The grade 6/7 classes in my school have just started their student blogs. We’re just in the process of “prettifying” their blogs and creating avatars for themselves, and a few have started writing their first posts…simple journal entries to start, but soon we’ll be using the blog for more specific classwork.
I’ve decided on blogging with the students, despite my own reservations about blogs (see my creepy treehouse post) because of the fact that I’ve heard from friends with children the inappropriate use of social networks such as MySpace and Facebook (no link on purpose) by both children and adults, and want to do my part in teaching kids about what is appropriate and what is inappropriate to put on the internet. In addition, I’m concerned with the amount of plagiarism that occurs in all grade levels, and want to teach kids more about copyright (including the creative commons) of both images and text, how to cite sources, and how to avoid plagiarism.
I referenced the post, Rationale for Educational Blogging, in my letter to parents informing them of how I was using blogs. In her post, Anne Davis includes the following points in her (much longer) list:
- ….Students feel more compelled to write when they believe many others may read and respond. It gives them motivation to excel….
- Blogging affords us the opportunity to teach responsible public writing….
- Blogging provides the opportunity for our students to learn to write for life-long learning….
- ….Students have the opportunity to read their classmates’ blogs and those of others…
- The archive feature of blogging records ongoing learning….
Another benefit is that students who find oral communication difficult or impossible for whatever reason have an opportunity to communicate with their peers in new and authentic ways.
I also discussed, in my letter to parents, the safety precautions I have in place to protect the students. I’m using the site www.classblogmeister.com for the student blogs, which gives me control over what is published, both in terms of articles and comments.
Picture: http://www.morguefile.com/archive/?display=16797& author: ppdigital
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