Using Blogs for Writing Instruction

Although I’ve only been blogging semi-regularly for a few months now, I’ve been using blogs in the classroom for three years. At first I used in my Journalism classes as a means to bring current events to my students and later to introduce them to the power of bloggers in this new media environment. This year I have used them for writing instruction more than ever before. Manila (the software company we use at my school) has added a few new features that make this even more effective. Through access controls, each student can decide who gets to see each post. They can set it up so that all members of the site will see the post (which means everyone in our class) they can set it so that a cohort group (an assigned group of members or peers) can see it, or so that managing editors can see it (in this case just the student and teacher).

For me this has changed the way I respond to their writing and the way students respond to one another, and I have to say (despite some bugs that still need to be worked out), I’m very pleased with the results.

I don't collect rough drafts anymore. I have my students submit an introduction and body paragraphs (for an essay) and have them give each other feedback online at the same time I'm giving them feedback. The kids have found this to be a much more fluid and personal process. After they get this initial feedback, they can submit revisions and updates for feedback from me by creating a new post (this generates an e-mail that I receive). As you might imagine, not every student takes advantage of this, but over a recent four-day weekend I had one student post and revise her scene multiple times. This is the original writing assignment. Here is the student's original scene and here is my feedback. After this, she posted again (and I commented) and then she posted once more (and I commented).
To me this is responding to writing in a more realistic way. Yes, there's a deadline, but there is much more flexibility built into the process and I found it even less work intensive then carrying around a stack of papers to write on.

Blogging as Notetaking

I’m in the beginning phases of working on a research paper with my junior/senior English class.  This one goes along with our Dystopia unit and asks students to find a problem in society they would like to see fixed.  I have introduced them to RSS including news aggregation through Bloglines, and search engine feeds put out by GoogleNews, YahooNews, and Topix.  Next week, I will sign them up for Furl accounts (which saves electronic versions of their articles) and put RSS boxes on their weblogs that will automatically show the articles they are saving.  

One aspect of the research process I’ve never been happy teaching is note taking.  I’ve tried a number of different methods from elaborately organized note cards to highlighted photocopies with annotations.  The methods either didn’t seem genuine (I don’t know anyone who uses note cards once they leave high school), or were difficult to evaluate.  This year I’m going to try using each student’s weblog and RSS box to facilitate this.  After they have accumulated research on background, opposition, proponents, major figures and events, I will require them to cover these major categories through blog entries.

I’m hoping that by forcing them to read, think, link and write about the articles that they will use (and how it fits into their own ideas) the note taking process will become more of a research paper pre-write.  For what is blogging other than an extended research conversation?  The most difficult part will be making clear what a good blog post of this type should include.  I hope to find good models of this type for them to read and respond to.  I’d also like to find a way to encourage conversation within the class and possibly from outside it as well.  I welcome feedback or offers for collaboration.

Community Blogging

Last Friday, Darrell and I took our American Studies class to the computer lab and asked them to browse a couple of online newspapers for stories that might show how their community is changing or ones that demonstrate efforts to preserve a lifestyle that is disappearing.  You can read the assignment here.  This was done in an effort to introduce them to what will be a new option for their long term research project.  We also asked them to think about what community means and how the one story they chose to blog about was affecting it.

This assignment was asking a lot, and overall I have found that our tenth graders find it difficult to focus in that kids of setting for long periods of time (we have 82 minute classes).  We ended up cutting the assignment short and required those that didn’t finish, to complete it for homework.  Still, they found some interesting stories and actually began the process of focusing on their community and all that is changing about it.  Samples of this community blogging are available here, and here, and here, and here, and here, and here.

The following week, we presented them with the revised research project.  The major change here was that every student is required to establish a personal connection to their project either through the community or their own background.  They will also be required to find a material artifact to analyze, and a source for oral history.  Next week, I plan on bringing in my grandmother’s diary from her days in vaudeville as an example of a material artifact and describe how I incorporated this in a research paper I did for a graduate class.  I hope this will help some of them grasp the idea of this research project more fully and develop more viable topics.   I also hope to involve the local Historical Society for help in finding and developing material artifacts.

Interdisciplinary Thinking

As I indicated in a previous post, I’ve been inspired by an interdisciplinary project sponsored by the National Writing Project and the National Endowment for the Arts called "Keeping and Creating American Communities." After digesting two books produced by teachers involved in the project (Writing America and Writing Our Communities), I began discussing how we might adapt these practices in the classroom. My teaching partner Darrell seems excited as well, and last week we discussed it with our department supervisors. They helped us focus our activities and objectives and the most recent version of the project can be viewed here.

