A Primary Perspective
When working with young students,
blogging takes on a different approach than
writing mature, lengthy and detailed blog posts about critical
subjects on a consistent basis. However,
blogs can still be a creative and beneficial learning task for
primary students. Some popular items that I have
seen included on a primary blogs include:
- Pictures
- Captions
- Audio recordings
- Student writing
- Videos
- Collages and much more!
I believe that young students should
be encouraged to keep a blog since it teaches them at a young age
that they have a voice that is valued. As written
in Bill
Palmer's article, student voice reinforces that “what students
have to say matters.” Through blogging, students
can also learn about the different voices and
perspectives of their classmates which can act as a catalyst for peer
discussion. This is especially valuable in the
primary years since students learn how to respect their peers and
justify their own opinion through conversation.
Since I am not yet
a “primary pro,” I found a great video from an experienced
teacher that contains information about primary blogs in the
classroom. Check out the first 2
min 30 seconds of the video below to see how a primary teacher uses
blogs in her classroom. In the
video, the teacher demonstrates how she has
a unique blog set up for each of her individual students. She then
elaborates on the purpose of her
blog – creating digital portfolios to showcase student learning. I
believe that this is an excellent way to use
blogs into the primary classroom as they
help to monitor and keep track of student
work and progress throughout the year.
On the other hand, it is important to
note that students should not be blogging or accessing the internet
without a working knowledge of online safety. The teacher must be
very careful about what information is shared to the public, and
should definitely send home a letter informing the parents about the
blog and getting their approval before making it active.
Unfortunately, this could cause tension if only certain students are
allowed to create a public blog and others are not.
A Junior/Intermediate
Perspective
In the older
classroom, blogs can become more complex and personalized with
respect to the individual students. Students can embed
PowerPoints, upload pictures of work
they are proud of and post constructive
comments on the work of their peers. This peer and self-assessment
is beneficial for students since it helps
students build critical thinking skills and encourages higher order
thinking. With my own intermediate students, I
use the website Kidblog since
it is easy for students to use and is set up so that the teacher can
moderate all of the student blogs (approve comments, share posts etc)
from a designated “teacher account”.
Upon further
research, I found that blogging can also be easily implemented into
daily classroom routine. For example, Ms.
Kooner's blog shows how she incorporated blogging into her Daily
5 literacy program (reading and commenting on a blog and writing a
blog were optional stations). I believe that this would be an
excellent addition to my own Daily 5 program as it would be highly
engaging for students and they would build literacy skills. The
primary drawback I perceive to adding this centre would definitely be
the lack of available technology as my classroom only has 2 computers
which would not be sufficient for student need. However, students
could work on a rough draft of their blog in a writing booklet and
then post their work to a blog at a later computer time.
Final Questions
There is SO much
more that I could write about and discuss, however I do not want to
pretend that I have all the answers! Consequently, I will close this
blog with some questions to consider. Feel free to comment below
with your own thoughts :)
-Is blogging a fad?
While students currently get enjoyment out of blogging, will they
dislike it down the road?
-How do you ensure
that you are using blogs as a tool for learning (ie the task isn't to
create a blog post but rather the task is to communicate your
findings about a certain topic through the vehicle of a blog)?
-How can teachers
help students drive their own learning? Being the guide on the side
instead of the sage on the stage is quickly becoming the role of the
teacher. What role does technology have in this?
It's interesting to hear about the primary blog. Even though the students are involved in it's creation, much of the ownership and development must still fall on the shoulders of the teacher, ECE, EA or volunteer. I think it would be difficult to manage this type of project with my Grade Two class. I do, however, agree on the necessity of a forum where students have a voice and have the belief that their voice matters instilled in their system of values.
ReplyDeleteThere are so many facets of blogging. It depends on age, on audience, on the purpose, the topic, the structure.....It also depends on comfort level. I have had students, even in the Technology AQ course that are dead set AGAINST blogging. We need to be OK with that. I've often wondered if we stress Blogging too much now that it has become somewhat mainstream. What I would rather see, is teachers and students using their blog for a purpose, rather then just turning in assignments and posting classroom reflections. The video you posted was a great one! Kathy is a fantastic educator and has used blogs and social media in her classroom well before many of our school districts embraced it.
ReplyDelete@Kristine - you'd be surprised. If teachers empower students to transform a blog into a place that demonstrates learning, students quickly take ownership of the process and enjoy sharing what they've learned and what they wonder via written posts, and including various forms of multimedia. Yes, a teacher should moderate the spaces and plan for meaningful inclusion of blogging practices throughout the week, but with creative vision and support, a blog can serve as a versatile space to support any and all learners.
ReplyDeleteTo me, the key is to include variety - blogging shouldn't always be responding to a prompt or to a reading passage. Incorporate all content areas. Make sure conversations and discourse are encouraged. Team up with another classroom from your school or around the world to make sure students' voices are heard. Have a student who doesn't enjoy the writing process? Allow the posting of videos or other multimedia to share learning. Be sure to provide students with a number of other student blogs to read and reference. What do they like about the content shared and structure of those blogs? How can they design a space that helps them display their learning in a way that makes them proud?
It will look different in every classroom, for every student. And that's the beauty of blogging -it can be quite a personal endeavor!