Blogging for Emerging Writers

Blogging is an authentic way to prepare students for the 21st Century Digital Economy while developing writing skills and building confidence for emerging writers. I have been reading up on the benefits of blogging in the classroom but wasn't sure if I had the time required to set up or monitor posts/comments. Because I committed to increasing the use of technology in the classroom, I decided to make it happen this term.

There are many resources online about the benefits of blogging including the advantages and disadvantages of different tools. (Here is a good resource to describe the benefits: Benefits of Classroom Blogs)I decided to select a site that would give me both management and privacy right options based on the demographics of my students.  Edublog provides a paid service that gives educators a wide range of options so I went with this service. Set up did take time since I decided to create each student's initial blog site including username, password and link. In addition, I had to set up the class blog which is what all student blogs connect back to, much like the mother ship. Once the blogs were set up, students could then individualize the sites by changing the background, design and text on their blogs. They learned how how to navigate between their dashboard (a very confusing concept for many) to view their blogs.

Each Tuesday students logged into their blogs and posted an essay about a controversial topic we discussed in class or a themed blog. The themed blogs were intriguing. For example, several of our students share an interest in cars. They posted their own reviews including pictures about a car of the week or a mechanical issue. Another student is a motorcycle fanatic. He posted about the do's and don'ts on the road including sub-culture norms and expectations. Otherwise, students were able to select a controversial prompt from their journals and go deeper into the topic. Students also visited and wrote comments on other blogs to keep the digital dialogue going. The blog is going away next week but you can check it here: https://effectivewritinglane.edublogs.org/

This is what I observed:

1) Confidence: Low writers fully embraced blogging. The spelling tools helped them feel confident. They were able to write about a topic of their own choice/expertise.
2) Engagement: It was difficult getting students out of the lab after class was out. Typically, my young group of students started to pack up 10 minutes early, but on blogging days, I couldn't get them to stop! They were that engaged.
3) Computer Literary: Students not comfortable with computers were at first frustrated with even having to create a blog but in the end, they built up their digital confidence and felt proud about the accomplishments.
4) Pride: Yes, pride...students felt proud of their blogs.
5) Ownership is another intrinsic value that came out of this project.
6) Immediate feedback: Students loved receiving immediate comments from me when they published a new post.

The benefits far outweigh the set up time and management components.

Here is a link to common themes since I needed to educate myself through this process as well:
http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2013/03/a-short-guide-to-terms-commonly-used-in.html#.U4ynrvmshcY