA few years ago, I would have completely agreed with you that blogging doesn't really have a structure. The more I read about all the different ways teachers use blogs in classrooms and the more I see how our own professors turn our online course conferences into collaborative spaces with individual tasks and group projects, I must say that I can see a loose structure that gives the freedom to fit any content area and a multitude of functions. Students become project managers, community activists, teachers and learners, and philosophers if we give them a semi-open platform and with some guidelines. I hope you can use this blog or the ideas traded during this project to see if even some time spent (in or outside of the classroom) will be worthwhile.
-Nichole
Fatima,
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in college, I took a creative non-fiction class. Since blogging was just emerging as a new writing platform, the end of the semester focused on writing blogs.
One thing that struck me was the brevity of the time between creation and publishing. To me, this was actually A LOT of pressure. When we blog, we are sending our writing out into the WORLD. In years from now, maybe even after we are dead, people will be able to Google us and find our work.
Once you hit that publish button it is out there. FOREVER.
I think that this is an important lesson to teach students. As writers, we are responsible for our work. Blogging truncates the editing and critiquing process. For many students, this can be a very daunting component that must also be considered.
Brittany