According to the quick tour/set up guide on the blogger hosting service, a blog is 'a personal diary. A daily pulpit. A collaborative space. A political soapbox. A breaking-news outlet. A collection of links. Your own private thoughts. Memos to the world.'
Focusing on the personal diary definition (within a primary education context), blogging = reflecting. In these compulsory years, there is a huge emphasis on writing as a literacy aspect. In my experience as a pre-service teacher on my first prac in a year 2/3 classroom, diary-writing was encouraged. In class, the students had diary-writing once a week. Granted, the kids wrote their entries by hand and later read them aloud to the class. Obviously, their handwriting skills and oral presentation skills are developed in doing so.
However, I do think reflecting through blogging would also be a good activity. There would be more opportunities for comments and feedback from fellow classmates, as opposed to giving responses verbally after a student reads their account/recount. In this regard, blogging then creates an interactive platform for students, teachers and family members as well. It provides a more 'collaborative space' for thinking and learning. And of course the availability and accessibility of blogging software makes the process of sharing and collaborating all the more easier.
You have some good ideas here on how to use blogs with primary students. It's a great chance for them to begin developing their online public voices in a step-by-step fashion ... and in coming years, it's likely to become increasingly important for all engaged citizens to have a public voice of this kind.
ReplyDeleteI think you are right to raise the different literacy and social skills used in handprinting / writing a piece, reading it out loud, and having verbal feedback in person
ReplyDeletecf
typing / editing a piece, the readers having time to consider their responses, and receiving the responses in private.
Julie
I agree. If I were to set a task of writing a weekly journal, using a blog instead of a piece of paper and pen would be a great idea. It is a useful tool to teach a whole range of skills other than just spelling and vocab. Typing, editing and general computing skills would be encompassed throughout the activity too. It would be more suitable for a higher primary year though.
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