Blogs A Read/Write Tool that helps students develop critical thinking and analytical skills By Jane Ostacher

Presentation Goals To acquaint middle school, high school, and college language arts, history, and ESL teachers with blogs. To show these educators the benefits of using blogs in their classes. To demonstrate how to set up a blog account and begin blogging. To suggest ways of using blogs in the classroom, including projects which would help educators meet specific NJ Core Curriculum Content Standards. To display Field Test Results.

What are blogs? A blog is an “easily created, easily updateable Website that allows an author to publish instantly to the Internet from any Internet connection” (Richardson, 2006, p. 17). Some people think of blogs as places on the Internet where people write about themselves as if they were writing in diaries. They may think, “How can blogging, which seems so narcissistic, have any educational value?” The truth is writing in a blog helps students develop many important skills needed for academic success.

Unlike diaries, blogs are meant to be both read and responded to. Bloggers write for an audience of readers who often post comments. Blogs are collaborative spaces for sharing ideas and learning, and bloggers, who are writing for an audience, develop valuable skills, including : Reading critically while looking for ideas and links to post. Developing advanced Internet search skills. Analyzing sites for credibility. Writing clearly for a particular audience. Learning how to work collaboratively and recognizing the power in distributing cognition socially. (Richardson, 2006, p ) What Academic Skills do Bloggers Develop?

Pedagogical Implications for Classroom Blogging Establishes a social constructivist learning environment in which students discover meaning through their interactions with one another. Expands walls of classroom as students can collaborate with students all over the world. Archives work, making growth easy to assess. Helps students develop new literacies necessary for the Digital Age. Encourages students to develop expertise in specific subjects. (Richardson, 2006, p )

Before looking at how to use blogs in our classes, let’s learn to blog! Go to and click Create your blog now.

Now fill in your , password, display name, verify the word shown, and agree to terms.

Now name your blog, name your blog address, and click on continue.

Now pick a template.

Now that your blog has been created, you can begin posting, or blogging!

In addition to creating your first post, you can create your profile by clicking on “View my profile” and then “Edit My Profile.” Remember to only include information you want others to view. Here is my blog, so you can see what one looks like.

A student of educational technology, I created my blog to help others and me learn about how technology can be used in education. My intention is to work collaboratively with others to develop an understanding of the newest innovations in educational technology. As you can see, I shared my experiences and provided links to my sources. Friday, February 16, 2007 Hooked on MUVEs After participating in several of hours of teacher professional development in TappedIn, a multi-user virtual environment (MUVE), I am hooked! What a great way to learn about new ways to use technology in education while at the same time being both a participant and contributor in all discussions. I was particularly impressed with a one hour session dedicated to Web 2.o tools. One item the facilitator, Professor Wolters from Concordia University, focused on was using instructional blogging as "an interactive, electronic course management system." She said her students felt accountable to one another; they felt they needed to produce good work and respond to each others' work. The instructional blog has two sides, one public and one private where the content for the course is created and posted. This sounds like a great system for an online or hybrid course for upper level ESL students. Another Web 2.o session is scheduled for March 15. If you are interested, go to and become a member. The support is amazing. The help desk volunteers really help newcomers become comfortable with the site, and they do that with a sense of humor. This coming week, I plan to participate in a discussion about eportfolios, another useful tool for ESL students. I look forward to experimenting with these tools in my classes. There may be hope for this "digital immigrant!" POSTED BY JANE OSTACHER AT 7:21 PM 7:21 PM My Latest Post

How can you use blogs in your classes? You can use a class blog as a course management tool where you ◦post assignments, important dates, and links to websites related to course work, ◦communicate with parents, ◦post outstanding student work, ◦house an ongoing dialogue about topics covered in class, ◦post photos, and ◦create links to individual student blogs. (Richardson, 2006, p ) Check out to see an example of a blog used as a course management tool.

Student blogs can be used for students to: ◦ to write reactions to readings and classmates’ writing ◦ to write reactions to class discussions ◦ to post writing assignments and projects ◦ to create portfolios of writing ◦ to write using vocabulary studied in class (Richardson, 2006, p.41-42)

Projects for teachers to do with Blogs that correlate with The NJ Core Curriculum Standards 1.In a shared blog, students will compare and contrast articles published in various online news sources and newspapers about the same political or historical event, and discuss how the viewpoint of individual news sources affects the representation of facts. Students will be responsible for employing various rhetorical styles like comparison and contrast and argumentation. NJCCS 3.1 E.1 (Reading 8 th grade) Monitor reading for understanding by automatically setting a purpose for reading, making and adjusting predictions, asking essential questions, and relating new learning to background experiences. NJCCS 3.1 G.1 (Reading 8 th grade) Differentiate between fact and opinion and bias in newspapers, periodicals, and electronic texts. NJCCS 3.2 C.1 (Writing 12 th grade) Use Standard English conventions in all writing, such as sentence structure, grammar and usage, punctuation, capitalization, and spelling.

2. In a shared blog, students will become experts in one area such as how US tobacco companies generate sales in foreign countries. Doing research, students need to evaluate sources, including news sources and other blogs, to determine their reliability. Students will include links to websites and blogs in their blog postings. NJCCS 3.1 G.5 (Reading 8 th grade) Read critically by identifying, analyzing, and applying knowledge of the purpose, structure, and elements of nonfiction and providing support from the text as evidence of understanding. NJCCS 8.1 B.5 (Technological Literacy 12 th grade) Evaluate information sources for accuracy, relevance, and appropriateness. NJCCS 3.2 B. 2 (Writing 12 th grade) Critique published works for authenticity and credibility. Project Using Blogs 2

Project Using Blogs 3 3. In a class blog, students will post critical responses to class readings and respond to each other’s. The audience of their writing is made up of peers and their teacher. NJCCS 3.1 G.7 (Reading 12 th grade) Respond critically to text ideas and the author’s craft by using textual evidence to support interpretations. NJCCS 3.1 G.10 (Reading 12th grade) Differentiate between fact and opinion by using by using complete and accurate information, coherent arguments, and points of view.

4. In a blog, students choose their best work to include in a portfolio. They will also write about why they chose these works, requiring them to reflect on their own writing. (Richardson, 2006, p. 41 ) NJCCS 3.2 A.7 (Writing 12 th grade) Reflect on own writing and establish goals for growth and improvement. NJCCS 3.2 B.12 (Writing 12 th grade) Select pieces of writing from a literacy folder for a presentation portfolio that reflects performance in a variety of genres. Project Using Blogs 4

5. In a class blog, students will participate in an online book club about a novel the teacher has assigned. Collaboratively, students will develop an understanding of the book. When this activity is repeated with another book, students will make connections between the books. NJCCS 3.1 G.3.9 (8th grade Reading) Compare and analyze recurring themes across literary works. NJCCS 3.1 G. 3.8 (8th grade Reading) Identify and analyze literary techniques and elements, such as figurative language, meter, rhetorical and stylistic features of text. Project Using Blogs 5

Feedback from a field test with 5 teachers, including 2 ESL community college teachers, 2 high school language arts teachers, and 1 middle school social studies teacher, conducted on February 25 and 26, Achieved Presentation Goals. -Presentation was clear, not wordy. -Liked the example of presenter’s blog. -Liked list of how blogs can be used in classroom. -The procedure for creating a blog was well-explained. -Learned how blogs can be used in the classroom.

References Richardson, Will (2006). Blogs, wikis, podcasts and other powerful web tools for Classrooms. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.