Teaching Writing With Blogs

I am making a plan to use blogs for writing in my classroom. Blogs can help students improve their writing. Knowing other people will read their writing can be a motivating factor for students when writing in a blog as opposed to just turning in an essay (Sullivan, 2014, p.393). I think some type of research based writing would work well, since students will already be working digitally, which lends itself well to research. In my current curriculum I teach a research based persuasive writing unit, which would lend itself well to writing in a blog format. 

Blogs also give teachers a chance to collaborate with students digitally. The ISTE Standards for Teachers says teachers should, “Use collaborative tools to expand students' authentic, real-world learning experiences by engaging virtually with experts, teams and students, locally and globally" (International Society for Technology in Education, 2016). As a teacher I will be able to give students feedback in a flexible and prompt way. Writing through blogs also helps teachers step out of being a simple conveyor of knowledge and into the more complex role of facilitator, pushing students to drive the learning and critical thinking of the classroom. The ISTE Standards for Teachers emphasizes fostering a student ownership of learning in this way. 

The ISTE Standards for students talk about collaborating on a global scale, stating, “Students use digital tools to connect with learners from a variety of backgrounds and cultures, engaging with them in ways that broaden mutual understanding and learning” (International Society for Technology in Education, 2016). Using a blog will give students a chance to collaborate on a global scale like this. The standards also talk about students curating information (International Society for Technology in Education, 2016). Creating an online blog gives students a perfect medium for researching online and learning through creating a product rather than just absorbing new information from a teacher. 

References

International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). (2016b). ISTE standards for educators Retrieved from https://www.iste.org/standards/for-educators 

International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). (2016a). ISTE standards for students. Retrieved from https://www.iste.org/standards/for-students

Sullivan, M., & Longnecker, N. (2014). Class blogs as a teaching tool to promote writing and student interaction. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 30(4).

Introduction

Hi, my name is Mark Sonnen. This is my twelfth year of teaching. My first teaching job was teaching 5th grade at a bilingual school in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. After that I taught 7th grade math in Grand Junction, Colorado for five years, and most recently I have been teaching 5th grade again for the past four plus years in northern Colorado. I will be posting here with updates on my new learning for my Impact of Technology on Education, Work, and Society course. One of the big ways I currently use technology is by utilizing Google Classroom. I post a lot of Google assignments through Google Forms, Google Docs, and Google Slides. This helps me keep my class organized, reduce use of paper, and give quicker feedback. I am curious to explore new uses of technology in the classroom throughout this course.