Thing 2: Student Blogging & Writing - Lia Williams

• Discuss the resources you explored in this lesson.
• Do you see value in the use of blogging with your students?
• How might you use blogs to enhance or transform a student writing project?
• Other thoughts about student blogging?

First of all, I didn't realize that there were SO many blogging sites and ways in which to blog. When I made a half-hearted attempt to blog with my students at the beginning of this year, we used blogger.com, and after a few glitches (user-error for sure!) we muddled through. I was disenchanted by the blogging experience...how was it really different than typing in a GoogleDoc and having people add comments/feedback?  I later learned about EduBlogs from another teacher, and perusing her teacher site on EduBlogs made me want to try blogging again. Knowing that there are even more sites to check out that go beyond just writing. Using images and hyperlinks and being artistic in the creation of the blog will make it more interesting for students, too. My students even told be about vlogs, which is what is really "cool" these days...essentially a video blog. Might have to think about incorporating that, too. 

There's definitely value in blogging with students, as it can open the door for me (as the teacher) to leave feedback as well as other students to leave feedback and comments. Blogging is more informal than "Write this 4-paragraph essay", so students can connect with the content in an informal way. I think this could also enhance any writing projects for the same reasons. 

My final thought on student blogging is that I need to make a 2nd attempt at it using a different blogging site. Now that I'm more familiar with blogging in general, I hope that there will be fewer glitches in the process.