Will poses this question on his weblog today:
But I guess to me the question is do Weblogs offer us an opportunity to write in ways that are different from using more traditional technologies? And further, are those differences (if they exist) significant to our teaching, not just of writing but of literacy in a variety of ways?
I say yes, weblogs do offer us an opportunity to write in ways that are different from using more traditional technologies. The give and take, the back and forth, the multiplier effect of all the different voices. I can’t think of another avenue that enables us to do this. We get the perspective of many different voices and those voices are unchecked and not under some institutional umbrella. We get to throw our thoughts out there, get reactions, mull it over, and think new possibilities for our classrooms.
Will continues with
But I’ve never in my life written the way I write in this Weblog. And frankly, I don’t know that I’ve learned as much from any other type of activity as I have from this type. And I learn when I’m doing just what I’m doing now (sweat on brow.) I’m not journaling. I’m not just linking. I’m attempting to synthesize a lot of disparate ideas from a varitey of sources into a few coherent sentences that I can publish for an audience and wait (hope?) for its response to push my thinking further. That’s the essence of blogging to me, and I can’t do it without a Weblog. That’s the distinction. That’s what tells me this is different. And that’s what makes me think so hard about the effects that blogging, not just using a blog, might have in a classroom.
I feel the same. I have tried to figure out what the lure is and why I am in this arena. I usually am the lurker, soaking up all I can but not usually participating, except in small groups or one on one. I think the reason I jumped in was that I saw the learning possibilities, both for myself and students AND I didn’t want to just observe. This was a place that was filled with real people out there talking about issues near and dear to my heart. I have not been disappointed, both for myself and my students.
What we really need now though is more educators giving students ownership. Let them write on weblogs. Give them a voice. We’ll learn even more. If we truly want to know the effects that weblogs can have on students, we have to give them a voice. I just don’t see it being done enough with students. Weblogs also give you the opportunity to be a team. The teacher is writing and modeling and sharing the learning with the students. I can still see my students faces when I share how I am learning on my weblog. I share my writing and the comments I get. They love being included in this process. The multiplier effect is also working for students to see and learn from what their classmates are writing. Again, more voices are being heard. A learning community is being built.
We need to be exploring ways to develop students’ writing on weblogs. We need to have students write to explore their thinking, make connections to what they are learning in the classroom, to think about how they can learn in this arena, to struggle with difficult concepts, to write about issues going on in our world, to reflect on their learning, etc.
I read somewhere recently that American schools are not giving students much time to write. Something like 69% of fourth grade teachers reported spending ninety minutes or less per week on writing activities. The time is even less as you go up in the grades. So maybe that’s reason enough. Let weblogs be the place for students to write on a frequent basis. That way we’ll be making writing a priority instead of just talking about it.
