The value in blogging is twofold. The first is the actual act of writing and thinking while writing. This can help crystallize thoughts or ideas. The second is the ability to share what you are thinking with the community outside of your area. Of the to values, the latter is the reason to blog instead of journal on paper.
Students, or adults for that matter, who are posting on a blog do not necessarily see the value in creating a larger community. I think we, educators on social media, used to be able to articulate that better. Now we seem to be more preoccupied with making that a narrative about only Twitter or Facebook.
As an adult, I often get more excited by an 'outside our community' comment on one of my students posts than the student does. I believe this is the new normal for them. They expect to talk to people they don't know.
Worrying about online safety with student blogging takes up too much intellectual capital. Use an easily moderated platform like Kidblog. Nothing goes in and out without approval (if you want to set it up that way.) Honestly, you should worry more about your students being jerks on social media than being picked up by a stranger trolling for kids.
I often tell people I write only when I can't not write. I rarely give my students the opportunity to opt out of writing. Sometimes we have to make them practice what they really don't want to practice. That is part of being an adult, making decisions that may not be popular with everyone. Yes there are other ways for students to create content for blogs. We still need our kids to be literate which means able to read and write.
There are a hella lota resources for student blogging on the net, reach out and get you some. You don't have to reinvent the wheel, you can just innovate and make it better.
Students, or adults for that matter, who are posting on a blog do not necessarily see the value in creating a larger community. I think we, educators on social media, used to be able to articulate that better. Now we seem to be more preoccupied with making that a narrative about only Twitter or Facebook.
As an adult, I often get more excited by an 'outside our community' comment on one of my students posts than the student does. I believe this is the new normal for them. They expect to talk to people they don't know.
Worrying about online safety with student blogging takes up too much intellectual capital. Use an easily moderated platform like Kidblog. Nothing goes in and out without approval (if you want to set it up that way.) Honestly, you should worry more about your students being jerks on social media than being picked up by a stranger trolling for kids.
I often tell people I write only when I can't not write. I rarely give my students the opportunity to opt out of writing. Sometimes we have to make them practice what they really don't want to practice. That is part of being an adult, making decisions that may not be popular with everyone. Yes there are other ways for students to create content for blogs. We still need our kids to be literate which means able to read and write.
There are a hella lota resources for student blogging on the net, reach out and get you some. You don't have to reinvent the wheel, you can just innovate and make it better.
Fully on board with freeing up intellectual property by focusing less on the potential negatives of having students work online, but rather embracing the amazing possibilities that await them. Now, to think about how to have students blog their research in our system of gypsy, teacher-librarian collaboration.
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