QUESTION: Blogging for Middle School

[Amy]

I have been reading a lot on blogging in the classroom- articles that state that blogging had become the new essay- how blogging is different than your typical run-of-the-mill writing in classrooms, etc. I agree that students really need to learn to blog- our school has blocked many sites unfortunately. I also want a safe, secure site that students can access.

SO, I have a few questions to discuss with you-

How do you feel that blogging is different from typical school essays? What skills need to be taught when teaching students to maintain a blog?

I teach writing only- so what topics should MS students blog about? Or should I make it open to blog about their daily life/interests?

Finally, what blog sites are safe and secure for students to access? What about students who do not have technology access? How do you handle that?

Thanks all! Looking forward to your discussions and ideas on this topic! I've posted part of a blog article I read concerning teaching blogging in the classroom.

Amy Cody

[Dana Huff]

Amy, one important skill that needs to be taught is audience. Students need to be careful not to put identifying information online. A username or just first name and last initial is probably best. They need to learn about copyright and fair use so they are not infringing copyright with images or other media they include on their posts.

In terms of topics, I think it should be wide open. Our 8th grade language arts teacher has a great student blog: http://waeng8.wordpress.com/. Students blog about a variety of topics of interest to them, both serious and trivial. I think the kids were excited about what they wrote because they dictated the topics.

Generally speaking, a variety of blog sites are safe for kids. I happen to like Weebly for its ease of use (http://www.weebly.com/). You can also lock that one down pretty tight if you want to.

The big thing—make sure parents are on board. I can't stress that enough. Do some educating if you need to, but you can wind up in a lot of trouble if something happens and it's discovered you didn't have proper permission to post student work online.

If students don't have access, is there a computer lab or laptop cart you could check out for blogging?

[Amy]

Hi Dana,

Great tips, thank you so much! Yes, i do have 4 computers in the classroom and have a laptop cart I can sign up for. I really appreciate your input!

Amy

[Sherry Gruver]

I use Edmodo.com for my French students.  It is similar to Facebook, so it is a great way to engage students in writing.  Students can only join a group created by a teacher, so it is safer than blogging on public forums.

[Kelly Farrow]

I think the key skills that need to be discussed in regard to blogging relate to commenting. With a blog, you're not just tossing your ideas out there for people to read; you're inviting commentary, questions, and feedback. Kids need to be able to maturely and appropriately share their own ideas and Q's while commenting intelligently and asking Q's of their classmates. What makes for a decent and helpful comment is VERY important to discuss as most of our kids' exposure to comments is the filthy swamp that is YouTube comments. 

I also recommend Kidblog as a good place to set up accounts and start kids in this process. Like Dana said, it allows for lots of privacy and monitoring controls for the teacher.

[Ryan Goble]

Hi Amy, there are TONS of resources for your ? - here are a few internal and one external.

Blogging in Education
Blogging is the New Persuasive Essay
How Do You Assign On-Line Reading Blogs?

[Anna J. Small Roseboro]

At the beginning of the school year, it is important to model what you'd like your students to learn. As many already have mentioned - courtesy, respect and integrity. If they are writing about literature or articles, teach them to cite their sources. For example, if the class is writing about a book you all are reading, remind students to give page number in parenthesis as reference. This also helps students remain focused on the text and reduces wandering off into tangential arenas. 

If students are quoting, directly or indirectly from another source, identify that/those sources with title, author, and date, if appropriate.  If online source, include URL in parenthesis. This reminds students that borrowing is OK if the source is acknowledged. Otherwise is lying, cheating and plagiarizing.

Early in the school year you can help students blog well be encouraging them to support their positions with specifics for literature, life, lessons learned. Consider introducing them to PIE writing where they make their POINT, state their POSITION (opinion), next ILLUSTRATE with specifics from reading, observation, experience, and most importantly, to EXPLAIN the link between their illustration and point. What are the reasons this example supports their opinion or position?

This organizational pattern carries over into discussion, too. For further explanations, see 4321 prompts and PIE discussions.

Offering students a guidelines aids in critiquing, grading, evaluating.  If students have fulfilled the PIE content requirement, they earn credit for assignment.  If elements are missing, the comment/grade should reflect that.  If they enhance their answer with additional, unexpected but reasonable information, explanation, their grade can reflect that.

See GENERAL GRADING GUIDELINES.

Enjoy!