What is blogging?
Personal reflections
Mini-memoirs
Essays
But mostly...blogs are stories, feelings, and opinions.
You can visit my webpage to view the blogging at:
www.oliverwcis.weebly.comTo us, blogging is...
Personal reflections
Mini-memoirs
Essays
But mostly...blogs are stories, feelings, and opinions.
Bloggers write about stories dealing with wisdom, lessons, joys and sorrows of everyday life. Mostly Real-life stories and experiences of life. Whether it be two sentences or two paragraphs, it is writing. As we all know, everyone has a story to tell or an opinion about something. When we share our stories with others, we realize how connected we really are and we sometimes find compassion about the topic of interest. We can learn from each other, challenge each other, question each other and receive feedback about our life stories.
Students struggle with finding voice in their writing. Blogging allows students the opportunity to research topics without feeling the stress of traditional writing practices. I created a web page and I have a section for blogging. What I have discovered is that kids really like it. 1/4 of my class have independently blogged while they were at home. I did not direct them to do so, I simply told them about the blog and showed them where to post. I also surveyed my students to see how many students had a computer at home with internet. Over half of my class did not. This also told me that I would need to include blogging into my daily or weekly lesson plans for these students to benefit. Bottom line, kids are definitely interested in blogging. I see this as an opportunity to engage my students interest in learning. What ideas can you offer or suggest to help?
I enjoyed looking at your webpage--great job! As far as ideas to use with blogging, I was wondering if you had several computers or access to a computer lab at school. I can see the benefit of having all your students blogging. Maybe you can include blogging as part of your weekly plan where the students can have the opportunity to try the blog. It may take some time to figure it all out at first. Could you have students take turns at the computer during the day?
ReplyDeleteYes, we have a computer lab and I did one blog with my class. The problem was that I did not prepare the students ahead of time for blogging. I assumed they would "catch on". Only 8 students did the blog correctly. The rest of the responses were not readable and did not make since because they were off topic. This class or course that I am taking has already given me some great starting points. I plan on implementing these strategies this week. I will let you know how it goes. Thanks for the input!
ReplyDeletePerhaps you could also use other opportunities for students to respond to a blog who don't have internet access at home. Are students allowed to access the library at lunch time? This would be a good time for students to blog.
ReplyDeleteLove this idea! I can see using this as a reward for students and it is also another great way to introduce more technology in my school! Thanks for sharing!~
ReplyDeleteYou are already learning a lot about your students through blogging with them - great job! When I began blogging with students, I also found myself having to specifically teach and model how to appropriately post and reply to posts using proper English, rather than the conversational "texting" language that students often want to use in the beginning. I think with a little modeling and discussion, you'll find that your students grow and learn from one another in their sharing of ideas and also as writers.
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