What is a blog?
Much like a standard website, a blog (the shortened name for "web-log") is "an easily editable webpage with posts or entries organized in reverse chronological order" (Zawilinski 650). Because blogs allow users to publish written content instantly, as long as an internet connection is available, the web is now full of published writers. Gone are the days when writers struggle to get their work read; with today's blogging tools, a writer's audience can easily expand to include readers worldwide in a matter of moments. Today on the web, users can find blogs covering just about every topic imaginable, from the presidential race and cooking recipes to reading recommendations and auto repair. One popular blogging platform, Wordpress, claims to host more than 54 million blogs currently. According to Technorati's annual "State of the Blogosphere" study, all sorts of people are now blogging, including hobbyists, entrepreneurs, professionals, parents, men, women, young adults, the elderly, and more.
While a blog may have the appearance of a standard website at first glance, there is a major difference in their purpose. Where a website is typically created to inform or sell, a blog is created as part of a conversation. As Will Richardson (one of the web's first educator bloggers) notes, "blogs engage readers with ideas and questions and links. They ask readers to think and to respond. They demand interaction" (18). This interaction, the central backbone of blogging, is the very reason why blogging can be a wonderful addition to your school's llearning community.
While a blog may have the appearance of a standard website at first glance, there is a major difference in their purpose. Where a website is typically created to inform or sell, a blog is created as part of a conversation. As Will Richardson (one of the web's first educator bloggers) notes, "blogs engage readers with ideas and questions and links. They ask readers to think and to respond. They demand interaction" (18). This interaction, the central backbone of blogging, is the very reason why blogging can be a wonderful addition to your school's llearning community.
Why blog? Benefits to blogging in the classroom
So why should you incorporate blogging into the classroom? When implemented effectively, blogging in the classroom can help students fulfill a number of relevant academic and social goals. In fact, according to the new Common Core State Standards, as educators we are expected to help students as early as fourth grade to create and publish written work online (W 4.6). Blogging is a straightforward and simple way to meet this standard for students. In addition to meeting the standards, blogging has more significant benefits as well.
Increases Critical and Analytical Thinking
In our modern environment where much of the information students access for research and recreational purposes originates online, it becomes increasingly important for students to be able to engage with and evaluate multiple perspectives. Because of the collaborative and interactive nature of blogging, students will inherently run into differing viewpoints (Ellison & Wu 105). This only fosters the writing process: students develop an opinion and share it with readers of the blog; readers comment on the post; students digest the comments and reevaluate their position; students edit and further explain their opinion. This writing cycle requires students to engage their critical thinking skills and use those skills to express themselves more effectively (McGrail and Davis 416).
Increases Investment in Writing
For a typical writing assignment, a student has one audience member: their teacher. Many times, this can lead to a somewhat inauthentic writing experience. If students are writing a persuasive essay, for example, what is the purpose of trying to persuade just one person, who may already agree with you? Blogging opens the potential audience of students' writing to, at the very least, their classmates and peers, and potentially (depending on the parameters you set), the entire online world. This larger audience, whose opinions they arguably value more significantly than the teacher's, will likely increase student investment in their writing (Ellison & Wu 105; Zawilinski 652). In one study of a group of fifth grade bloggers, McGrail and Davis (2011) found that as students developed relationships with their readers via comments and cross-blog interactions, they became "empowered and motivated" to write even more (427).
Expands Learning Realm
As teachers are expected more and more to teach for the standardized tests and help students meet national expectations, time often becomes a major factor in the school day: how can we possibly fit it all in? Blogs offer a way to expand student learning beyond the classroom and the school day. By taking the mode of discussion online to a blog, students and teachers can continue conversations started in the classroom, and interact with each other after school and on weekends. As Ellison and Wu found, it shifts interactive learning from being a solely in-classroom experience to one that is "diffuse, ubiquitous, and concretely embedded in real world issues and events" (108). In her recent 2012 study with second graders, Tanaka observed students blogging in the evenings, on weekends, and even on vacation -- all of their own accord. Without any instruction to do so, students were actively engaging in blogging activities because they were self-motivated to do so (7). Further, students can make connections with other bloggers outside of their classroom, including those in their larger communities and even around the world (Richardson 27).
