The Moss-Free Stone

Blogs are the first things that come to mind for most when the term Web 2.0 is heard. This is because blogging is one of the earliest internet tools that allowed for users to create their own content. Blogging is a big trend in our district, as administrators, teachers, and students are beginning to create a wide variety of blogs, from book discussions to classroom news sites to daily summaries of classroom learning. It has usually been a very rewarding and positive experience, although there have certainly been some valuable lessons learned. Some of the tools used in our district include Edublogs, Learnerblogs, Blogger, and Gaggle.

Blogging helps build numerous 21st century skills, including, but not limited to:

• Communication and collaboration
• Initiative and self-direction
• Information literacy
• Creativity and innovation
• ICT (Information, Communications, and Technology) Literacy

Students have displayed great enthusiasm for blogging. The platform gives them a broad audience and the ability to receive input from many sources, not just the teacher. In terms of our district’s application of Working on the Work¹ principles, blogs offer: novelty and variety; affirmation of performance; authenticity; affiliation; protection from adverse consequences for initial failures; and (when properly planned) clear and compelling product standards. Blogs allow students to create, to practice metacognition, to ask questions, and to communicate with a broad audience.

Blogs make excellent tools for summarizing and note-taking, which Marzanno² describes as “two of the most powerful skills students can cultivate.”(Marzanno ) Research cited by Marzanno indicates that the impact of students developing these skills can be very dramatic, in terms of students’ performance on standardized assessments. Students can keep their own learning logs or summarize as a part of a larger group or class. Examples might be to summarize a day’s lesson, a book chapter, or a class experiment. When peer reviewing of classmates’ blogs is encouraged, important details are often filled in via comments or clarifying questions.

Blogging comments provide an easy opportunity to reinforce effort and provide recognition, as well. Students, teachers, parents, and other visitors can encourage student writing through supportive comments. Class blogs can link to particularly good examples of students’ work, bringing them further visits and attention.

Blogs, like almost all Web 2.0 tools, are great ways to foster cooperative learning. Students can use a blog to discuss questions related to collaborative projects, seek input on ideas, help with editing and fine-tuning of projects, and more. Cooperative team members can be assigned different tasks, such as editing posts, gathering relevant links, finding images/videos, or keeping groups focused on the assigned tasks.

Blogs are good tools for homework and practice. Teachers can ask questions which extend classroom learning, such as this entry from my wife’s class science blog. In this blog, a question is asked weekly, and students are expected to answer on their own time. This encourages a deeper understanding of concepts, additional resource, and new questions being posed. Teachers at Decatur (TX) Intermediate School created Eagle Science 101, another great example of this type of blog.

Students can also use blogs to test hypotheses and get feedback. When a teacher, for example, poses the question in the above example, “Why do you think so many fossils of aquatic animals are commonly found in our neighborhood?” students may hypothesize that it is due to predators moving them from their aquatic homes. Other students or the teacher can offer alternative ideas or leading questions to redirect the original hypothesis.

Blogs are fantastic tools that go far beyond their often perceived role of serving as a soapbox for sharing opinions with the masses. They address a number of classroom goals and can be used in ways that are research-proven methods of improving student achievement across the curriculum and on standardized tests, all while fostering 21st century skills and high student engagement.

Coming next: classroom wikis.

¹Schlechty, Phillip C. Working on the Work: An Action Plan for Teachers, Principals, and Superintendents. San Fransisco: Jossey-Bass, 2002.

²Marzanno, Robert J. et al. Classroom Instruction that Works. New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc., 2005.