The original plan for the weblog research project will certainly change if we do this, but I want to be able to honor the topics of about half of our students who had very personal connections to their research projects. Both Darrell and I have concerns about how our students will react to this change in direction and whether they will be ready to volunteer for a project that features real and uncertain research as inquiry. I’m going to try and enlist as much support and collaboration from other teachers and students with experience, or a willingness to join us in this journey, or provide feedback along the way.

I've e-mailed the Directors of the "Keeping and Creating American Communities Project" and my e-mail was forwarded to other teachers involved in various aspects of the project. The responses have trickled in offering support and encouragement, some from teachers who were involved in working with the same (or similar) theme: Shifting Landscapes, Converging Peoples. One teacher who responded even lived in Hunterdon County (where our school is located) for a number of years.

Next week begins exams and the end of the first marking period, so we should get involved in this project the following week. I'll be posting updates.

Blogging for Research Papers

A while back, Will posed the question about what blogs you would have your students read. It was an excellent question, but I was disappointed in the responses.

Now I’m getting ready to begin a research paper with my juniors and seniors. The past few years we have done a research paper based on a problem that the students identify in society. This might be as local as there are no recreational opportunities for teens in town to more global concerns like the effects of globalization on third world nations. The best papers hinge on students finding a topic they really care about.

In the past we have begun this process with a look at letters to the editor in a variety of newspapers. But with the growth of the blogosphere, it seems to me that there should be much more engaging content out there for my students to read and respond to. Since each student has his or her own weblog, they can create a post that incorporates and responds to an article (or blog) that she feels passionate about (the very essence of good blogging). So I guess I’m looking to teach my students to become bloggers first and hope that the result will be better more passionate and interesting research paper writing. But where to begin? Are there indexes of blogs that contain provocative social problems? Are there particular blogs that would appeal to teens?

Podcasts, schmodcasts. I need help!

There’s been a lot written recently about podcasts and the use of iPods in the classroom. I must admit, however, that I just don’t get it. I do see the potential for using such a seemingly ubiquitous piece of technology for educational use, but I find podcasts to be impractical.

I admit this is just my personal preference speaking. I prefer to read. It gives me time to contemplate a passage I just read without re-winding. And of course with weblogs it gives me the opportunity to respond as well.
Now for some shocking admissions from someone who advocates technology in the classroom:

1. I also don’t own an iPod and the idea of walking around with a device plugged into my ears is not appealing to me.


2. I rarely use a cell phone. I don’t even know my own cell phone number, and in the rare incidences when I have it on and it rings, I go into a panic trying to remember how to take the call.

So I know this puts me into the minority and I don’t want my personal preferences and prejudices to limit me as a teacher. So I’m asking for someone to show me the light. Why should I go out and buy and iPod? What wonderful forms of content are out there via podcast that are not available in any other form? And what are the possibilities for education?

More on the Class Research Weblog Project

After interacting with my American Studies students through their weblogs, I began to rethink the year-long research project a little. While some students have passionate interests and are personally invested in their choice of topic, others seem no more excited than if they were choosing it off a list of research paper topics. Since the area I teach in, and the school itself, has changed so dramatically in the past ten years, I began to look at this more locally. In doing some research I stumbled across the book Writing America: Classroom Literacy and Public Engagement. With a name like that how could I go wrong? It was even better than I expected. This book describes the Keeping and Creating American Communities project that is supported by the National Writing Project and the National Endowment for the Humanities. It's an ambitious project, but one that might engage some of the students that don't seemed to be personally connected at this point. Rather than researching their connection to an outside interest or family background, they will be researching their connection and place in their community. They will also be active in analyzing the changes that have taken place and are happening. I'm hoping that the opportunity to work in groups or pairs might entice some of them as well. And the national project theme of Shifting Landscapes and Diverging Peoples seems tailor made for what our part of New Jersey is experiencing right now.

Is anyone familiar with this project and the resources we're going to need to pursue this?

Welcome Inquirer Readers!

This blog, along with all my weblog based school sites, was featured in an article by Joyce Valenza who writes the Tech.Life@School column for the Philadelphia Inquirer.  It’s titled “Blogging works best as an ongoing effort” and it provides a nice introduction to the varied possibilities of weblogs in schools: “When it works well as an educational tool, blogging involves students in content, critical reading, and thoughtful, reflective writing.”   My blogs are featured as an attempt to “expand the classroom beyond its traditional walls to involve parents, other teachers, and other schools.”  In a large part this is what I’m trying to accomplish this year through my weblogs, and I’m looking for others to join me.

If you’re visiting for the first time because of this article, welcome.  Take some time to read the posts, click on the links, become a member, and join the conversation.  If you would like to collaborate with any of my classes please leave a comment or e-mail me.  I would like to be able to offer my students choices for collaboration.  This could range from working with other schools in different part of the US or world, to interacting with a college class, an expert in a related field, or local community organizations.  I’m always open to ideas that create a richer learning environment for my students.  That’s the real power of weblogs!

