Dear Families,

This year, students in my English I Honors classes will be blogging as part of our literacy program. I have a class blog and students have their own personal blogs attached to the class blog.

What is a blog?

A blog is an online journal, which allows users to share ideas and collaborate with others.  

Why are we blogging?

One main benefit of blogging is that it creates a new audience for your child’s work. When students are writing or publishing for an audience other the teacher, it impacts how they view what they are doing and the intrinsic motivation they have. Students love seeing their work on the Internet and adore getting comments from people. It motivates them to write as it gives them an audience that is real.  The blog opens up a whole new world of people who can offer encouragement and feedback. There is an authentic audience – a global audience – one that is willing to connect, share, challenge, discuss and communicate with classes. This audience can provide further information, opinions, suggest resources, seek answers to questions and so on which pushes blogging further. Additionally, it gives you, the parent, the opportunity to view and interact with your child’s learning experience.

In addition to a wider audience, there are numerous learning experiences that students can benefit from when blogging. They are able to create content, collaborate with peers within our class and from classes around the world, and reflect on their learning. Blogging supports students in improving their literacy and ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) skills, as well as developing their understanding of digital citizenship.

The blogging experience forces the students to do more reflection on their learning and allows them to showcase products they have produced with online tools. Blogging provides an authentic educational experience, where what they write is not only seen and commented on by their teacher, but by their peers and the “public.” For most students, it’s a bit of extra motivation knowing their peers will see their work.

Blogging develops a learning network and a learning portfolio. Students’ work and learning reflections won’t go away at the and of the year but will be available for years to come, making it a meaningful part of their educational experience.

*Why are we blogging adapted from The State of Educational blogging in 2014.

Become a part of our learning experience!

I encourage you to sit down with your child and explore the blog together. Be sure to look for your child’s personal blog. If you would like to keep up-to-date with what is happening on our blog, please type your email address into the “Subscribe by Email” section. You will be sent an email each time we post. I encourage you to comment on the students’ blogs and leave feedback on my blog. We appreciate your support!

Questions?

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