Blogging at my school!

We now have the capability at my school for our students to blog on our teacher websites! I am so excited when I think of all of the possibilities. I want to make it a requirement that each student gets on 1-2 times a week and blogs on our website about a discussion topic. I can pose an open-ended question about a book we read or they can post a discussion topic as well.  As a teacher, I can use blogging as an assessment and quickly see which students are understanding a topic we are discussing!

Check out this website for more information on student blogging:

Blogging on educationworld.com

Click on my picture to go to my SchoolFusion page.  I have an example of the first time I tried blogging with my students.  We were blogging about a fairytale webquest they were completing.

The Integration of Writing and Technology

While reading the article, "Beginning to write with word processing: Integrating writing process and technology in a primary classroom," I began to think of the many positive affects technology has had on my writing instruction.  Using technology motivates my students!  Whether it is being in technology class, researching on the Internet, using our SMART board, typing a report, or blogging, my students are just more engaged.  They usually can't wait to get the through the writing process so they can publish!  In the article, the author shared several positive benefits of combining technology with writing.  For example, some students actually compose faster using a keyboard, students more often want to share finished work, and students are able to help each other with spelling and typing issues, which frees up the teacher to focus on higher-level problems and questions (Gabriel & Van Leeuwen, 2007). I know in my classroom, my students are more than willing to help others as they work.  When we are in the computer lab, my students are never on silence.  They are quietly helping one another, asking questions, and demonstrating new skills for those struggling students.  These peer conferences give the teacher more time to get around the class and help more students. 

I see lots of other positive benefits that technology provides for my students' writing.  I think students are able to use the tools on word-processing programs to create finished products with less mistakes.  My students also do well with story organizers and maps on the computer and are willing to add more details and take more time.   I love when my students have a question that I can't answer and they know how to hop over to Internet Explorer and find an answer.  They are so motivated and willing to try new things!  There are some challenges, like access to the computer lab, keeping everyone's attention during a demonstration, and not being able to help everyone as much as I would like, but these challenges are worth it!

Book Reviews

I had my students create book reviews (I call them recommendations) earlier in the year.  Book reviews are such a worthwhile reading and writing project for students.  I had my students use a basic form to plan their reviews and they included information like the title, author, genre, major events, and why they would recommend the book to others.  They then made a shorter version that was placed in the hall on a bulletin board so that other students could see their reviews.

I think book reviews have various advantages.  Students have to read for comprehension and make sure that they understand the story and its main events.  Then students have to clearly communicate these elements of the book to the audience in a way that informs and excites them. Students then plan an oral presentation where they share the most exciting parts of the book and even read a selection.  Students have to use their written and oral communication for this project.

Next time I do book reviews, I want to incorporate more technology and 21st century skills.  I think that creating podcasts or using a blog would be a great way to improve the book reviews.  Students could still go through the process of reading a book and writing the review, but they could either record the oral presentation or share their review on a blog.  Then students could read/listen to the review and ask questions that the author would have to answer.  This would provide a great opportunity for collaboration, discussion, and for students to see multiple perspectives on a topic.  They would also learn how to give appropriate and specific feedback that highlights both the strengths of the review and what could be improved.

I think it is important to allow students to publish work on the Internet so they can have a real audience.  I know anytime we are putting something on our website or presenting a project to another class, they are much more concerned about the quality!  One issue about publishing on the Internet is safety.  On our blog, my students have code names just a as a way to protect them.  We have also had discussions when putting anything online that the content must be appropriate.  This could be more of a problem in older grades.  

Check out this cool book review site!  It has lots of books on podcast and then discussions for each book.

I also like the website "Book Reviews by Kids!"  There were some great student reviews!  The pictures of the books are linked and take you directly to amazon.com so you can buy the book.  I think this would be great for parents who have a hard time finding books for their kids that they like!

21st Century Literacy and Technology

Check out this article on readingrockets.org:  21st Century Literacies.

This article has great suggestions of how literacy teachers can use technology to help writing instruction.  I can think of limitless ways to use their suggestions: wikis, blogs, podcasts, semantic webs, e-portfolios, etc.  (NCTE, 2007). I think the reason why all of this technology is so meaningful to students is because they have an authentic audience.  Authentic audiences can motivate students to revise and edit their writing, not only for spelling and grammatical mistakes, but to ensure that they are communicating effectively.  They want to make sure that the reader is understanding what they are trying to say.  Like in the article, "I learned that there's a state called Victoria and he has six blue-tongued lizards," having an e-pen pal motivated students to write more, to pay attention to etiquette, and to provide constructive feedback to others (Charron, 2007). 

Also, I viewed a cool video on teachers.tv called Blogosphere.  The video follows a school who is actively blogging.  Blogging is a great tool for both students, teachers, and parents.  Students have an authentic audience and purpose for writing.  Teachers can motivate students to write and then provide mini-lessons as situations arise.  Also, parents can become more actively involved with their child's writing at school.  They can see class projects, learn what their child is studying, and they can comment on the blogs.  This gets them more involved in their child's work!  Blogging helps students become proficient with 21st century technology while also going through the writing process.  If we want students to compete in a global environment, they must be able to design and share information cross-culturally.  Blogging is one great way to do this!

Blogging

I love blogging!  Granted, I am new at it and probably have not designed the best activities yet for my students.  I loved the information I got from the following article:  "HOT Blogging: A Framework for Blogging to Promote Higher Order Thinking" by Lisa Zawilinski.  She states that on the Internet, writing is integrated with the reading comprehension process.  Blogging is a great way to practice online reading comprehension, as well as the skills of analysis, synthesis, and evaluation.  She said that the biggest advantage of blogs is that they provide an authentic audience for student writing.  Blogging can be pretty basic, but Zawilinski provided a framework for teachers to use to help focus on more higher order thinking.  This process consists of four steps: bolster the background, prime the pump, continue the conversation, and make multiplicity exist.  Teachers start by building background knowledge, provide initial activities, help students synthesize what has been shared, and allow students to post their many interpretations.  This allows them a chance to see and think about different perspectives (Zawilinski, 2009).  I also printed off two diagrams from this article that show teachers how to scaffold synthesis statements.  I love this article from the May 2009 edition of The Reading Teacher.  

Check it out:  "HOT Blogging:  A Framework for Blogging to Promote Higher Order Thinking."