Blogs

A blog ….is an online journal, a weblog. There are sites that offer a weblog setup for free.has the potential to become more than an online diary.

A blog can provide a space for writing that is a

combination journal and discussion board

invite commentary and discussion integrate a number of important

writing skills

Instructional Characteristics

Economy The well developed blog post

requires no scrolling. It is a brief targeted set of words that communicate an intended idea.

Archiving Each post is archived by week , day

or month. This allows writers to explore how ideas unfold and connect over time.

Feedback The public nature of a blog

encourages peer review and sharing.Student writers can receive immediate response, making the writing process more relevant.

Multimedia Blogs allow writers to post images

and even record sounds. It opens writers to multiple means of communication.

Immediacy As soon as a blog is posted it is

available on the web. This generates an immediate sense of accomplishment,and it begins the process of response and feedback.

Active Participation In-class discussions are often

constrained by time and space. A weblog will allow a continuation of class discussions for all the students.

Now how can a blog be used in a classroom?

Instructional Strategies

Character Journals

This strategy challenges student writers to sound and think like a fictional character.

Character Roundtable Students can participate as a cast of

characters and dialogue together around a particular theme or idea.

Think About Postings A reflection on an assigned reading

Literature Circle The blog would provide students

with a reflective space to respond within a wider audience.

Nutshelling A blog could help students find

ideas for additional writing pieces.Students can review their previous

blogs, choose a rich line and paste it into the body of a new post.

It now serves as a prompt for a reflection and elaboration.

Devil’s Advocate Writing Blogs can host an interactive, multi-

participant dialogue that pushes the reasoning between posts.

It could function as an online debate or as a testing ground for ideas that can be more fully developed later.

Exploding Sentences Students can ‘explode” sentences

from earlier posts by adding rich, descriptive details.

Photoblogs Students can combine photos with

captions, infusing text with visual imagery.

Phoetry- integration of photography and poetry

Round Robin Story A story starter is displayed and

students each add an entry to create a class creative writing story or an essay, depending on the prompt.

Blogs provide a multi-genre, multimedia writing space that can engage visually minded students and draw them into a different interaction with print.

Students at all levels learn to write by writing.

Classroom Examples

Grade 1 Bloghttp://classblogmeister.com/blog.php?blogger_id=1337

Grade 2 Bloghttp://www.mrssherry.blogspot.com/

Book Talk BlogsSarah Plain and Tall

http://sarahplainandtall.blogspot.com/

Blog Websites Classroom Use of Blogs (http://weblogg-ed.com)

Will Richardson's weblogg-ed.com is a virtual goldmine of blogging resources, including best practices, educator blogs, and technology recommendations for choosing content management tools. A Hunterdon Central Regional High School English teacher from Flemington, N.J., Richardson is among the few educators starting to explore Web logs in the writing classroom.

Center for Technology and Teacher Education (http://www.teacherlink.org/content/blog/) This website contains instructional materials and related links for use when exploring the use of weblogs in the English/Language Arts classroom

Technology and Learning (http://www.techlearning.com/db_area/archives/TL/2003/02/blogs.html) An article about using weblogs in the classroom.

Bibliography Learning and Leading with Technology, Sept.

2003,Vol. 31, No.1,Writing with Weblogs

Learning and Leading with Technology, Sept. 2003,Vol. 31, No.2, Scaffolding for Struggling Students

PC Magazine, December 2003, <Blog Tools>

Blogging VideoWhat students and teachers have to

say about blogging.

http://weblogg-ed.com/videos/