Scaffolding for Struggling Students: Reading and Writing with Blogs
By Sara Kajder and Glen Bull
This article explains how blogging can help students with their reading and writing skills. There was a reference to a study that found that about half of 9th graders in 35 major cities in the U.S. read at a 6th grade level or lower. This reality is due to the fact that students do not have authentic experiences in writing. Most of what students write are strictly for assignments which are of little or no meaning to them. Although technology such as blogging is not the cure-all for this grim reality, it can help. A blogg is essentially an avenue for self expression. The article also states that when a students has an audience, then that student engages him/herself more in the writing. Blogs also help the discussion go further with the ability to comment on peer work. Another positive thing about blogging is that students receive an immediate sense of accomplishment because the blog entries are immediately posted on the web. The article was filled with different ways of incorporating blogs in the classroom.
I do plan on using blogs in my future classroom. One way I could use it is to have students post pictures on their blogs along with descriptions of those pictures. Another way I would use blog posts would be to integrate it with a book that my class may be reading. If I were to have assigned a chapter out of a book I would ask my students to discuss and comment on what they thought about the chapter. This way students have an outlet to discuss the book instead of just reading the chapter and keeping all of their thoughts to themselves. I think that this type of blog activity will help my students retain more of what they read. I am sure that many classroom discussions go unfinished because of time restraints but having blogs allow student discussions to go further because students can go home and post anything they want.
Even Recess Can't Beat Technology
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"Who Are Today's Learners?" is the question that Christine Greenhow asks in
her article regarding how students feel about technology use in the
classroom. ...
16 years ago
That is a great idea in how to incorporate blogging into the classroom. I like your idea in posting pictures and just describing it, this does seem to like it will work. Especially because students will be posting them for all to see, they will be forced to reread their work and make any corrections. This is a good idea and helping students improve in their reading and writing.
ReplyDeleteI am noticing that blogging for EDUC 422 is improving my writing skills. Prior to this class, composing papers was a time consuming task. I did not know how to free write; I typically edited each and every sentence along the way. Now, because we blog so often, I am able to quickly write out my thoughts, organize the sentences and paragraphs, and edit the blog. It also helps that the articles from L&L are interesting and thought provoking.
ReplyDeleteI agree that because the students know they have an audience they are more engaged in their writing. When writing my blogs, I always try to make my writings interesting and informational. I keep in mind that I need to write my summaries in such a way that my audience has complete understanding of the topic. To better the audience's understanding, I define uncommon terms because I cannot assume my audience knows what I am talking about.
I think using blogging as a way to get students to write is a fantastic idea. They could learn how to write shorter pieces or longer ones that can be continued, and they can comment on each others' work. This would be a great way to work collaboratively in a way that is hard to accomplish in the classroom.
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