Student Blogs: How Online Writing Can Transform Your Classroom

About the Book

How do students become successful writers and excited about writing? Blogging or other online writing in your classroom can build literacies in all content areas by giving students the frequent writing practice that is missing in classrooms today. Students have to write to get better at writing. They need to write to an authentic audience— real people who are interested in what they have to say and are willing to comment back and engage in further conversation. Simply put, they need practice time in interactive writing. How might teachers do this? This book is the answer to this question. The book investigates blogs as digital spaces where students can practice writing and converse with an authentic audience. It focuses on idea development and gives students voice. Today’s students already occupy or will inhabit new online spaces in the future. Schools and teachers must move forward with the students and embrace this world across the curriculum in purposeful and creative ways. This will transform schools and teacher classrooms!

Table of Contents:

Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chapter One: Planning and Integrating Blogging into the Curriculum
Chapter Two: Preparing Students for Blogging in the Classroom
Chapter Three: Blogging in Action
Chapter Four: Nurturing a Community of Writers through Blogging
Chapter Five: Blogging and Understanding Copyright and Fair Use
Chapter Six: Doing Assessment Differently Throughout Blogging
OUR PARTING COMMENTS
References
Relevant Scholarship and Practice
Appendix

About the Author :

Anne P. Davis is a retired educator, still learning, who taught at the elementary and university level. She is considered a pioneer in educational blogging and was elected as a co-winner for the best teacher blog, EduBlog Insights, in the second international Edublog Awards.

Ewa McGrail is a leader in literacy research whose publications and work reflect interests in digital writing and new media composition, copyright and media literacy, and technology use in teaching and learning. She also explores the experiences of students and educators from outgroups or who are otherwise not in the mainstream.

Review :
Given the authors’ focus on elementary school writers, this book is perhaps most useful for K-12 educators who wish to begin incorporating student blogs into their classrooms. Nevertheless, those in higher education who are aspiring to improve student writing will also be able to glean sound pedagogical reasons for incorporating student blogs into our classrooms, as well as a helpful framework for how to do so. All educators aspiring to improve student writing will treasure this resource on student blogging that not only engages readers with a process for blogging and nurturing a community of blogging learners but also explores changes in assessment and important copyright guidelines. Making a compelling case for the enormous potential of blogging for learning, Anne and Ewa blend clear "how tos" and references to research with delightful voices of elementary bloggers who flourished as writers. In this teacher-friendly guide detailing what it means to blog alongside young writers, Davis and McGrail lay a path which is deeply rooted in their own work in classrooms. Here, digital writing is about helping students write across modes, connect with responsive readers, and authentically break down classroom walls and barriers. This is authentic, useful and extremely important work. On the surface, it's seems easy enough. Type your thoughts and hit the [PUBLISH] button. And it is as easy as that. Anne and Ewa's book will take you through those easy steps, and further. They'll introduce you to a dance with your students that will reveal a depth of thought and learning for everyone, teachers and students. Blogging will enrich learning in your classroom in all sorts of unanticipated ways. I know because I saw it happen when Anne's grade 5 students connected with my high school precalculus classes. I couldn't recommend this work more highly. Twenty years ago, the blogging revolution showed us that anyone can be a published writer. Today, blogging has become a widely adopted practice in K-12 schools. This book harnesses the power of the personal blog, explaining how and why to use blogging in educational settings.