Weblogs: A Perfect Place for Student Writing
Most Writing Scores Up is an article about writing that caught my attention.
The nation’s fourth-graders and eighth-graders have become better writers, but fewer 12th-grade students can convey well-organized ideas, a new national assessment shows.
Even the signs of improvement must be considered in context: Most students in the three benchmark grades still can’t provide coherent answers with clear language, supporting details, accurate punctuation and creative thinking.
The new report provides a sense of how well students can write essays, communicate information and compose arguments — skills considered essential for success in college and the workplace, yet some educators say writing has become the forgotten fundamental.
“By the time students graduate high school, they should be able to produce more than disorganized self-expression or Internet chat,” said Marilyn Whirry, former national teacher of the year and a member of the board that oversees the national assessment.
“It is the responsibility of every teacher to lead students in their struggle to become writers.”
I have been thinking about this article for the past week. While I certainly agree that it is the responsibility of every teacher to lead students in their struggle to become writers, that is just too simplistic of a statement to suit me. We know that, but we also know that in order to become good writers the time to practice and pursue that is critical. The statement that some educators say writing has become the forgotten fundamental really hits home. We all need to think about ways to make every teacher a writing teacher. (Hey, how about weblogs?)
As I grapple with my thoughts about the process of writing, I keep coming back to giving students ownership as a key factor. I love to hear my students talk about what they do and don’t like about writing. I learned so much from the group I worked with this year. Listening to their insightful comments and watching them struggle through the hard process of writing a good piece is what teaching is all about. I like to think of writing as a tool for learning.
Usually good writing would come in our groups when we had lively discussions about things they cared about. That’s another key factor - writing about what is of interest to them.
Weblogs are such a perfect place for students to reflect on their learning, discover gaps in their knowledge, and make connections between what they are learning and what they have learned. I’m working on a handout for using weblogs for “Writing to Learn” that I can use for future projects/workshops. I am going to focus on ways the weblog writing can be used to help in this whole writing process. This can range from quick writes to longer, more structured writing assignments. I think it might be helpful for those just beginning to discover weblogs to think about ways to use them with their students.
Weblogs give ownership plus an audience. That’s the third key factor - someone caring about what they write. They know their teacher cares but when other students and interested readers comment, you can feel the electricity in the air. Students sit up and listen. They are engaged. You can see the wheels turning. It’s a dynamic writing place where the writing is alive and inviting. Your writing is out there and causes others to react. Wow! You just can’t get that kind of ownership so easily in the classroom.
Yes, writing is fundamental! In the hands of good teachers, weblogs can be the gateway for teachers to give students ownership, a forum to discuss issues they care about, and an arena that has an audience that cares about what they are writing.
July 17th, 2003 at 3:47 pm
Anne - Where’s your xml feed and badge?
July 17th, 2003 at 4:09 pm
My RSS address is
http://anne2.teachesme.com/xml/rss.xml
I would welcome help on the xml feed and badge. I’ve asked these questions before but I guess it boils down to my being slow on the uptake to some of these non-instructional “how to tech items”. Yes, I know it’s probably simple, but I am a willing learner!
July 18th, 2003 at 9:06 pm
Upload a pic of the xml icon to your pictures page. Then in Prefs Advanced add this line to your navigation area BEFORE the close of the </navigator> code:
<item name=XML pagename=”http://anne2.teachesme.com/xml/rss.xml” picture=>
That should do it.
July 18th, 2003 at 9:07 pm
Well that rendered some code. Write if you need help.