Provides Practice of 21st Century Skills
The business and corporate world is changing, not only due to the advanced technologies being employed on a daily basis, but also in the way business is conducted. In order to prepare our students to become active participants and leaders in this new world, we need to provide them with avenues to practice the competencies that are now valued, such as collaboration, digital literacy, and synthesis of information. Indeed, the National Council of Teachers of English created a 21st Century Literacies Framework that describes in detail the competencies our students should be developing throughout their academic careers. Blogging can supply a way for students to make use of these skills by incorporating them into their regular learning experiences.
Increases Critical and Analytical Thinking
In our modern environment where much of the information students access for research and recreational purposes originates online, it becomes increasingly important for students to be able to engage with and evaluate multiple perspectives. Because of the collaborative and interactive nature of blogging, students will inherently run into differing viewpoints (Ellison & Wu 105). This only fosters the writing process: students develop an opinion and share it with readers of the blog; readers comment on the post; students digest the comments and reevaluate their position; students edit and further explain their opinion. This writing cycle requires students to engage their critical thinking skills and use those skills to express themselves more effectively (McGrail and Davis 416).
Increases Investment in Writing
For a typical writing assignment, a student has one audience member: their teacher. Many times, this can lead to a somewhat inauthentic writing experience. If students are writing a persuasive essay, for example, what is the purpose of trying to persuade just one person, who may already agree with you? Blogging opens the potential audience of students' writing to, at the very least, their classmates and peers, and potentially (depending on the parameters you set), the entire online world. This larger audience, whose opinions they arguably value more significantly than the teacher's, will likely increase student investment in their writing (Ellison & Wu 105; Zawilinski 652). In one study of a group of fifth grade bloggers, McGrail and Davis (2011) found that as students developed relationships with their readers via comments and cross-blog interactions, they became "empowered and motivated" to write even more (427).
Expands Learning Realm
As teachers are expected more and more to teach for the standardized tests and help students meet national expectations, time often becomes a major factor in the school day: how can we possibly fit it all in? Blogs offer a way to expand student learning beyond the classroom and the school day. By taking the mode of discussion online to a blog, students and teachers can continue conversations started in the classroom, and interact with each other after school and on weekends. As Ellison and Wu found, it shifts interactive learning from being a solely in-classroom experience to one that is "diffuse, ubiquitous, and concretely embedded in real world issues and events" (108). In her recent 2012 study with second graders, Tanaka observed students blogging in the evenings, on weekends, and even on vacation -- all of their own accord. Without any instruction to do so, students were actively engaging in blogging activities because they were self-motivated to do so (7). Further, students can make connections with other bloggers outside of their classroom, including those in their larger communities and even around the world (Richardson 27).
Provides Practice of 21st Century Skills
The business and corporate world is changing, not only due to the advanced technologies being employed on a daily basis, but also in the way business is conducted. In order to prepare our students to become active participants and leaders in this new world, we need to provide them with avenues to practice the competencies that are now valued, such as collaboration, digital literacy, and synthesis of information. Indeed, the National Council of Teachers of English created a 21st Century Literacies Framework that describes in detail the competencies our students should be developing throughout their academic careers. Blogging can supply a way for students to make use of these skills by incorporating them into their regular learning experiences.
Examples of blogging in the classroom
The following ideas for incorporating blogging into your classroom activities are a mixture of my own ideas and those collected by Barrett, Black, and Richardson. I will indicate where the ideas came from by noting their initials following each example (Barrett=TB; Black=JB; Richardson=WR).
- Post “topic of the week” (favorite holiday, vacation plans, favorite book read this year, etc.) and students post and comment on each others’
- Students create portfolios for work throughout the year (or throughout entire educational career)
- Students create and post book reviews to share with peers
- As a class, brainstorm, take polls, or get feedback on decisions that will affect the whole class (TB)
- Students create and share video tutorials, teaching different aspects of what they’re learning in class (TB)
- Students create digital stories to post on the classroom blog (TB)
- Create a question chain (teacher posts a question, student 1 answers it and posts another question, student 2 answers it...) (TB)
- Encourage parents to join in by contributing family stories, recipes, skills, etc. (TB)
- Post a picture-a-day representing classroom activities, rotating responsibility of photographer/poster (TB)
- Post videos, links to websites, additional reading material to supplement what you’re discussing in class (JB)
- During science activities, students post hypotheses prior to running an experiment. After experiment, results are posted and compared to hypotheses. (JB)
- In social studies, post a political cartoon each week for students to respond to (JB)
- Host a book club or literature circles (JB; WR)
- Further explain complicated issues that arise during class (WR)
- Students journal as they work collaboratively on group projects, documenting their progress (WR)
- Showcase examples of quality student writing, artwork, photography, poetry, etc. (WR)
- Create a student-run class newsletter for family and friends (WR)
Making it work in your classroom
Before implementing the use of blogs in your classroom curriculum, a few considerations need to be made, in addition to the ones highlighted on the Social Media Issues page of this site, including access, safety, choosing the right platform, and getting started.
