Just as the TILE-SIG series on Reading Today Online provides a place for us to share ideas regarding issues in the field of technology and literacy education, online publications, communities, and blogs can be used in the classroom to foster collaboration and sharing among students and a wider audience. As access to technology and the plethora of digital resources increase, blogging can be a viable tool for increasing collaborative opportunities in the classroom setting.
Blogs offer endless possibilities for use in the classroom. Zawilinski (2009) suggests developing students’ higher order thinking skills through reflection, response to literature, and sharing of class news and student work. Students can use blogs as a forum for literature discussion within and beyond the classroom. Having an authentic audience to communicate with about commonly read literature beyond the four walls of the classroom can enhance students’ motivation and engagement with reading.
The use of blogs also allows for cross-curricular connections. Blogging from the perspective of a historical figure allows students to interact with content-area text in meaningful ways. Using a perspective guide (Lapp, Wood, Stover, & Yearta, 2011), the teacher poses several thought-provoking questions for students to respond to from the point of view of a historical figure such as a Union or Confederate soldier. These responses could be shared on students’ blogs where, remaining in character, they could then engage in digital dialogue with their peers.
Using the blog as a space for scientific thinking can also allow students to create and share content specific writing. Students can respond to experiments or pose questions to one another. Additionally, students can write content-based “I am what I am” poems. See the example below written from the perspective of a plant cell.
I am what I am
I am a plant cell and I’m pretty amazing
I am different than an animal cell
I am green
because of chlorophyll
I maintain structure
because of my cell wall
I take energy from the sun and water
to make my own food
in a process called photosynthesis
I am what I am
In math, students can respond to a thought-provoking “problem of the week” on a class blog. Here, they can create word problems for their peers to complete and can also discuss their problem solving process. With the adoption of the Common Core State Standards across much of the United States, students are required to show their thinking when working through math problems. The Smarter Balanced standardized assessments currently require that students are aware of their thinking and can explain how they arrived at a particular answer. Sample math problems from Smarter Balanced can be found here. Encouraging students to create and work through problems on the blog gives students a platform to share their mathematical thinking and reasoning with a wide audience.
Blogs can be used in a myriad of ways across the curriculum while also providing teachers with a form of authentic assessment as students’ thinking and inner conversations are shared (Stover & Yearta, in press). Teachers and students’ peers can reply to posts by leaving comments and asking questions to probe for deeper understanding. Students can also use blogs as a form of ongoing self-assessment. By returning to previously written blog posts, students can set goals and reflect on their growth over time.
Blogs offer a digital landscape for students to interact with their peers within and beyond the four walls of the classroom. Examples of kid-friendly blogs include www.kidblog.org and www.quadblogging.net.
References
Lapp, D., Wood, K.D., Stover, K., & Yearta, L.S. (2011, Nov. 7). “You’re on a ‘Role’ with Perspective Guides” in Rigorous Real-World Teaching and Learning. International Reading Association. Retrieved from /Libraries/Members_Only/Lapp-Fall_2011-Perspective.pdf.
Stover, K. & Yearta, L. S. (in press). Using blogs as formative assessment of reading
comprehension. In K. Pytash, R. Ferdig., & T. Rasinski. (Eds.) Technology and reading: New approaches to literacy competency. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press.
Zawilinski, L. (2009). HOT blogging: A framework for blogging to promote Higher Order
Thinking. The Reading Teacher, 62(6), 650-661.
Katie Stover is an Assistant Professor of Literacy Education at Furman University in Greenville, SC. She can be contacted at katie.stover@furman.edu.
Lindsay Sheronick Yearta is an Assistant Professor of Literacy Education at the University of South Carolina Upstate in Spartanburg, SC. She can be contacted at lyearta@uscupstate.edu.