Pauline’s Blog

The list is almost endless. Because blogs are interactive and not just static pieces of content, they can enhance learning in so many ways. One element that blogs are useful for is teaching new literacy skills. We talk about the importance of Inquiry learning and higher order thinking as being important tools in the classroom. Have we thought about using Blogs to engage in these processes? When students are using blogs they can be analysing information, using critical thinking skills, judging content, clarifying their purpose, organising their ideas, summarising, interacting, giving and gaining feedback, to name just a few skills. They are also engaged in their learning.

When students are writing for a blog, they are learning to craft their work for an audience, using a range of strategies - is this beginning to sound like the objectives from the English curriculum? So why not use it to develop these skills. It’s also an opportunity for students to have conversations and explore issues in depth - maybe calling in different experts on a subject to contribute. What about sharing the results of a maths or science investigation and gaining public comment on what has been discovered.

I think what I like most about using a classroom blog is having an authentic audience to share student work with, and for the community to contribute ideas and be part of the learning. The way most schools currently operate, there is little real sharing of the learning between home and school. Parents and the community have so much to contribute, if only they were given the opportunity.