More Student Blog Projects

A few months ago I wrote this post about a Middle School blog project and it has turned out to be the most popular post on this blog so far.  Here are details on a few more blog projects that are happening in the district as well as some resources on using blogs for instruction.  I hope they give you some ideas.

High School Social Studies

Rose Robertson uses this assignment as a way to get students to create a dialogue around controversial issues.  Her blogging guidelines are very well thought out and would work well for any student blog project.  

I asked Mrs. Robertson why she chose to use a blog for this particular assignment.  She gave the following reasons:

- The blog provides an authentic context for persuasive writing, a skill which is critical for success on the ACT.

- All students in the class are given an opportunity to participate in the conversation equally.  

- Blogging provides students the opportunity to have think time and revise their thoughts before expressing them.

- Students are held accountable for participating in the discussion because their contributions are in print.  

Here are links to the blogs that resulted from this activity.  I think you will find the level of discourse to be quite impressive!

AP US History Blog

Psychology Blog

U.S Government Blog

Elementary Service Learning Blogs 

Heather Preble, a teacher at Pinedale Elementary School has her students (grades 3-5) using blogs to share their progress on service learning projects.  These projects are months long, student created and student run initiatives to raise awareness of global and local issues.

I asked Heather a few questions about her use of blogs in the classroom.  Here are her responses:

1. Why did you choose to have your students blog about their service learning projects?

I chose to use the blog as a way for students to document the service learning process and experience.  Part of the final project is a personal reflection by each student about the experience; the blog is one way to help keep track of that experience.  The blog also gives us a way to connect with parents, peers, teachers, and the community.   Because people can leave comments (monitored by me), parents and peers have provided some great feedback to help us refine and improve our projects. The blogs are also one of the many avenues for promoting our events. One final reason for using blogging is to incorporate language arts skills: summarizing, reading and responding to writing, and being part of a meaningful conversation in an online environment. (Does that make sense? Not sure how to word it!)  

2. What benefits, if any, have you seen from students blogging?

The students have benefited in multiple ways.  First, students are learning about writing with audience and purpose in mind.  Students often have to write short summaries that are read only by their teacher.  Through blogging, they are showing more ownership and taking more time with their writing because a larger audience is reading it.  Second, blogging is great practice for writing clear, concise summaries--a task that does not always come naturally! Students are also exercising important 21st century skills as they learn how to effectively communicate in an online environment.  They are learning what is appropriate to write and how to respond to other people's writing.  It is not just a matter of commenting on what they think, but reading other people's thoughts and responding in meaningful ways that add to a conversation.  Blogging has also given my students a sense of pride in their work.  They are so excited to see what others say about their work and to check the number of page views each week!

Here is a link to the PEAK website where you can take a look at the blogs of all Ms. Preble’s students.  

Resources
If you are interested in using blogs in your classroom or personally, here are some ideas to get you started.

45 Ideas for Classroom Blogs

10 Ways to Use an Educational Blog