Rethinking the College Craze

Today I was talking to a good friend and colleague who is a special education teacher. She is working with a few kids this year who are overwhelmed by the expectations placed on them to the point of one of them being hospitalized for depression and other mental illnesses. Although generally I think it is best to challenge all kids to reach their potential, we were left wondering if we are really doing what's best for these kids. They have so much support in high school through IEP accommodations and yet still some of them struggle mightily. What type of support can these kids expect in college? This was a question that neither of us could really answer.

I did a little searching and found a site that describes what Boston College does. Is this the norm? Are colleges bound by any laws to meet accommodations like elementary and secondary schools? This seems to be an area in which discussion between colleges and high school teachers (both regular and special Ed), counselors, and child study team members needs to take place. Or am I just ignorant about this whole process?

Getting Ready for the Next Step

Back to School Night took place a little over a week ago at my school. Not usually an event I look forward to, but this year was a little different. Parents were attending after working with their kids on the initial Background and Interest Survey (for the yearlong weblog research project in American Studies), and after receiving the letter on the multiple uses for weblogs in our classroom. I was interested in their reaction and to have a chance to personally invite them into the process.

Although we don't have much more than twenty minutes to talk with the parents, I definitely left with a good feeling.  I was even able to share with them some of the results from the survey through the weblog.  I had one parent who was concerned about whether his daughter's writing would be seen by anyone on the internet, but other than that parents seemed to have a positive outlook on the project with 15 out of 17 parents (who returned the form) opting to become members of the class weblog.  Even the parent who was concerned about privacy issues joined after I explained the control students have over who can view material on their weblog.  

The next step came Friday when we took the kids to the computer lab. I wanted them to respond to an article (that could also involve their parents) and get them talking about learning both in school and in the real world. I also invited the author of the article to participate in the discussion as well. You can see the post and the evolving discussion by clicking here.    

Looking Back, Looking Forward

This was an exciting weekend as I received the diploma for my Master of Arts in Education from Arcadia University, and I had an article published in Technology & Learning magazine. The pursuit of both of these was a major driving point for this weblog. Much of the research cited here, along with the interview with Marc Prensky, was done to support one or the other. Now that the products of these projects are on paper, I realize just how much I’ve learned in the process. My thinking about how kids learn best has certainly broadened as I’ve become better informed.

Finding new ways to engage kids in their learning has become a passion of mine and will be the driving force from here on in. And since school is in session, hopefully this weblog can be a source of discussion as I plan, share the successes and failures, and reflect on what’s happening and why.
Here are some of my goals in this area:

• to honor the knowledge that students and their parents can bring to the classroom


• to find ways to make the learning more meaningful to them by offering them choices and giving students the tools needed to take control of their learning.


• to provide opportunities for collaboration with different communities of learners, educators, and experts in the field


• to provide opportunities to write for a real audience


• make the planning process transparent – encouraging student and parent involvement


• Making reflection (from both student and teachers) a regular part of the learning and teaching process

I hope you'll participate in this project as well. Please leave a comment to share your thoughts, experiences, and best practices.

Engaging the American public in its own history

There was a wonderful commentary in the Philly Inquirer about collecting war memories for a project called the Veterans History Project. I used it to try and inspire the students in our American Studies class to explore their backgrounds as they choose a topic for the long term research project. I posted excerpts of the commentary to our class weblog and found some excellent resources on connecting hertiage projects to the classroom. One is called Heritage Projects and Place-Based Education: "The broad goals of a Heritage project are to positively impact a particular state or school's educational achievement by providing teachers and students the means and motivation to become cultural researchers and historians of their own communities. " They also have additional resources for teachers here.

This sounds like it could be helpful in gaining an audience, guidance, and opportunities for collaboration as we move ahead with this project. Details are still a little sketchy at this point. We've had them do an Interest and Background Survey, given them very general parameters, and set them up with weblogs, a news aggregator, and introduced them to RSS feeds. The next step will be narrowing and deciding on a topic (that will be meaningful to them) and getting them started on collecting artifacts.

Chat Live with a Reporter

Here's a nice little activity for journalism classes or others stuudying current events, food, the arts, polictics or anything covered in the newspaper. After following a topic in the Philadelphia Inquirer via their RSS feeds, you can have your class enter a one hour chat with the reporter. You can find the schedule here and they even publish transcripts of some of the chats. If you are in a computer lab, your students can interact with the reporter in real time. The chat room is a little slow, so I would have the students vote on about five questions to be submitted at the beginning of the hour long session. Then the kids could read and interact to the developing discussion. Here's the transcript of the chat I participated in (I didn't join until about half way through) to give you an idea of what to expect.
The Inquirer also features a number of blogs from writers which provide another means for students to interact with a journalist including the Early Word, a new blog from one of the editors that takes a look at breaking news and what's in the paper. So there's all kinds of ways for budding young journalists to interact with some seasoned veterans.

