In his book Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms, Will Richardson discusses the levels of blogging - from posting but not blogging to complex blogging. Richardson defines complex blogging as " extended analysis and synthesis over a longer period of time that builds on previous posts, links, and comments" (Richardson, 2009, 31). He distinctly define the posting of assignments, links, and journaling without analysis and synthesis as posting rather than true blogging (Richardson, 2009).
Getting elementary students to the point where they can post work that analyzes and synthesizes information will take modeling and scaffolding from the teacher. The teacher will need to provide the students with prompts and questions that promote critical thinking and go beyond the journaling or describing of events and material (Richardson, 2009).
I believe this is where the strict guidelines and expectations advocated by Rick Ferdig will become important. Students will need to know that you expect more than just journaling or summarizing. This can be expressed through the modeling of evaluating blog entries using a rubric that places value on analysis, synthesis, hyperlinks, discussion, and thoughtful arguments.
With well designed prompts and assignments that have clearly stated expectations and guidelines, I believe elementary students can create blogs that analyze and synthesize information over an extended period of time.
You can find more of Will Richardson's thoughts on his blog: Weblogg-ed. He also shares his thoughts and ideas on Twitter.
References:
Richardson, Will. (2009). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms. California: Corwin Press.
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Laura Kay,
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of blogging in an elementary classroom, however this is a new skill for me. I know with any subject scaffolding is important. How will you model a blog? Will you use a workshop approach to teaching with a mini-lesson, a think aloud, and a shared blog experience?
I like Richardson's suggesting regarding the use of prompts and questions to help elementary students use their blog posts for analysis and synthesis. At this age level, explaining and describing are sometimes a challenge for them so imagine how much more difficult analyzing and synthesizing would be.
ReplyDeleteEva-Marie -
ReplyDeleteAs discussed in the last post, you can model blogging by blogging yourself. I would definitely do the things you suggested as well, but blogging yourself and having your students comment and join in the online discussion will help them see how blogging works. In addition it will help make them share their opinions and thought in a risk-free (and by that I mean no one is going to make fun of them or harshly criticize them).