There have been a couple of benefits to having students blog that I have noticed right away. First, I have had more students asking for editing and revision help. If they are not asking me, I overhear them asking one another and discussing where to research for answers to their questions. I get excited about this! I know that blogging is not preparing them to write in the format of a "state-required" 26 lined essay, but it is prompting the students to research and collaborate and to seek out answers about the technical aspects of writing. Secondly, I have had students asking if they could post more often than I give them assignments. I've been checking their blogs, if not daily, every few days. I've seen one student take a bell ringer prompt that I had assigned earlier and reflect in an extremely analytical way which then led him to realizations about how society sometimes works. I've seen another student use the blog to write a well-written poem to express how unheard she sometimes feels as a teenager. A third student used it to journal about the idea of depression. These three students wrote during "their" time just because they wanted to "write."
Some may question me allowing my students to use it for personal writing, but I tell them to keep it school appropriate. I feel like the more they write, the better they become, but most importantly they develop a passion for an art that allows their very important voices to be heard.
Signing off,
Mrs. Burk w/o an "e"
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