New Beginnings

The first week of school is always exciting. Meeting a new group of kids, with new challenges, and new ideas remind me of what I love about teaching. This year I have a number of new projects and ideas that I hope will engage the kids on a new level and create the kind of classroom Florence McGinn was describing.

Last Friday I set up two classes with weblogs and taught one group about RSS and news aggregators. Darrell (my American Studies teaching partner) and I kicked off the year long research project with an interest and background survey and some general guidelines for how the project will work. The kids seemed receptive although a few said they had a bad experience with weblogs last year.

We then took this group into a computer lab to get started on their weblogs and complete one new post. I have been thinking a lot about Florence’s strategies to get the kids to know themselves better as learners so they can take more responsibility and “leverage their strengths.” I hope that getting the kids to know themselves and opening up the planning process to them and their parents will allow them to become much more active in the learning process. As a first step towards this, we had them read about George Lucas and take an online multiple intelligence survey. This might not be a reliable instrument (and I know Howard Gardner doesn’t approve of these), but the purpose of doing this wasn’t necessarily to have the kids identify their strengths among the intelligences, but to reflect on themselves as learners, and to learn how to post and add a picture to the weblog. Unfortunately there was an unforeseen technical glitch. The website I sent them to graphs the results of the multiple intelligence assessment in a program called ActiveX which the school computers didn’t have loaded. Of course, one of the lessons everyone learns who uses technology in the classroom is to be flexible, so we had them do their first post on their initial thoughts on a topic for the research project instead.

A discussion with Florence McGinn

I remember standing out in the school parking lot on a freezing afternoon picking Florence McGinn's brain on one of her last weeks at our school. She had already created a course that earned her national recognition, and she graciously explained to me how she was able to earn grants from AT&T and others that enabled her to provide her kids with the resources to do some amazing things. The weeks and years after that took her and her kids to China and in front of Congress as part of the Congressional Commision for Web-Based Education. Since then she has formed GKE Learning Systems working in Beijing and elsewhere and has published Blood Trail, a volume of her poetry.

Once again Florence was kind enough to explain how she was able to accomplish so much with the technology of ten years ago. Her strategies and methods are based on honoring the individual strengths of her students and developing strategies to give students the choices and flexibility they need to be successful.

She used the videoconfrencing technolgy to make it possible for her students to collaborate with different audiences. She explains some of that here:
In those collaborations, because we had the technology, we had kids that were fine when we connected with Rider University, and they didn’t have a problem with being connected to the professor or with a university student and they’ll take their poem and they’ll put it out there. You have others that that is not appropriate for them. They feel that internally, and they need a choice. Or they need to shift and they can also extend those curricular skills and learn them by mentoring younger kids, so we also connected to the middle school. And some of the kids worked with the younger kids, and some of the kids wanted to be editors and some of them wanted to work with other high school kids and that led to the Asbury Park project. So there were choices that the individual made that were really their own. So we actually worked with what are learning styles and why you might need different expressions for yourself in developing these skills. Why might you want to exercise these at different times and shift? Because you found that some students were afraid initially and wanted to mentor a younger student, then they would become an editor, then they would want to show their work to a college student. And the technology was able to offer enough flexibility in the classroom. So yes, to answer your question collaboration was important, but just as important was to honor the individual creative process and learning process within each student.
We often teach students about creative process and they recognize that they have these needs, but we offer them only one alternative – the writing workshop in the class and that doesn’t fulfill them enough. So this was allowing students to take charge of their own learning process and the thing that really thrilled me was that they went way beyond the curriculum. In fact, some of the things that were very exciting to me was that, given that opportunity, they honored the learning so thoroughly that many of them accelerated to the point that was totally unexpected. These kids wanted to spend so much time after school that their parents would literally be knocking on the door to get them to come home and they would be screaming that “there’s a time warp in here” and they were working on writing, they were working on words.

Now that's what I call kids that are engaged in their learning! The way Florence was able to create such a flexible learning environment and still manage her classroom is remarkable to me. She's an inspiration to me of what is possible within the confines of the educational system if you are given the resources and support.
Florence not only understands how kids learn, but she found ways to make it matter to them. Certainly one of my goals this year. Here's more:
One of the things is that they’re dealing with the information that we teach them and it’s informing them, but it goes further than that, it’s forming them too, it’s shaping them. And that’s what we have to do. We deliver the information and let it integrate and let it shape them, and let the kids shape that information into what they need because they have things to do. It becomes really relevant.
I learned a great deal from this discussion, and I will be featuring more of it as I begin to put things into place this year. Read the full interview here.