First of all, I wanted to just add this to what I wrote before, but couldn't figure out how to edit or add to a post that's already been posted. Does anyone know how to do that?
Anyway, I wrote this in a comment on Swifty's blog but wanted to add it here because it was a big part of my reaction to the blogs I sampled. While I was impressed by the quality of the kids' posts in those blogs, they almost seemed to good to be true. The kids all sounded so intelligent and articulate and engaged in their posts, and I don't see how the mere act of typing your comments on a computer would create that. Is the teacher imposing specific guidelines about how much they blog, or are they being graded on the quantity and quality of what they write? I imagine a lot of our kids doing what they do on First Class forums -- typing in one and two-word responses, getting off track and writing goofy stuff, etc. Once the novelty wears off, I find it hard to believe that their level of engagement will be any higher than it would be in other mediums. I also worry about the kids who really can't express themselves in writing very well. I have kids this year who can barely write a coherent sentence, and for some of them, posting their incoherent sentences for all the world to see would be quite humiliating.
"Is the teacher imposing specific guidelines about how much they blog, or are they being graded on the quantity and quality of what they write?"
ReplyDeleteYes, many teachers do "grade" a blog entry much like they would grade a written paper - they also include grammar and spelling.
"I have kids this year who can barely write a coherent sentence, and for some of them, posting their incoherent sentences for all the world to see would be quite humiliating."
On the other hand, you may have a child that has a lot to say, but is terrified of speaking up in class. Having a class blog could give kids different options.