Hi Everyone!

As most of you know, I am taking grad classes towards earning my Master’s Degree.  As part of a module in my Technology & Computers in the Classroom class, we are learning about blogs and blogging and the idea of letting children publish their work to a wider audience on-line rather that just using a traditional method (paper and pencil).  One of our assignments is to respond to some questions (and add a few things to our blog).  So to my regular readers…keep reading if you’d like, but just so you know this isn’t one of my usual posts. 🙂

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I think that writing has been forever changed through the introduction of technology.  Children have the opportunity to write for a much larger audience, receive more timely feedback, and interact with others from all over the world.  So many children today have grown up with access to many types of technology in their homes and at school.  It is what excites and drives them, so connecting their excitement with writing seems as though it could engage a student who might be reluctant to write in another way.

As Wollman-Bonilla shared in her case study of a six year old named Rosa, “Computers, it is argued, can provide young children with a context–“screenland”–that helps them learn how to discover and express meaning (Labbo, 1996).”

In this article by Gingell, he shares the triumphs of four boys in a primary school who traded traditional writing for “Tweeting” and overcame their judgements and feelings about writing.  Gingell also brings the issue of gender to light in this article, sharing that boys more often dislike writing than girls, but when given a different avenue with which to express themselves in writing can be just as creative as girls.

With the introduction of the internet technologies, there can be issues when asking students to publish their writing for such a large audience.  Making sure the students identities are confidential, ensuring students read only positive comments about their writing, and providing adequate access to computers are all issues that can arise when sending student’s work out into a larger arena.  Many of the benefits outweigh some of the issues of handled properly.  Letting students post and respond through a designated teacher e-mail not only lets the teacher have control of what is ultimately posted, but it also helps control the feedback that students receive to their posts.  As Kist & others share in their article about Web 2.0 in the classroom, parents in their classrooms have commented about the amount of time that their children will spend posting to the classroom blog and their attentiveness to doing so.

I can see many benefits to blogging by students and teachers.  I use this blog to share ideas with other teachers and to share pictures and a more detailed explanation of things we do in my classroom with parents of children I currently have in class.  I find that it is an interactive way to keep in touch and the kids just love seeing their work posted!  After looking over some of the classroom blogs shared in class, I was drawn in to reading Mrs. Yollis’s classroom blog.  I just love the idea of having student bloggers!  What a way to increase a students’ confidence in writing and providing feedback from many different people (including family members).  Children can also blog about their in class activities or keep journals on-line to track their growth.  Blogging by both teachers and students seems to be a high interest, low intimidation zone where both can enjoy sharing with other students, friends, family members, and teachers.

Thanks for reading!  Please leave your comments below!

Kristen 🙂