Why should middle school students blog?
I left the following as a comment today on the ISTEconnects blog post, "ISTEConnects to Attend WordCamp on Your Behalf ~ We Want your Questions!" This was in response to Ann Grub's question, "Do you think middle school students should blog? Why or why not?"
I definitely think middle school students should be blogging, as well as elementary and high school students. There are several reasons for this.
First of all, students need to practice their writing skills regularly, and blogging is an excellent way to do this. We get better at things we practice regularly. It is common for kids to be required to read regularly during and after school, but regular writing assignments are less common. Blogging provides a way to both encourage and empower students students to write regularly.
The second main reason I'd argue students (including middle school students) should be blogging is so they can learn how to properly and responsibly use hyperlinked writing. Hyperlinks are one of the foundational technologies of the Internet. Students use hyperlinks by clicking on them, but far fewer create their own hyperlinks as part of their class assignments. Certainly the prevalence of social networking platforms has increased opportunities for students to use hyperlinks in their writing, but voluntary student use of social networking platforms does not necessarily result in students learning about hyperlinking and responsible use of hyperlinks.
Students should be encouraged to blog responsibly so they can discover their own voice. This is not the case for everyone, but some students are able to really discover their own voice via writing. The encouragement and positive feedback which young writers can receive through writing on blogs and other social websites can play an important role in defining identity for a young person. Students can and do often discover the power of their words, and the importance of sharing thoughts as well as ideas.
I commend the Support Blogging Wiki to you for additional resources related to student blogging, including lots of great links to classroom blogs where you can find examples of student work.
I'd add to this answer the importance of helping students take proactive control over their "digital footprints" and the importance of teaching digital citizenship at school. By regularly writing on a blog and discussing the issues which arise as a result of interactions there, students as well as teachers can learn a wealth of things related to digital citizenship on an ongoing basis.
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May 13th, 2009 - 14:35
If by hyperlinking you also mean a pre-courser to learning how and when to cite sources then I’m all for it.
May 13th, 2009 - 14:43
Hey Wes,
Great bit—and I love the emphasis you place on using hyperlinks. For me, it has less to do with citing sources than it does with connective thinking. Being able to see the route that students took to get to their final positions on topics is beautiful.
It’s kind of like “showing your work” in math class. With hyperlinked writing, teachers can see the errors in logic or the misinformation that their students are wrestling with—-or can celebrate their ability to “mashup” content from different sources into new and original thought.
Of course, I’m no where near getting my middle schoolers to this point, but I can always dream, right?!
Bill
May 13th, 2009 - 14:45
Certainly properly citing sources is a part of academic scholarship. One can also argue it (along with “linktribution“) is an important part of netiquette when it comes to social media as well as digital citizenship.
In this case, I’m making the case for students to learn about hyperlinked writing in part because students learn more and specifically become more media literate as they shift in being prosumers of information rather than strictly passive consumers. It’s also critical to recognize the importance of hyperlinking with care. Things you link to represent you as well as the organizations of which you are a part. This includes your family, your school, clubs and other organizations, etc. Things you link to can become associated with you as part of your “personal brand.” Jeff Utech wrote a good post about personal branding recently which relates to this.
So I agree source citation is important, but I think the reasons for students blogging and learning about hyperlinked writing go beyond it.
May 13th, 2009 - 14:50
Bill, I totally love the analogy with “showing your work” in math! That’s a great way to think about it.
Wes, I have forwarded your blog to everyone I could think of, LOL. I learn so much from my PLN everyday!
May 13th, 2009 - 15:01
I definitely agree that students should be being taught to blog along with being taught digital citizenship. I run a free educational website that includes the ability for users to submit comments. While I do get many constructive comments, I also get comments from students practicing their curse words. I’ve even had a student suggest that I should kill myself. Once I added a real time chat feature to help students collaborate. But it quickly got abused and I had to remove it. From my perspective it seems that many students are not being taught how to be responsible when they use the internet.