Learning about Blogging through Paper Blogs

Paper blogs are a great way of practising blogging. Peter had a a great lesson with his class using paper blogs to practise both blogs and commenting on blogs using paper. This was the lesson plan that Peter used: 

1. Each student started a blog page (on a blank sheet of paper) - named their blog and started a discussion topic of their choosing

2. Students pretended they were alone at their computer, read blogs and posted their comment/s (pass it to the next student)

3. Give 3 minutes (adjust according to your students) to read the blog and comment/add to the discussion.

4. repeat 2&3  a couple of times (stick another sheet on the page if needed)

5. Each student checks for comments on their blog (i.e. they get their own page back) and and continue the discussion after reading the comments made by others.

                Timing was adjusted to allow for extra reading time

5. We did two more swap cycles @5min each. Some students in the later swaps got a blog page back that they already had made a comment on. This enabled them to see how others responded to their comments and develop from there.

6. Final comments made by the student on their own page to wrap the activity up. They uploaded (drew) a relevant picture to enhance their blog

Students were engaged - understanding of the process was developed! 

Have you any great ideas on teaching blogging to students? It would be great to share them!

The Next Instalment: Quadblogging

Within the framework of our project, we set out to explore how we can broaden the audience of our blog through Quadblogging. One of the purposes of blogging is to provide students with an audience beyond the realm of their classroom. It is a way of creating and promoting an interest in children's writing.



 

Quadblogging from Kate Todd


Quadblogging was started by David Mitchell, who is deputy headteacher at Heathfield Primary School in Bolton, UK. It was started as a way of addressing the need for a blog to have an audience. 

Quadblogging is a way of sharing what is happening in the classroom with three other schools. Each class' blog takes a turn at having the focus upon them. The other classes comment on the focus class' blog. It is authentic feedback from other students, who are from other parts of the world.

There are many ideas that can be obtained and shared through Quadblogging. How work is presented, how writing can be improved, how thoughts can be expressed, are all part of the quadblogging experience. The comments left by other students have been proven to improve children's writing, as they receive feedback.

Both Presentations are sourced from the quadblogging website: http://quadblogging.net/

Have you signed up for Quadblogging? Do you see any benefits with Quadblogging? What response do you think the students will have?

Project Survey

One of the aims in Project Blogstars is to see an improvement in students reading and writing through the medium of blogging. Evidence suggests through research, that blogging does enhance students literacy skills (Noytim, 2010, Weblogs enhancing students' English language learning). Students are given opportunities to communicate to an audience outside of their physical classroom environment. The audience that they interact with through a blog is an authentic, potentially global audience.

If we are to engage students in higher order thinking as part of their ongoing development as a learner, then blogs are an ideal way of helping in this process. A blog can be a way of documenting a student's learning experience, as part of reflecting on what they have learnt. The process of commenting can encourage further reflection upon the students learning. This enhances students critical thinking skills. Students also have the opportunity to become a part of a learner network through a blog, where they can communicate their thoughts and ideas.

As part of our project to show that there has been an improvement we started with a survey to establish an understanding of the way students use digital literacy in their writing. From the results that have been collated, the students in our project, are very familiar with digital literacy. There is a significant proportion that use it to communicate with those around them.

The results also indicate that students use digital communication as part of their social interaction. Most said they prefer a computer to write with and  have a preference skills to edit their work using one. Where blogging would help with this is that it would develop the need for students to become much clearer in their communication skills. It would promote the need for the development of good editing skills because of the audience that they are writing for.

Further Reading:

1. http://web.chu.edu.tw/~wswu/publications/papers/book_chapters/01.pdf
2. http://www.personal.psu.edu/mfh152/blogs/meghan_horbal/Drexler.pdf
3. https://www.lib.utexas.edu/etd/d/2006/jonesd17626/jonesd17626.pdf
4. http://journal.acs-cam.org.uk/data/archive/2009/200901-article8.pdf

What  do you think is interesting about our survey? How do you think blogging can help improve students reading and writing skills?