An article I found in the Reading Teacher entitled, Collaborative Literacy: Blogs and Internet Projects written by Erica Boling, Jill Castek, Lisa Zawilinkski, Karen Barton, and Theresa Nierlich (2008), had some great ideas for how to implement blogging into the elementary classroom. The article discusses how one third grade teacher has her students blog to their classroom friend, Jefferson Bear. Jefferson Bear is a brown teddy bear that the students regularly correspond with on various classroom topics. For example, when Jefferson Bear writes, “What’s being done to help my endangered animal friends? You’ve got to do something. Please! They need your help.” (Boling et. al, 2008). The students will respond to Jefferson Bear using online research that the teacher has provided through specific websites.
In the same way, the article discusses a second teacher who uses blogging with her fourth graders. The fourth grade teacher created a classroom blog for her fourth grade students to have online literature discussions on pieces of text they have read in small groups. She formats the blogging similar to a literature circle in which each student selects and writes about something that stands out in the text and also a question they have after reading the text. More advanced readers from schools more than 100 miles away then respond to the students’ blogs. This particular teacher found that students who typically were reluctant to discuss books they read, were much more willing to participate in literature discussions online.
I thought these were great ways for educators to implement blogging in their own classrooms. These few examples prove how blogs can have several benefits in the classroom. For example, the teachers in the article demonstrate how blogging allows students to use technology in the classroom as a way to communicate with other students, enhance writing skills and critical thinking skills, and even create deeper understanding of pieces of literature. Given that students are already spending lots of time online, I am positive that students would enjoy these types of activities. I also feel these activities would help the students who typically do not look forward to the traditional reading and writing activities. I will definitely keep these ideas in mind for my future teaching!
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Meredith,
ReplyDeleteI think blogging would be so much fun for students to do as a school assignment! For whatever reason, writing isn’t always considered fun and exciting by children. I think incorporating technology into the writing process would be an opportunity for teachers to show students the enjoyment that can come from writing. I also think it would improve the quality of their work. Blogging allows students’ writing to be published in an authentic way, which motivates them to put more time and effort into their work. Longer, more enriched sentences are also likely to develop when students use computers to help them write. The only disadvantage that I could come up with for this strategy would be the short supply of computers that many schools face. Anything is possible when you have the will to do it though!