Weblogs

          Lisa Zawilinski’s article, HOT Blogging: A Framework for Blogging to Promote Higher Order Thinking addresses the fundamentals of what a blog is, the potential uses of a classroom blog, and Higher Order Thinking Blogs, or HOT blogs.  “Hot blogging allows them [students] to share a diverse perspective and exchange information with one another on the Internet.  This supports the development of online comprehension and communication skills and creates a collaborative learning community that builds a deeper and broader understanding across the curriculum.” (Zawilinski, 2009, 656).  A piece of this article that I agreed with thoroughly is the benefit of students writing to an audience that is not only the teacher.  In this article a classroom teacher, Stephanie, allows family members and friends to have access to the classroom blog where the students work is published.  “She invited students to share the blog address with family and friends, so they could see their “published” pieces and receive comments.  She was amazed at how many people provided thoughtful comments.  Parents and grandparents especially, posted many wonderful comments about work that appeared here. The demand from her students to publish their work made the creative juices flow in the classroom.” (Zawilinski, 2009, 659). I remember when I was in Elementary School, and even now that I am in college, when I know that I am going to have an audience, besides the teacher, read my work I seem to automatically put a little more effort into what I am writing.
            In Chapter 2 of Blogs, Wikis, and Podcasts , and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms the similar basic concepts were discussed here as they were in Lisa Zawilinski’s article.  However, the one thing that I took away from this chapter is that weblogs not only allow you to be an author, they also make you become a reader.  “Online reading and writing are so closely connected that it is not possible to separate them; we read online as authors and we write online as readers.(Leu, O’Bryne, Zawilinski, McVerry & Everett-Cocaparado, 2007, p. 266.) Students who are reading blogs from other sources are in essence reading to write. “But more than just reading, bloggers that write in this way learn to read critically, because as they read, they look for important ideas to write about.  It’s an important first step, for as Samuel Johnson said, “I hate to read a writer who has written more than he has read.” (Richardson,2010, p.30.) Students have different interests and different things that motivate them.  To allow students to read on the web what interests them, do some research, and then write about or blog about it  is a motivational tool that comes from within them.  It allows the student to be his or her own launch pad, dive into what they enjoy, read, research, and then write (a whole language approach).
            I read the article Teaching With Author’s Blogs: Connections, Collaborations, Creativity last, and I am glad.  This article doesn’t explain, teach, or give steps of how to use or start up a Blog like the chapters and the other article seemed to focus on. Instead it talks about the blogs of young adult authors and how they can be implemented in the classroom for teaching and learning.  “One way to enrich students’ engagement with literature is developing a depth of knowledge about the author.  Understanding how an author’s life experiences influence his or her writing can assist readers with creating personal meaning and connections to the authors work” (Johnson, 2010, 174).   Being able to research and learn about the author on an author’s blog through his or her own words gives a real perspective of that author.  Allowing students to know more about an author and follow their blog gives students the understanding and insight into the authors’ thoughts and life, which in turn connects the student to the author of study and the book that is being read.   For me, the most intriguing and helpful part of our readings for this week came in this article when Johnson spoke of authors blogs who talk about the writing process on page 177.  “Barbara O’Connor wrote a message about the dead matter, or the revision and notes made by the editor, which she received from her publisher after her book Greetings From Nowhere was published. She decided to look through the dead matter to see what a big difference little changes make.”  On her blog she wrote down the changes that the publisher made and showed people who were reading the blog just how minute, yet important, these changes were.   Students hate the revision and editing process (I do as well!) however, having an author show what a big difference it makes and having students see that “real writers” go through it as well is a great and powerful lesson.”  This is made possible through the use of Blogs and a dialogue that we could not have imagined five years ago.