Elementary Students Reflections on Weblogs May 8
Students Learning about Possiblilities May 7, 2003
Hey! Hey Stormy - you have one very Proud aunt! May 5, 2003
Joe Points the Way to Electronic Journals May 3, 2003
Asking the Right Questions May 1, 2003
It puzzles me that we are discussing the worth of Weblogs as a writing tool. In education, I think that is the main worth of weblogs. It is a tool we can use with students to make writing THE focus. It is truly a unique tool that teachers can use with students. It is a quick, easy way to give them writing practice. It gives them an audience, ownership, and that needed writing practice that gets lost in today’s schools. We can make it fun for them and help them discover that their writing matters.
Writing is hard. Doing it well means being both a writer and reader. I still find it a daily struggle to find the right words to say what I mean, and to say it clearly so others understand. Not only clearly but in a way that makes the reader want more. I know I fall short most days, but I plan to keep working at it. Weblogs give me a place to get that needed practice. Some days I really feel good about what I write, other days I don’t. That’s OK. Weblogs give me a place to really think about what I am learning, a place where I can learn from others, and a place to think about how I can take that learning and make a difference with students.
If writing is hard, teaching writing is even harder. Our challenge is to keep working at ways to make it relevant to the students, to let them develop topics that matter to them. and to help them gain an understanding of the value of writing. Weblogs are unique writing spaces. It’s up to us as teachers to set the stage for this learning environment. That’s the hard part. Good writing won’t just occur because they have a different place to write
Maybe it as simple as rethinking these unique writing spaces. Students don’t write a lot, do not enjoy it, and most view it as a chore. Can weblogs change that? I think yes but we have to put the focus on writing, not the writing spaces.
<via> Dave Winer
Dave Winer points to Will Richardson’s article “Blogging and RSS- The “What’s It?” and “How To” of Powerful New Web Tools for Educators”.
Will talks about the boom in blogs, referring to Howard Dean’s weblog and the effect it is having in the Democratic presidential race.
Then he moves to education and tells howTim Lauer features the latest in news and events as collected from a series of separate Weblogs that are hooked together using RSS. Tim’s school is Meriwether Lewis Elementary. Will explains how this makes the school’s Web site a timely source of information and it allows a number of staff members to contribute in what is a more distributed content creation model.
Next Will explains his weblog use of Sue Monk Kidd’s The Secret Life of Bees as follows:
We had selected Sue Monk Kidd’s The Secret Life of Bees for our Modern American Literature curriculum, and I decided to use a Weblog to carry on our conversations about the book outside of class. Since we were probably the first school in the country to study the novel, I wondered if the author might be willing to join my students in our online discussion. To our great surprise, she did, and my students got the benefit of a 2,300-word response to our “big” questions about the characters and the plot in the book [http://weblogs.hcrhs.k12.nj.us/beesbook]. In addition, we set up a Weblog for parents of my students interested in reading the book for themselves, and about a dozen parents held their own discussions in parallel to my students [http://weblogs.hcrhs.k12.nj.us/beesparents].
I remember following this weblog and having to run by the bookstore that day to purchase the book to read! Great use of weblogs!
Then he features Pam Pritchard and her good work mentoring a new teacher and her use of audioblogs. Go to the article to read her good quote about weblogs!
He moves on to RSS - really good writing- kudos to Will! Go read the whole article! I love to see educational webloggers publishing!