Blogging in Elementary School-It Starts Here

From LIS5313

By Penny Franey

1 Introduction
2 What Is A "Blog?"
3 Blogs in Education
4 Conclusion
5 References
6 Resources

[edit] Introduction

A tool of Web 2.0, the blog.

Who among us could have ever imagined what effects the World Wide Web would have on lives? It has literally changed how we communicate, work, shop, advertise, research....everything. The Web has forever changed how we live. Not the least of these, the Web has changed how we educate others. In order to conceptualize the dramatic changes the Web has brought to society, the term Web 2.0 was born. (Black, 2007)

Tim O'Reilly sums up the term Web. 2.0, that he coined in 2003, like this:

"Web 2.0 is the network as platform, spanning all connected devices; Web 2.0 applications are those that make the most of the intrinsic advantages of that platform: delivering software as a continually-updated service that gets better the more people use it, consuming and remixing data from multiple sources, including individual users, while providing their own data and services in a form that allows remixing by others, creating network effects through an 'architecture of participation,' and going beyond the page metaphor of Web 1.0 to deliver rich user experiences," (O'Reilly, 2005).

One of the Web 2.0 tools that has made its way into school media centers and classrooms alike is the "blog." The term blog is short for Web + log.

[edit] What Is A "Blog?"

Bloggers link to each other, creating an online community or writers and readers.

Blogs are personal journals written as a reversed chronological chain of text,infused with images, or multimedia, which can be viewed in a Web page and are made publicly accessible on the Web (Huffaker, 2004A; Winer, 2003). Blogs embody a place where individual expression and online community development coexist. Not only do the authors, or bloggers, post thoughts and feelings on a Web page for the world to view, but blog readers can comment, creating a dialogue between the blogger and the community he inhabits. Furthermore, bloggers link to other bloggers, creating an interwoven and perhaps interdependent online community of writers and readers. Blog popularity continues to resonate throughout the media, with many scholars suggesting an evolution in individual self-expression, education and research, online journalism, and knowledge management. (Huffaker, 2006).

[edit] Blogs in Education

Blogging can be a motivational learning tool.

Blogs can be an effective educational tool in many ways. Blogs promote verbal and written literacy, they allow opportunities for collaborative learning and have proven to be very motivational. Because blogs provide students authentic and motivating communication contexts and audiences, writers and readers are often committed to writing and reading daily posts (Housley, 2006). Housley also notes that school-based blogs can be used to teach internet communication technologies while providing opportunities for teachers to help students develop their typing, editing, peer editing, spelling and reading and writing skills.

Technology is a significant aspect of school media centers. Despite restricted funding and schedules stretched to the limit, media specialists have risen to the challenge and are incorporating using blogs with elementary students. (Brewer, 2006A and Milam, 2006). The interactive nature of blogs and wikis and the ability to customize information online are changing how we learn, and media specialists are embracing these new changes. In a national technology survey conducted by Library Journal in 2006, that 1,696 media specialists from 49 states responded to, 29% say that they are using or planning to use blogs, (School Library Journal, 2006).

[edit] Principal and Teacher Reviews

Using blogs in the education setting is getting great reviews by teachers and principals alike. Principal, Mario Asselin of Institut St. Joseph in Quebec City, Canada, implemented the use of blogs with the fifth and sixth graders at his school. They used the blogs to write about anything school related. When the students realized that the whole world could read their blogs, it had an acute effect on them (Asselin, 2004). They felt empowered as their blogs received comments from total strangers and even Canadian celebrities. At first, some of the parents and other readers complained that the language of the student blogs was too informal to be considered good writing, and even contained misspelling and grammar errors. Critics complained that blogs were teaching improper language skills. Principal Asselin discussed the challenges with the students. The students came up with a system where each blog post would be reviewed by students and a graphic would be posted alongside the text, which served as a stamp of approval. Suddenly, student writing improved dramatically, as no student wanted mistakes after insisting their quality of writing was excellent (Asselin, 2004).

Student blog getting its stamp of approval.

In addition, another teacher, Anne Davis has her fourth through sixth graders blog by commenting on news and events. Students felt that blogging helped them write better stories, extend their vocabulary, and even feel grown up knowing their voice is on the Internet. After a time of working with blogs, these students began to collaborate with high school journalists, forming the Georgia-NJ Connection blog (Huffaker, 2006).

[edit] Blogs In Action

One Media Specialist using this cutting-edge technology with her students is Mrs. Janet Pederson of Santa Barbara, CA.

She teaches at Cold Spring School a K-6 school. Cold Spring School is a relatively small school with approximately 200 students, allowing Mrs. Pederson the time it takes to implement these contemporary programs. Upon conducting an interview with Mrs. Pederson, I was able to learn how she implements blogging and digital book reviews.