Internet Access
One of the major benefits of incorporating blogging into your curriculum, as outlined above, is that the development of your learning community is no longer limited to the physical constraints of the school building and school day. However, if some of your students do not have access to a computer or internet at home, those limits are still very real. More and more families are getting access to internet in their homes every day (with 80.4 percent of households with children between ages 6-17 reporting to have at least some internet access in their homes, according to the 2010 U.S. Census, Table 1A), but if even one student is without access at home, special planning will have to happen. Consider working with the school librarian or technology specialist to allow students in the library or computer lab before or after school to blog, or perhaps provide certain periods of the school day or school week that are designated as optional blogging time.
Online Safety
As is a concern whenever students are accessing the internet, teachers using blogging in the curriculum must pay attention to safety issues. First of all, the entire school community has to be on board, including the administration and parents. Consider developing an Acceptable Use Policy that includes web publishing that guardians must sign at the beginning of the year (for examples of these, visit edublogger Bud Hunt's wiki). Another thing to consider is student privacy online. This includes talking with your students to discourage sharing any personal identifiers online as well as determining policy for how students to self-identify online, whether that be with first names only, pseudonyms, or something different. Additionally, it is critical to explain to students how to report any issues they encounter online, either technical or content-related, including anything that makes them uncomfortable (Richardson 46-47).
Blogging Platforms
Various blogging platforms exist on the web, but some of the more popular for use in classrooms include the following:
Getting Started
Edublogger Will Richardson has one main recommendation when implementing blog use in the classroom: start small. He suggests first starting a simple classroom blog that just focuses on posting assignments and additional resources for your students to get everyone used to communicating with each other online. Additionally, he recommends creating a reading list of blogs for your students to peruse to get them familiar with the blogging format, structure, and possible uses. From there, encourage students to respond to posts and queries you create on the classroom blog. This will allow them to get comfortable sharing their opinions and ideas online. Once students reach this comfort level, they can then be directed to write their own blogposts, and perhaps even create their own blogs. Implementation must happen slowly to be successful; by increasing online involvement little by little, students can adjust to the new online learning environment while developing those 21st century skills.
Internet Access
One of the major benefits of incorporating blogging into your curriculum, as outlined above, is that the development of your learning community is no longer limited to the physical constraints of the school building and school day. However, if some of your students do not have access to a computer or internet at home, those limits are still very real. More and more families are getting access to internet in their homes every day (with 80.4 percent of households with children between ages 6-17 reporting to have at least some internet access in their homes, according to the 2010 U.S. Census, Table 1A), but if even one student is without access at home, special planning will have to happen. Consider working with the school librarian or technology specialist to allow students in the library or computer lab before or after school to blog, or perhaps provide certain periods of the school day or school week that are designated as optional blogging time.
Online Safety
As is a concern whenever students are accessing the internet, teachers using blogging in the curriculum must pay attention to safety issues. First of all, the entire school community has to be on board, including the administration and parents. Consider developing an Acceptable Use Policy that includes web publishing that guardians must sign at the beginning of the year (for examples of these, visit edublogger Bud Hunt's wiki). Another thing to consider is student privacy online. This includes talking with your students to discourage sharing any personal identifiers online as well as determining policy for how students to self-identify online, whether that be with first names only, pseudonyms, or something different. Additionally, it is critical to explain to students how to report any issues they encounter online, either technical or content-related, including anything that makes them uncomfortable (Richardson 46-47).
Blogging Platforms
Various blogging platforms exist on the web, but some of the more popular for use in classrooms include the following:
- Edublogs -- This blogging platform is specifically designed with educators in mind, which means it accounts for things other blogging platforms do not, such as excluding adult content, providing support from real teachers, keeping the blog free from advertisements, and working to be accessible by most school filters.
- Wordpress -- The most popular blogging option out there, Wordpress is a free blogging platform (with optional upgrades) that allows for easy monitoring of classroom blogging activity from the "Dashboard." Because Wordpress is open source, fellow bloggers are always creating new themes and widget options.
- Blogger -- Arguably the second most popular blogging site, Blogger (formerly Blogspot) is now owned by Google and is 100 percent free to use. It's features are generally simpler to use than Wordpress, but options are thus more limited.
