Hope Future Now: Classroom blogging with a twist

I know that there are thousands of classroom blogs out there.  I’m not sure if mine is really different, or if I just think it is.

I recently read an article in the Reading Teacher (May 2009)  on HOT (Higher Order Thinking) Blogging by Lisa Zawilinski.  According to Zawilinski (2009):

As online readers gather information to solve a problem, they frequently analyze information, critically evaluate, synthesize across multiple texts and communicate with others using instant messaging, e-mail, blogs, wikis, or other communication vehicles.

This is very much in line with higher order thinking skills we are encouraged to teach in Language Arts programs.  She goes on to identify various types of blogs and their potential, from classroom news blogs, to showcase blogs, to reflective blogs, to literature response blogs. The blog that I have developed doesn’t quite fit into any of those categories, although certainly involves elements of all of those.

Another couple of articles I read in preparation for this field study were both written by David Huffaker.  In “Spinning Yarns Around the Digital Fire”, Huffaker (2004) discusses the potential of many online media applications including blogs to provide students with a positive place for them to “to share ideas and feelings, discuss issues and projects, ask and answer each other’s questions, and promote a pro-social spirit”.  He argues that when students are able given creative control in these environments and are able to explore and collaborate with others, motivation increases (largely due to the increase in self-efficacy).  This is certainly interesting to keep in mind, as I would certainly like their motivation to write to be high.  However, I am putting a definite twist on the traditional blog that I would like to explore in the duration of this field study.

In “The Educated Blogger: Using Weblogs to Promote literacy in the Classroom”, Huffaker (2005) states that:

In the classroom, students can have a personal space to read and write alongside a communal one, where ideas are shared, questions are asked and answered, and social cohesion is developed.

Again, one of the goals of my blog is certainly to create social cohesion through a community of common purpose.  However, I hope to create this cohesion in a slightly different fashion than usual, as my students will not have their own individual pages.

Hope Future Now (the title of my blog) is a peer-review publishing blog and an emerging social network of students who are (or who would like to) make a difference in this world.  At this stage, it is less about reading comprehension and more about comprehending elements of great writing and social responsibility.  It will feature writing on broad social responsibility themes chosen by my students.  This writing might come from within our classroom, but it will hopefully, over time, come from outside sources.  The job of my students is to learn to provide valuable feedback and commentary.  It begs the question “What is great writing?” and hopefully will lead to greater metacognition of their own writing.

The process is simple.  I created an email address specifically for the project and posted it on the page Submit Your Writing.  Criteria are outlined on this page as well.   So, in order to participate, you do not have to be a blogger.  You simply have to know how to use email.  The beauty of this for other educators is that there is no whole class commitment unless you want to do this, and really, where else are you going to find a guaranteed, interested, critical audience for student work?  I’m sure that there are many educators out there who have students they need to motivate or recognize for their efforts.  And why not let peers review their student’s work?

The feedback will comes at two levels:

Level One:  Feedback for learning. If the writing is not ready to be published, my students will provide feedback that is specific and thoughtful in order to bring the writing to a state of readiness.

Level Two: Feedback on accomplishment.  This will come in the form of blog comments.  It is the “pat on the back” phase…congratulating the young writer for their efforts to make a difference and for their inspirational writing.

Finally, it is my hope that the theme of the blog–social responsibility–will create a sense of common purpose within this community of young writers.  I would love my students to feel as though making a difference is both a common and welcome responsibility.  It could become an amazing resource for anyone looking for inspiring true stories of the “kids these days”.

Jen