There is a growing body of research demonstrating that blogging provides authentic publishing, encourages pride of ownership, improves student writing and encourages reluctant writers and readers. Should we be including blogging in an already overactive Literacy curriculum? Does it encourage critical thinking or are we just buying in to the wazzzzzuuuupp???<3 cyberhand writing style of the wee-webbers? Can we put the capital back in i?
Barb
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December 5th, 2007 at 5:24 pm
Barb,
Great blog. I love the name. Let’s move forward on this idea. This blog could become a very powerful, yet easy-to-use tool.
Dan
December 6th, 2007 at 8:02 am
I find that putting up student writing (posts and comments) on an overhead or using a computer projector really “sells” this importance.
Once student work is presented this way and I make a big deal about whatever convention or trait I want to focus on is does seem to spill over to other kids’ writing – for a time.
The key, which I’m guilty of letting slide for periods of time, is to keep at it. Getting students to rewrite their posts and comments before posting it onto the Internet can be a great motivator.
All worth the effort I think. And, great PR with parents!
My class blog, warts and all, is at:
http://grade5nt.edublogs.org/
December 6th, 2007 at 9:38 am
Nice name Barb!
I have been following a lot of the cool things happening with blogging, wikis, web2.0, etc. in the States and elsewhere. So I decided to take the plunge. My class and I dove into the blogoshpere this Sept…and they love it. Before Sept, the kids didn’t even know what a blog was. Now they are blogging machines! (Not to mention their parents, Grandma and Grandpa in Vancouver, and Uncle Joe in PEI…you get the idea!) It’s real, it’s authentic and it allows them to enjoy writing when they are at home – what more can you ask for? Using the multimedia projector is a great way to ‘group moderate’ our posts and comments. We also read other class blogs from around the world – great shared reading, great writing examples (sometimes!) and a great way to develop blogging-buddies!! In other words, whatever can be done in a ‘traditional’ balanced literacy way can be done in a web2.0 kind of way…I think.
Our very basic, but ever-expanding, piece of the blogosphere can be found at:
http://room8.edublogs.org/
December 7th, 2007 at 4:58 am
Parents are always asking how they can help their kids in school. For 2 years we have been asking them to comment on their kids’ blog work as a way of demonstrating to the children that their writing matters and that they have a community of readers out there reading what they write.
I am convinced that by getting the parents (grand parents, aunt, uncles) involved through commenting, we provide an authentic audience for the student work and it is easier to deomonstrate to the kids that how and what they write matters.
I am still working on this piece. I don’t think that the parents are not interested, I think that maybe we are just a little ahead of where they are in using technology. Any suggestions on how I can increase the commenting by adults on my blog would be great.
December 7th, 2007 at 5:05 am
Brad – congratulations on a great blog site. I enjoyed reading your students’ writing.
I was wondering if you edit the work. I have had great debates about this and am now leaving most of it the way that it is written, spelling mistakes and all.
Also, do you find that you are getting comments from people other than the students in your class and school? How have you promoted your blog?
Looking for any suggestions, Jane