- KidBlog -- For your younger clientele, KidBlog might be a good option, because it is designed for teachers by teachers to streamline blogging in the elementary and middle school classrooms. However, because it is less well-known than the three above examples, there is not as much online support or development.
Getting Started
Edublogger Will Richardson has one main recommendation when implementing blog use in the classroom: start small. He suggests first starting a simple classroom blog that just focuses on posting assignments and additional resources for your students to get everyone used to communicating with each other online. Additionally, he recommends creating a reading list of blogs for your students to peruse to get them familiar with the blogging format, structure, and possible uses. From there, encourage students to respond to posts and queries you create on the classroom blog. This will allow them to get comfortable sharing their opinions and ideas online. Once students reach this comfort level, they can then be directed to write their own blogposts, and perhaps even create their own blogs. Implementation must happen slowly to be successful; by increasing online involvement little by little, students can adjust to the new online learning environment while developing those 21st century skills.
Bibliography
Barrett, T. (n.d.). 64 interesting ideas for class blog posts. EdTech.com. Retrieved from https://docs.google.com/present/view?id=0AclS3lrlFkCIZGhuMnZjdjVfNzQ5ZnpiczlxYzM&hl=en_US
Black, J. (2008, Oct. 21). 33 ways to use blogs in your classroom and in the educational setting. [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://web20intheclassroom.blogspot.com/2008/10/ways-to-use-blogs-in-your-classroom-and.html
Council of the Chief State School Officers & National Governor’s Association. (2012). Common core state standards initiative. Retrieved from http://corestandards.org/
Ellison, N. B., & Wu, Y. (2008). Blogging in the classroom: A preliminary exploration of student attitudes and impact on comprehension. Journal of Educational Multimedia and Hypermedia, 17(1), 99-122. Retrieved from http://matias.wiki.westga.edu/file/view/Blogging_article.pdf/265498220/Blogging_article.pdf
Martelli, D., ed. (2011). State of the blogosphere 2011. Technorati. Retrieved from http://technorati.com/social-media/article/state-of-the-blogosphere-2011-introduction/
McGrail, E., & Davis, A. (2011). The influence of classroom blogging on elementary student writing. The Journal of Research in Childhood Education, 25, 415-437.
National Council of Teachers of English. (2008). 21st century curriculum and assessment framework. Retrieved from http://www.ncte.org/positions/statements/21stcentframework
Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms. 3rd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
Tanaka, J. (2012). How do second graders perceive blogging? In Technology, Colleges, and Community 2012 Conference Proceedings. Retreived from http://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/bitstream/handle/10125/22506/TCC_2012_Proceedings_Jenny_Tanaka_04_09.pdf?sequence=1
Zawilinski, L. (2009). HOT blogging: A framework to promote higher order thinking. The Reading Teacher, 62(8), 650-661.
Black, J. (2008, Oct. 21). 33 ways to use blogs in your classroom and in the educational setting. [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://web20intheclassroom.blogspot.com/2008/10/ways-to-use-blogs-in-your-classroom-and.html
Council of the Chief State School Officers & National Governor’s Association. (2012). Common core state standards initiative. Retrieved from http://corestandards.org/
Ellison, N. B., & Wu, Y. (2008). Blogging in the classroom: A preliminary exploration of student attitudes and impact on comprehension. Journal of Educational Multimedia and Hypermedia, 17(1), 99-122. Retrieved from http://matias.wiki.westga.edu/file/view/Blogging_article.pdf/265498220/Blogging_article.pdf
Martelli, D., ed. (2011). State of the blogosphere 2011. Technorati. Retrieved from http://technorati.com/social-media/article/state-of-the-blogosphere-2011-introduction/
McGrail, E., & Davis, A. (2011). The influence of classroom blogging on elementary student writing. The Journal of Research in Childhood Education, 25, 415-437.
National Council of Teachers of English. (2008). 21st century curriculum and assessment framework. Retrieved from http://www.ncte.org/positions/statements/21stcentframework
Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms. 3rd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
Tanaka, J. (2012). How do second graders perceive blogging? In Technology, Colleges, and Community 2012 Conference Proceedings. Retreived from http://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/bitstream/handle/10125/22506/TCC_2012_Proceedings_Jenny_Tanaka_04_09.pdf?sequence=1
Zawilinski, L. (2009). HOT blogging: A framework to promote higher order thinking. The Reading Teacher, 62(8), 650-661.