Climbing Off of the Fence with Blogging

No!

Grade 2's can't blog!  Those kids are too little!  They don't know how to use a computer well enough to write on the computer!  That will be a waste of time!  These are just some of the judgements that I receive when I talk about blogging with my young elementary students.  I have to admit that at one point (probably not that long ago) I may have teetered back and forth on the fence, but more so leaning toward their side of the fence.

After all of this time I have spent exploring these Web 2.0 tools, I can say that I have fully committed to the YES! side of the fence.  YES grade 2's CAN blog and YES my grade 2's WILL blog.  Why would I have my students blog?

First of all, Prensky (2001) talks about "digital natives" that grow up around technology such as computers and the internet.  It is no wonder that Zawilinski (2009) talks about how the internet "is home to a continuously emerging set of new technology for literacy such as search engines, e-mail, blogs, wikis, instant messagenger, social networking tools, and many others yet to emerge.  Each [of which] requires new skills and strategies" (pg. 651).

So if we want students to be successful once they leave the classroom, they need to be prepared for these new literacies.  In order to prepare them, we need to bring these "new literacies" into the classroom in the way that Kist (2010) outlines.  Blogging is a great way to accomplish this.  

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Secondly, not only does blogging allow for the learning of those new literacies, but it can give students an authentic reason and audience for writing beyond their peers or their teacher.  As Wiggins (2009) points out, "the point of writing is to have something to say and to make a difference in saying it."  How can students be expected to understand that they can make a difference with what they are saying if no one is reading it?

Network of Connections

By allowing blogging in the classroom, we are allowing numerous connections and relationships to form whereby students are writing for their intended audience and can receive support and feedback to further encourage and improve their writing. 

In my exploration of blogging in the classroom, I have come across several blogs that have been an inspiration to my desire to bring blogging into my own classroom.  These are blogs of teachers and/or students that integrate blogging into the classroom at the primary level:

Aviva Dunsiger - A Primary Blog for the 21st Century (a must see on both her Blog and Twitter!)

Grades 1 and 2 at Ancaster Meadow School (another blog by Aviva)

Mrs. Short's Second Grade

Step into 2nd Grade with Mrs. Lemons

Primary Preoccupation 

Now that I have spent the time exploring blogging on my own and following other teachers' blogs, I am ready to dive into the student world of blogging.  I am looking forward to my students having an authentic audience, as well as a portfolio of samples of their work in order to look back and see their progress.  We will prove other's wrong!

After exploring my options and gathering the opinions of others, I have decided to go with Kidblog.org for the kid friendly look and extremely user-friendly layout.  It gives me the opportunity to have students' work read by the online world but I can still filter the comments that are posted.  This way, parents can feel free to be involved without having to sign up for an account which, again, will add further motivation for the students to produce their best work.  Not to mention that it only took a matter of minutes to set up our class account.

Now we have this blank canvas just waiting for the students' to add their own writing flair.  Wish us luck!

References

Kist, W. (2010). The socially networked classroom, teaching in the new media age. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Prensky, M. (2001). Digital natives, digital immigrants. On the Horizon, 9(5), 1-6. Retrieved October 10, 2001, from ProQuest Education Journals. (Document ID: 10.1108/10748120110424816).

Wiggins, G. (2009). Real-world writing: Making purpose and audience matter. English Journal, 98(5), 29-37.

Zawilinski, L. (2009). Hot blogging: A framework for blogging to promote higher order thinking. The Reading Teacher, 62(8), 650-661.