Blogging In the Classroom

I was concerned with my Writing Proficiency class, their journal entries were getting progressively worse instead of better. I found that students were becoming very lazy with their journal writing. It wasn’t just the content, but the grammar and spelling. They were not paying attention to detail, and making very careless mistakes – I was worried that their writing skills were regressing! Something had to be done…

We needed to find a place to write that was not the conventional journal notebook. Upon much deliberation and discussion, my colleague and I decided to share a class blog. Although, we knew that a blog would be a good tool for writing, we had a few concerns; exactly how were we going use the blog? How would we edit their writing? How would we give meaningful feedback without losing the momentum of having students just write? How would we assess their writing? Despite our concerns, we decided to throw caution to the wind start a classroom blog, and iron out the details later.

Prior to starting the site, we had students brainstorm different types of technology. A few that were mentioned were LCD projectors, interactive whiteboards, laptops. We discussed technology that they use outside the classroom, such as, facebook, cell phones, chat rooms and is there a place for such technology in the classroom. I was surprised when some responded with a resounding NO! While others thought, some technology could be very useful in the classroom. Some are already using blogs in other classes for homework and class assignments. Those using a blog are finding it very helpful; they realize that using a blog is a good way for them to learn from each other-this sounds hopeful.

My colleague and I decided that the Writing Proficiency classes would post their next few assignments on the blog, and we will see what happens. We have posted movie reviews, comments on articles, and reflections about specific pieces of writing. In addition, classes have commented on each other’s writing. It was interesting the number of students who noticed grammatical and spelling errors in their work, as well as, in the writing of their peers once it was posted. (I had informed students prior to writing and submitting the assignments that I would not be editing their writing, once they submitted it, it would be posted as is, for all to see.

They were mortified when I told them that the posts were going to stay. As a class, we discussed why the posts would not be edited, and they agreed it would be useful to use these pieces of writing as benchmarks, to measure how they use the blog to become better writers. We are still ironing out how to edit, and give meaningful feedback with out losing the momentum of the writing process. Although, it is not perfect, students acknowledge the value in using a blog as a writing tool. They recognize it as an opportunity to become more thoughtful writers, and editors; they realize that unlike many other pieces of writing submitted, it cannot be tucked away in their notebooks never to be seen again.

Please take a look at the following class blogs. Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated.

Writing Proficiency blog http://ismwp.wordpress.com/

 Advanced Writing Support blog http://awism.wordpress.com/