The upper elementary students (5th and 6th grade) are learning how to blog. Her students learn to blog using Word programming and then copy and paste to the blog post. She then teaches them to how to make a blog post and comment in Blogger. The students take part in blogging during their weekly library lesson. For security reasons, the students use initials only on a post. The posts are read and approved by Mrs. Pederson before being published. The students have a user name and password to make comments on Blogger, alternatively to view the students' posts, one must also have a user name and password. The class is instructed in online ethical behavior and abides by those rules. Of the blog spots I observed, Mrs. Pederson has her students responding to critical thinking assignments rather than journaling or personal reflection. One of the five mission statements for the Cold Spring School Library is appropriately, "To be a place where library media specialists help students explore the world around them through print and electronic media."

Another way Mrs. Pederson incorporates Web 2.0 strategies is through digital book reviews. The students that want to participate join the book club. They read a book and get a "script" to fill out. After they have completed the script (book review), they make an appointment with Mrs. Pederson to video their book review. The student is not pictured in the video. Instead, there is a puppet that is in the video, the library cat, who lives at the library. The student reads for the cat puppet. The effect of the book club? "The kids love it," says Pederson. "More kids have joined the club. It's a fun way to report on their book and it integrates technology. And the administration and parents really love it. I email the parents when their child's review is on the blog." I asked her when she finds the time to video the students' book reviews. "We do them before and after school when it's quiet (sort of) in the Library."

Click on the link below to see a short video based on the ideas of Janet Pederson, completed with two of my third graders at Westside Elementary School, Lake City, FL of a digital book review on the book, "Alexander, Who Used to be Rich Last Sunday," by Judith Viorst.

http://2007.ispace.ci.fsu.edu/~pjf07c/digitalbookreview.mp4

When asked about the challenges of implementing such a program, Pederson responded, "The time to do it. And quiet. Also I had to learn how to use iMovie, convert projects to QuickTime, and how to upload it to my blog." Overall Mrs. Pederson is very satisfied with her technology endeavors.

Some of the youngest bloggers are in Ms. Rachel Boyd's first grade class in New Zealand. They have a very colorful and engaging web page Rachel Boyd Blogspot. Why does her class blog? For engagement, excitement, conversation, creativity, reflection, ownership, audience, motivation, communication, literacy, sharing, collaboration, discussion, empowerment, interaction, participation and to enhance the skills for digital futures

Mrs. Dudiak, who teaches second grade at Oakdale Elementary School in Maryland, uses blogs to create writing assignments for her students. She might use a picture such as a waterfall and ask students to write a description, a story, or poetry. She also asks them to discuss favorite books, what types of books and stories they like, describing the books as "a movie in our head," students reply in the comment section of the blog.

Lewis Elementary School in Portland, Oregon, uses a blog to celebrate K-5 student work, as well as to display important information and news for parents. For example, photo galleries of artwork are displayed alongside weekly classroom notes from each teacher. This demonstrates how blogs can be effective in practicing and advancing writing and language skills, but also is a great form of communication between teachers, students, and parents. Blogs may give parents more direct exposure to their children's school life, giving them more opportunity to have an impact on their children's learning (Huffaker, 2006).

[edit] Challenges

There are challenges of implementing blogging with elementary students. First, it is time-intensive for the teacher/media specialist involved. It takes dedication and commitment to put in those extra hours it will take to oversee the program. One way to deal with the time issue is to implement an after school blog club. The truly interested students would attend and it wouldn't take away from regular duties during the school day. Also since it would be an extra curricular activity, there would be a smaller group to work with and students that proved to be a disruption or behavior problem would be uninvited. Parent volunteers can be sought and trained to help with the one on one tutoring that students often need when first learning the basics of blogging.

An after school blog club.

Secondly, it takes resources. To be truly effective, each student would need access to their own computer that is linked to the internet to blog with. Most schools have computers available, either in the classrooms or in a technology lab. However, some computers tend to get outdated quickly or only a few may have access to the internet at one time. To accommodate this need, one could apply for one of the many grants available to purchase stand alone computers or even laptop computers. The software needed to implement blogging can be found on the internet for free.

And then there is the issue of online privacy/safety. Cyberstalking or sexual predation is a serious concern for adolescents using the internet (Earley, 1999, Gilbert, 1995). Many teachers design their blogspots with user-ids and passwords. Student last names are never used. Students can use their initials or a different first name than their real name. Or you can block out outside feedback altogether. The downside of that is the real world audience shrinks and opportunity for feedback and real comments dwindles.

[edit] Examples of Educational Lessons Using Blog Posts

Media Specialists can develop students' information literacy skills by having the students evaluate existing blogs (McPherson, 2006). For example, groups of students can be asked to record a list of sites that fit the safe categories and/or credible blog sites.

Below are several lesson plans that can be used to teach blogging skills.

ColdSpringsSchoolLibraryskills

By Janet Pedersen

Cold Spring School

Santa Barbara, CA

Monday, March 10, 2008

Digital Citizenship

Your assignment today is to:

Make a comment on this blog post about:

What does it mean to be a good digital citizen?

Your comment should be at least 5 sentences long. Put your initials at the end of your comment.

