For my current students, I can see how they can grow into blogs, but as of right now, many of them are still struggling to read and write. On my caseload, I have 7 students in grades K-4 with both behavioral and academic needs. Out of those 7, 2 of them are able to read and write well enough to blog their ideas independently. I could see blogging working for both of them. For the other 5, I think it would be interesting for them to use blogging as a resource tool, but they would need a "scribe"/typer and a reader to use it effectively. They would not be able to blog independently because they do not have the necessary skills of reading and writing to accomplish this task.
One area where I could see blogging to be beneficial is in Writing Workshop. I think it would be interesting to see what the students were able to write knowing that an audience would be reading and reacting to their writing. I feel that it is important for the students to develop the necessary skills of paper and pencil writing as well as the ability to type their writing. After the students typed their stories into a blog, they could respond to their classmates' pieces of work with a comment, a question, or a suggestion on how to improve the piece of writing. The students may be more receptive to this type of constructive criticism because it is personal and is coming from their peers. (The teacher could always post a response blog as well.) This type of blogging lesson could be used to showcase their work in addition to using it as a learning opportunity.
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How about having parents or community leaders blog with your students?
ReplyDeleteShannon,
ReplyDeleteYou bring up a great point that your students may not be ready to blog yet due to the writing skills. But, your posting does highlight in my mind how blogging might make it fun to learn to write. Putting students work on the internet seems like a good incentive for the students. Like on our videos this week. The teacher/presenter talks about how students take great care in their writing when it is posted online because they don't want to come off as looking stupid. I agree in that I believe student will take greater care in their writing if they are aware of the audience.
Great posting,
Tyler Winner
Robin,
ReplyDeleteThat would be an ideal situation. Unfortunately, my current students come from low economic families who do not have access to computers. I am fortunate to have supportive parents, but I do not think that they would follow through with this due to the lack of access. I know that they could always go to the library, but I do not feel that they would take the initiative to do this at this stage in the game. In the future, I will keep that in mind for my students. It is a great idea! Thanks!
Tyler,
ReplyDeleteThat is a great connection you made with the class videos. I agree that it would be more of an incentive for them to improve upon their writing. Many of my students struggle with coming up with original ideas. If they could blog back and forth with one another, I think that it would be much easier for them to come up with new and interesting ideas. They could incorporate writing stories with daily conversations. Writing is writing at this point. I am just happy when they have something written down on paper, or in this case, typed on a blog! Thanks for the inspiration.
I could foresee problems with the self-confidence of dyslexic and LD students. Posting their work could be a source of intimidation and embarrassment. On the other hand, it could also be a source of pride. Perhaps the writing should be first created by hand and then edited by two students. When the editing has been signed off on, the student can enter the work onto the blog.
ReplyDeleteJeff,
ReplyDeleteThanks for considering both sides of this situation. I think it would really depend on the student and how they would feel about others viewing their work. I think it would be a great resource for the students to view one anothers' work and comment on it, though. Initially, it could cause some anxiety, but I think if the students continued to do these activities, they would become more comfortable expressing themselves. I completely agree with the student creating written work first and then transferring it into a blog format. I know we are moving toward typing, but it is still important for students to be able to write using pencil and paper. Thanks for the comments, Jeff.