Log on to a Blog

This is Brenda Dyck's column on her beginning in the world of blogging. She begins with a comment about how blogging could get kids excited about writing and journaling again which is an amazing thing.  It's so important for kids to be excited about writing because it's something they will have to do for the rest of their lives.  She had her students record their thought on the Elenor Rigby Project.  This explored the issue of homelessness, this is such a rough topic to deal with right now because with the economy it is becoming all to real for a lot of people.  In order to grade her students on their journaling she created a special rubric.  This is a good idea because what they are doing is out there for everyone to see so the likelihood of them stepping up and doing good work is much greater.  She asks that her students use a high level of thing by analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluating what they were supposed to write about.  I think holding them to this standard is a great way to get them involved on more then just a need to know level.  Overall, blogging is a great tool to use on projects that require a lot of thinking and can really get a student to dive into a topic and become more aware of what is going on outside their front door.  Blogging is something that is going to stick around for awhile and will soon be in every classroom and even every home I think.
Dyck, Brenda. (1996-2010). Log on to a Blog. Voice of Experience. Retrieved October 5, 2010, from http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/voice/voice123.shtml.