Thing 2: Student Blogging and Writing

I enjoyed learning more about blogging in my classroom. I don't know how I have gone this long without ever considering incorporating it into my lessons! One of the greatest weaknesses in our district is writing. I think blogging is an excellent way to get students excited about writing. Writing can be difficult for students and therefore, students try to avoid it often in the form of acting out through disruptive behaviors.

After reading the articles, here are a few things that stuck out to me.

      ~ One thing that I wanted to highlight is the idea that blogging gets students excited about writing. I am open to anything that will develop a passion for writing within my students. Many kids find writing difficult and boring and therefore dislike it. I want to find a way to bring back the love and passion for writing. I feel like blogging is an excellent way.

      ~ Another thing that i wanted to highlight is the fact that blogging gives the students freedom to write. Most writing assignments these days are given to students. There is not as much time spent on allowing the students to freely write. This may be uncomfortable to the students because they are not often given the opportunity to write about what they want. They are so used to being given a topic that it will take them awhile to get used to free writing.

      ~ Another thing that I think is a benefit of blogging is that fact that it allows students to write comments on the blogs of their classmates. Many students struggle to edit their own work or their peers work.I feel that with blogging, students can practice the skill of giving constructive criticism, positive feedback, making connections, or even asking questions without even knowing it.

     ~ When students begin making comments, this  is a great time to tie in education on cyber bullying. It is important to discuss this topic and continue to discuss it after so that students are aware of what it is, what to do if you are being cyber bullied, and how to deal with it when you are cyber bullied. Many students do not get this education at home, so it is important that we provide it to our students within the classroom. Students also need to know that there are people that they can go to if they are a victim. We also want to provide an environment to the students were they can come to us for coping strategies that they can use to help them overcome the effects of cyber bulling.

All in all, I am really excited to begin blogging in my classroom. I will definitely have to take my time rolling it out because of all of the aspects of it that will be new to students. As long as I take my time introducing it to my students, I think that we will be able to get into a routine where students could improve and even possible spark a passion for writing that the student didn't even know that that they had.