After reading the Penrod chapter, I was amazed at how little I knew about blogging as a way to enhance literacy skills. Penrod argues that one of the reasons blogs are so successful in a classroom environment is that students can take control of the learning and writing process. Blogging encourages critical thinking and thoughtful purpose when composing. It also promotes awareness of basic grammar and punctuation since no author wants to display a piece of writing with poor grammar. Penrod states that these literate bloggers must also be aware of how to select sound, font, color, images, and text that is appropriate for the audience.
One aspect of blogs that I find most appealing is the aesethetic nature that blogging holds. I enjoy reading the text on a blogsite and appreciate the graphic or images that support the text. This allows the author an even greater sense of freedom and creativity when it comes to writing. My good friend uses blogging to display her passion for photography, and in order to remain connected with friends and family. She works for an online newspaper and displays her work on her blog.
Teachers who use blogs in the classroom will allow his or her students the opportunity to receive immediate feedback on their writing pieces. This act of publishing ones work does not often happen quickly, and therefore blogging gives way to greater intrinsic motivation from students. Many teachers are using blogs in the classroom, with great success. This places the learning in the students' hands, and speaks directly to the technology driven world in which they already live. Here is one classroom blog that seems interesting.
Kelcey,
ReplyDeleteI also really agreed with your thoughts on the Penrod readings. Even simply looking at your blog is very aesthetically appealing and gives a different insight into your personality at the same time. Do you think brining the idea of blogging into your 6th grade classroom could be beneficial to their writing even if it was not used specifically for "writer's workshop?" I would think that students in that age group would really enjoy an assignment that gave them freedom to be creative and express themselves.
-Jackie
Kelcey, I had not even thought of the real benefits of quick publishing with a blog. In my fourth grade classroom, it takes most students a very long time to go through the entire writing process by hand. And the students who receive peer feedback on their work are those who are the quickest to publish. The students who take more time to get to the publishing part of the writing process often receive no peer feedback at all. If these students were able to write in a blog, they would be able to have their worked showcased immediately, and could get that valuable peer input right away.
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