Improving Writing with a Captive Audience |
How can we as teachers engage students in writing in a 21st Century way? How can we give students an opportunity to reflect on what they are learning, express their opinions and share their voice? How can we provide a safe space for students to learn how to become reflective digital citizens? We can find answers to all these questions when we give students the opportunity to engage in blogging.
Blogging is more than just a platform for sharing one’s opinions. It’s a space where students can reflect on what they are learning in class or even just a space to share reflections on their reactions to the world around them. Blogging provides students a place to not only share, but also to respond to the ideas of others. By reading the posts of others and responding in a way that encourages reflection and feedback, students are not only engaging with the learning of others, but engaging in reading deeply and making connections to writing of their peers. When Mary Neal started blogging with her grade 4/5 class, her hope was that it would provide a new and exciting way for her students to practice their writing. However, she didn’t anticipate how involved the students would get. When the students first learned how to blog, they learned the fundamentals through “paper blogging”. The fundamentals were further explored through an initial exploration of Kidblog and how to create a post. After a couple weeks of blogging and mini-lessons in how write effective posts and comments, they learned skills not only in writing, but how to meaningfully respond to the ideas of others, as well as the importance of writing to an audience. Blogging provides more than just a space for practice writing. As the grade 4/5 learned, it’s a space for sharing with an authentic audience and taking part in a community of learning. |