Posted by Janet Pedersen at 11:14 AM 20 comments

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Assignment- Making a Comment on a Blog

Following the directions and guidelines we discussed, write a comment (2-3 sentences) about the following:

What does it mean to have an "ethical online presence?"

Remember.......

Write in complete sentences.
Use correct punctuation.
Check your spelling.
Sign your comment with your initials ONLY.

Posted by Janet Pedersen at 11:15 AM 38 comments

When in Doubt...Doubt!

or...How to evaluate a website

Week 1:

1. Go to this website: The Planets

2. As a group, we will fill out our evaluation worksheet.

3. Now go to this website: Solar System Exploration

Week 2:

1. With your partner go to your Team's Website and then fill out an evaluation worksheet. You only : need to fill out one worksheet.

Team #1: Big Orange: California Citrus Label Art

Team #2: Save the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus

Team #3: Sharks and their Relatives

Team #4: Whale Watching

Posted by Janet Pedersen at 10:00 AM 1 comments

Wednesday, November 01, 2006

WEB DRILL!!! or You are Your Own Best Filter

Hello 5th and 6th graders! Welcome to WebDrill!

You are your own best filter.

What do you do if you encounter inappropriate material on the internet? You have control right at the tips of your fingers!: Remember, you can:

• Close the lid of your laptop and ask for help from your teacher

• Hit Apple + Q (this quits your browser)

• Hit Apple + W (this closes your window)

• Hit the green BACK arrow in the top left corner of your browser.

Directions:

You may visit any of the websites listed below. (of course, they don't have inappropriate material, but this is just practice....)

When you hear the words, “WEB DRILL!!” close your site with any of the four methods you learned today.

[edit] Conclusion

Although, many of us think of blogging as an activity for teen-agers or adults, elementary aged children are learning to blog and are enjoying it. They are truly motivated to participate in blogging as it allows them the opportunity to manipulate technology and communicate personal and meaningful journals, stories, poetry and other types of written expression. These students reap the multifarious benefits associated with blogging and literacy. Blogging allows opportunities for collaborative learning. It provides authentic communication between the writer and readers who leave comments. It enhances the development of reading and writing. In addition blogging also has a significant effect on student skills such as; editing, spelling, typing and critical thinking.

Implementation of blogging does have its challenges. Teaching young students the basics of blogging takes time and lots of one on one attention. However, asking for parent volunteers and starting an after school blogging club could rectify that. In order to blog, one needs a computer and access to the internet. Most schools have internet-ready computers available. Software to implement blogging can be found on the internet for free.

As safety is always foremost in our thoughts when it comes to children, certain guidelines would be followed when blogging at school. Last names of the students would not be used and they could even use different user names than their real first names. Passwords can be utilized to allow access to student blog sites thereby keeping strangers out of reach.

To blog, or not to blog? The advantages definitely out weigh the disadvantages.

[edit] References

Asselin,M. 2004. Weblogs at the Institut St.Joseph. Proceedings of the International Conference of Educational Multimedia, Quebec City, Canada.

Black, Elizabeth L., 2007, Web 2.0 and Library 2.0: What Librarians Need to Know. Library 2.0 and Beyond Innovative Technologies and Tomorrow's User. p. 6-7.

Brewer, 2006A. SLJ's Technology Survey 2006. School Library Journal; Jun2006, Vol.52 Issue 6, p46-50.

Milam, 2006.SLJ's Technology Survey 2006. School Library Journal; Jun2006, Vol.52 Issue 6, p46-50.

Earley,M. 1999.1999 Report on Cyberstalking: A new challenge for law enforcement and industry. Washington, DC: United States Department of Justice.

Gilbert,P. 1995. On space, sex and stalkers. Women and Performance, 17.

Housley,S., 2006. Blogs for Kids. Retrieved March 5, 2006, from Really Simple Syndication's Web server: www.rss-specifications.com/kids-blogging.htm.

Huffaker, 2004A Gender similarities and differences in online identity and language use among teenager bloggers. Washington, DC: Georgetown University.

Huffaker,D., 2006. Using Weblogs to Advance Literacy in the K-12 Classroom.Ed. Leo Tan Wee Hin and R. Subramaniam. Hershey, PA: Idea Group Reference, 2006. p.337-356.

McPherson,K., 2006. School Library Blogging. Teacher Librarian; June2006, Vol.33 Issue 5, p.67-69.

O'Reilly,T.,2005. What is Web 2.0: Design patterns and business models for the next generation of software. O'Reilly Website, 2005. http://www.oreillynet.com/put/a/oreilly/tim/news/2005/09/30/what-is-web-20.html (accessed October 30, 2006).

Winer,D. 2003. What makes a Weblog a Weblog? Cambridge, MA: Harvard Law School.

[edit] Resources

If you are interested in implementing blogs in an elementary setting, whether you are a media specialist or classroom teacher you can check out these web sites:

Blogdex Gives examples of blogs in use.