Blogging Question 2: Why would I use blogs with my students?
Posted by Jess Mc on March 17, 2008
It was my intention to have this and the following blog posts about blogging out much sooner! I’m afraid that long weekend visitors, Year 7 camp and a weekend away in Melbourne got in the way of that…but here we go!
This post really is a follow on from the 20 reasons for blogging that Anne Mirtschin posted a few days ago.
The best thing about blogs is that it gives your students an authentic audience for their work and reflections. Rather than doing a piece of writing and only having the teacher read it, posting it on a blog allows people all over the world to read it and comment on it – and they do! Clustr Maps and other statistics sites show you where people are reading your blog from and how many people have visited your site. What better reason for kids to make sure their work is correct and understandable – they can see that (possibly) hundreds of people have seen it.
A great thing about having an authentic audience is that it creates authentic conversations. A blog is definitely not supposed to be a one-way authority on anything. The idea of the comment functions on blogs is to continue the conversation above and beyond what a writer has written in a post. Comments add to posts and allow for many people to voice their opinions about what you have written. It’s a great way for students to post work and then get feedback on that work – no matter what language it is in, there will be an audience. The potential for interaction on a blogsite is incredible.
Here’s a great video made by Frieda Foxworth which gives the top ten reasons to blog with your students.
Rachel Boyd from New Zealand has also put together this video on why we should let our students blog. It’s worth checking out: