Wednesdays at the Gorge
David Warlick wrote about a teacher who understands the use of blogs – Angela Roy Gets It.
I would concur with David, we blog to become part of a community. They are a way to keep in touch with what is happening in our world or in our area. With that thought in mind, I imagine a class of kids writing about experiences happening to them. This experience could go something like this: (imagine all the new writing skills that we need to teach – I will comment on them after the “fake student post”)
Student Post:
Last night my dad took me to Artpark, a New York State park near the Niagara Gorge. We went because my dad wanted to see a band called Pure Prairie League, a band from the 70s that my dad listened to when he was a kid.
They played for about two hours and I had a lot of fun dancing and watching the boats float down the Niagara River. Artpark has free concerts each Wednesday night – here is a list of who is playing in the future. There was plenty of food and drinks to be had, which cost money, but they help to support the free concerts.
We sat on a hill, watched the music, ate french fries and had a great time with friends.
If you are interested in getting to Artpark to see free music, here are the directions. I would love to go back, hope he takes me again.
Now, let me breakdown new “writing skills”:
- Adding Hyperlinks to Text- Students can hyperlink to places and things which provide readers with a richer reading experience. Notice how I linked to Artpark, to Pure Prairie League’s web site and the google map directions.
- Tab Manipulation – In order to do this hyperlinking, students will need to be able to manipulate tabs on their web browser. Using tabs is much better than trying to manipulate Internet Explorer windows. They will need a tab open to their blog and a tab opened to do their searching for web pages to link to.
- Search – They will also need a web browser with a built-in search tool. This is helpful because having to visit Google’s home page each time is an extra step.
- Copy – Paste – Students can copy and paste information like URLs to add to their post.
So, when we start to teach the writing process, we need to include these new writing skills.
I am an Educational Computing Strategist (ECS). I figure out ways to IMPROVE education with technology. 
My Web site
July 27th, 2007 at 9:59 am
I think it is great that you break down and add these points to the writing process. I think it is really important to model the process and expect students use it at first. I check to make sure my students have new tabs instead of windows for a while. Students quickly pick up the routine and its great to see them producing information for themselves quicker. I then step back and let them go! I will share this post with teachers using blogs, especially those whose students have their own. Thanks!