I’ve been enjoying some e-mail correspondence with Nancy Bosch, at the Neiman Enhanced Learning Center in Shawnee, Kansas. Her grades 4-6 students have been blogging for some time. She has recently introduced them to wikis. Here are a few comments from her students that she gave me permission to post.
“Boy, I’m glad we didn’t have to write!” (hello….you just spent the whole day writing!!)“It is so cool to know that somebody might use what I wrote for their research!!”“I write a lot more carefully knowing the ‘world’ can read it”“I liked the fact that we could work together, help each other out and link to stuff someone else wrote”“It is so cool to put something ON the Internet, rather than always taking stuff OFF.”
Nancy mentioned something today I thought I would toss out there for your consideration and sharing. She says that one thing that’s surprised her is how little she has to prompt her students to write. She’d thought that she would have to constantly give her students blogging assignments, but they have taken to it as a matter of practice, and are blogging on all sorts of topics. This is consistant with comments that I’ve gotten from teachers who are using my blogging tool.
So what do you think? Is it just that they are academically gifted students, or do students actually enjoy blogging, enough to do it for their own intrinsic reasons?
That is what I’m hoping for! I am very optimistic that the students who will actually receive the greatest benefits are not the academically gifted ones, but the everyday, unmotivated kids and the low-performing ones. These kids are reluctant writers on a good day, absolutely loathe to do so on a normal one. I’ve just begun using blogs/wikis with students at my campuses, but the response has been very positive from them. The biggest challenge is access, though. Teachers have limited access to the computer labs and laptops for their classes, so they can’t maximize the potential of these tools during regular class hours. Of course, the beauty of it all is, students can get busy writing even when away from school. I’m thinking about working with some teachers to create after-school blogging/wiki “clubs”, where kids will spend time learning the tools and writing/collaborating “recreationally.” The hope I have is that they will become proficient enough and enthusiastic enough to influence teachers to take the risk and put them to use in their own classrooms.
I’ve also just begun using blogs and wikis too. It hasn’t taken off as much as I’d like, but I can see a few lights turning on. I’ve even have some of my students add new entries at home without me assigning them. I’m optimistic about that! Still only a few of them see this as a way of dialoguing with other people. I think part of the problem is that only other students in my class (and me) ever comment. I suppose they think, “Why should I comment on their blog, when I can just tell them?” Maybe there’s some kind of meeting place online where teachers can get together and colloborate on projects, such as getting their students to interact through their blogs?
Dean,
You might check out http://www.epals.com. This resource enables teachers to link up with other classrooms from around the world who are trying to achieve the same types of learning objectives. Might be a good way to broaden your students’ audience.
Randy,
Thank you. I’m going to give them a try.
Randy,
Last year I heard Christopher Paolini interviewed on 60 Minutes. Christopher wrote an 800 page fantasy called Eragon, recently released on film at the theaters. He was 15 years old when he wrote the book and he said, in the interview “The gift my parents gave me, by homeschooling, was the gift of time.” I think that’s what missing in the whole “blog/wiki in the classroom” discussion. With NCLB and state assessments students no longer have “time” in the classroom. In our district the last thing students have time to do is something as spontaneous as sitting down to write what is on their mind. (hyperbole, I’m sure) The beauty of what I do, teach in a pullout gifted program, is that we have the time to think and explore areas of interest and new technologies. I also teach kiddos who have supportive parents and computers at home. There is no doubt that many, if not all, students would enjoy blogging and benefit from writing for a “real” audience. OK, finished rambling about that.
The same holds true for doing wikis. We did our first one in lieu of a reflection essay and 17 6th graders worked for 5 hours to complete it. Teachers in my building, a Title 1 school, would never find the time. They are required to teach reading for 2 1/2 and math for 1 1/2 hours a day. A sad state of affairs.
http://thewright3.wikispace.com