There's no doubt that writing is an essential for communicating anything from personal feelings to a friend in the form of a letter to educating the public about advances in the scientific world. Thus, learning to become an efficient and effective writer is an integral part of education, especially early childhood; however, many of teachers do think of writing as jotting down personal thoughts that eventually form a coherent story.
After reading the article by Witte, it does seem that blogging can be an interactive form of expression, making the process of writing more collaborative. The feedback that students can receive about their writing can be a good source of encouragement because they can see that people care about what they are writing.
I agree with you on how blogging encourages students to write because they know in advance that people other than the teacher will be wanting to read what they write.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the feedback element is probably the greatest benefit of blogging for children and teens. Children get an immediate and wide audiences that they can connect and share ideas with. They often get praise that they don't receive in other areas of life. That praise in turn builds their confidence - and bringing that kind of confidence to classroom writing through using blogging is so essential. I agree with your assessment of the power of the blog as a classroom tool.
ReplyDeleteI'd be curious to see what some of the student feedback looked like in Ms. Witte's experiment. Did it consist of helpful questioning or simple reviews like "good job." I would have been more likely to write the latter in middle school -- too risky to judge someone else's work. I wonder if Ms. Witte was able to help students move beyond rapid-fire responses.
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