Allowing students to use blogging for an educational purpose would be a lot of fun for my middle school students. They really enjoy making Power Points and presenting videotaped presentations, so blogging would be a step above that for many of them. I teach sixth and seventh grade Language Arts, so blogging could be used to turn our regular portfolio folders into an online portfolio. This would allow students to be able to access their writing at any time and add to it if they wanted after the school year was over. Creating an online forum for one’s writing would definitely motive students to spend more time with the drafting process since their writing would be available for their classmates’ viewing and even their parents. I also like the advantage for teachers mentioned in our reading from the week that “the dog never eats it; it’s either in their blog or not” (Richardson, 2006, p.22).
Another use for blogging could be to enhance the old fashioned pen pal. Two teachers at different schools could develop a common forum where their students would create personal blogs and write weekly posts where they communicate back and forth to one another. Students could practice their writing techniques and incorporate technology in the process. It would also bring further appeal to having a pen pal from a different state or even country since the communication would be more instant than using the old fashion post office method of communication. Maybe students from the two schools would be reading the same novel. In this case, students from the two schools could hold weekly discussion answering teacher generated as well as student generated questions based on the novel. This takes the classroom literature circle to a higher level. Students would not only be discussing with the students in their class, but they would also get to hear the viewpoints from students in another area who might offer a different perspective on issues from the novel. I believe using the blogs would definitely motivate students to continue to read their novel, so they would be able to post on their blog. At first these students are strangers and discussing topics created by their teachers. By continuing the communication over a period of a novel, these students may begin to discuss other topics or interests they have in common, thus creating a friendship through their educational blogging.
Richardson, W. (2006). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
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Would the blog the students will be using be your blog or one created by you, and how would you manage the format and keep students on topic? Would you allow them to have open discussions about items of their choosing?
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ReplyDeleteThey would have specific questions that they would have to answer about the novel being read just like we do in our lit. circles now. They would post their responses. Then, they would be able to ask their pen pal questions about the book and answer questions they have about the book to get a different perspective on things. I would go on and make sure each student are posting their answers to the discussion questions as well as asking their pen pal questions.
ReplyDeleteWould simply give them a participation grade or would you actually edit their responses as par of a composition grade?
ReplyDeleteI believe I would just give them a participation grade for completing the discussion questions. I would, however, take off some points if the grammar errors were distracting and taking away from the content of the post.
ReplyDeleteWhen would students transition from discussing the novel to discussing personal interests? I'd be concerned about students revealing too much information about themselves with virtual strangers. How would you teach your students what information to keep personal and what they can share with others?
ReplyDeleteI imagine that would be one of the first things you cover when you introduce the concept. Have the "Big Ten Laws of Public Blogging" and go over every possible scenario that might come up that you can think of. Then just have update announcements at the beginning of every session if needed. You might even use this as a KWL moment and find out how much the kids already know and just build from that.
ReplyDeleteSarah,
ReplyDeleteSome students in other classes in the district already have pen pals from another country that they share information with about themselves. The teachers obviously explain what information is okay (safe) to share with their pen pal and what information is not okay (safe) to share. They are 7th graders, so they understand that giving others personal information like addresses and phone numbers is not appropriate. I believe it important to have a lesson on reviewing and discussing online safety tips with the students because when they are home they may not be monitored by their parents. By sharing safety tips with them, they become aware of the problems that could occur if personal information is shared. When I was discussing how they would share information with their pen pals, I was talking about their interests, favorite things, and such to learn about students from other countries. They would have another link on the blog that would be for this type of communication.