Blog Entry 3- “Writing to the World” The Many Benefits of Student Blogging

References

Ramsay, J. D. (2014). Writing to the World. Educational Leadership, 71(7), 54-58.

Summary

All teachers know by now, competing with technology can be difficult task.  But Julie D. Ramsey took matters in her own hands.  She analyzed what elements appealed to young learners.  Her findings found: communicating, sharing, and debating with others; connecting with others at any time; and almost provides immediate feedback on the experiences and ideas they share.  She implemented this into her class through the use of Kidblog, which provides safety settings and insightfulness. 

Before blogging, students had a discussion with the teacher on the purpose of writing, and grammar and mechanics.  The discussion took time and scaffolding from the teacher, but after they established “writing is simply communicating a thought to someone else” and “realized that editing was crucial for an audience’s understanding.”  After establishing expectations (expectation thoughts) with the help of the students, they can begin blogging.  Ramsey does not set a length requirement, but it must clearly communicate their ideas.  By the end of each week, students must post at least 2 entries.  Before students post, they can share their drafts with a peer to receive feedback, or students can always go back into their original entry and resubmit their post.  Another nice feature of Kidblog, it allows teachers to write private comments to students.  Teachers can easily support students outside of class hours through private commenting.

Moreover, this can be a great way to formatively assess students, and create small groups of re-teaching.  This is where Confer App can be very beneficial.  

One of the biggest benefits of blogging is making the students writing authentic.  At first, students in Ramsey’s class just begin blogging with peers in the class, but after time and practice she connects students “with peers in different grade levels, content areas, or geographical locations.”  Since students write to an actual audience, students spend more time and effort into their writing.

Reflection

Ramsey mentions setting up the blog can be overwhelming, and she has about close to 1,000 posts and comments to review each semester.  One thing she mentions is scheduling a different due date for each class.  Then she confers with students to give them the individual support that they need.  So, as a teacher of about 80 students this is doable.  After time and patience, students will have control of their learning and get individualized support.  They learn the importance of how to clearly communicate, and also implementing other skills such as evaluating, synthesizing, and analyzing.  This is a must for any teacher teaching writing in their classroom!