Blog is a tool for sharing our concerns about different issues we face in the world. Many people made comments on these issues with encourangement for those who are making a differences or giving ideas on how to solve the issues. Not all blogs have concerns. The 2nd Grade Duck Blog demonstrates the students opinion on the story of the missing duck. Not only students were commenting, other adults from around the world were commenting on how the project was inspiring. This was giving the students a chance to write a comment on another medium. The students can go back to the site and read about the comment they wrote a year from now, or five years from now. It stays on the expanding world of the internet.
When the students write, educators always have them write on paper about facts, opinions, fantasy,etc. The educators always tell the students about the formats of the writing, use standarize english, and think about the audience. Blogging doesn't have a true format, but it is a good idea to use standardize english and truely think about the audience when blogging. People are reading these blogs whether we know it or not. The ones we know are making comments.
Reading the blogs is just the same as reading a good book. There is drama or an important issue that needed to be address. Reading about "How to prevent another Leonardo da Vinci, " shows how we are restricting the creativity of students. When I was an art teacher, I can relate to the lost of creativity and imagination in the students. They just draw a simple basic picture, complain about doing any kind of assignments, and always whine about everything. Oh, the whining. Sometimes we can get the students to read books, but they do get more excited about doing any project on-line. Last semester, I was able to get the fifth grade students interested in creating a book critique. They read some of the critiques on the Wiki and some created their own critique about a book they read. This could work well with blogging. They can read each others blogs and critique or make a comment about what they have read. Reading anything is about encouraging to expand on what they have read.
I am hoping that many counties in the state of Georgia can see the positives of blogging. The students are reading comments, just like a book, article, or an exert. The students write comments, opinions or feelings on blogs. We are not wasting trees with this. So why do many districts want to stay in the past. Our students are moving on with technology whether we teach it or not. Let them blog. We as educators can teach how to be a safe blogger.
Like you, I agree with having the children starting small when it comes to blogging. I suggested a survey question, then I suggested partener responce to a book that was read in the class. I like the idea of blogging with other classrooms and later schools, counties, states and countries but i worry about the safety of the students and I would hope the site can be cut off and on, observed by the teacher who can also put restrictions on it. The internet has opened up a number of opportunites to help educate students but safety is the number 1 priority. There is too much going on in the world and I need for the students to know and undertand the purpose of the blog site and page. Once those rules are established and understood... we cna proceed.
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