Blogging with Elementary School Students

Students in Jon Schwartz's Classroom, Blogging and Learning!

When I first started delving into various articles about incorporating blogging into the classroom, I must admit, I was a bit skeptical.  Of course I can see why blogging would be useful to some students at some grade levels, especially in middle/high school.  But, I was unsure if blogging was really a suitable medium for elementary school students, especially for first graders, which is what I am currently teaching.  However, I was very pleased and intrigued to discover that utilizing blogging as a learning tool can be very beneficial and rewarding for young students!

According to the article, “Blogging?  It’s Elementary, my dear Watson,” blogging can be defined in three ways:

“Number 1: A blog is a Web-publishing concept that enables anyone – FIRST GRADERS, political pundits, homeless people, high school principals, presidential candidates -- to publish information on the Internet.

Number 2: A blog (a shortening of weB LOG) has become a journalistic tool, a way to publish news, ideas, rants, announcements, and ponderings very quickly, and without technical, editorial, and time constraints. It essentially makes anyone a columnist. In fact, many established columnists now publish their own blogs.

Number 3: Blogs, because of their ease of use, and because of the context of news and editorial column writing, have become a highly effective way to help students to become better writers. Research has long shown that students write more, write in greater detail, and take greater care with spelling, grammar, and punctuation, when they are writing to an authentic audience over the Internet.”

Blogging allows students an authentic and real-world forum to practice their reading, writing, and critical thinking skills.  They are writing for a real audience, not just their teacher and classmates, and thus the learning and work they are doing is much more relevant and meaningful to them.  Blogging helps build students’ motivation to learn and write, while also teaching them important skills they will need in their future – both in school and the work force.  In the technology age, digital communication skills are just as important and relevant as written and oral communication skills. 

On his website, KidsLikeBlogs.org, Jon Schwartz discusses some of the many benefits of student blogging, lists some examples, and answers common questions.  His students’ blogs “are where teaching, classroom technology, computers, creativity, statistics, art, public relations, geography, graphic design, and the internet meet. If managed properly and carefully, they provide a virtual workbench that students can use to find their creative muse and learn about the technological world they are inheriting.”

Fox News featured Jon Schwartz and his classroom on a news segment – check it out:

Jon Schwartz’s students are fourth and fifth graders – once again, I ask myself if young first graders could truly benefit from this learning tool.  I think the key here is that students were born into the digital age.  Young children can grasp new concepts and skills very easily – just as they more easily learn a foreign language than their parents, I think they can also pick up digital communication with ease.  You gotta start them at a young age, so that by the time they do get to fourth/fifth/middle/high school, they can utilize blogging, technology, and the Internet to their fullest potential.  First graders could maybe start out by simply posting comments on the teachers’ classroom blog.  Or, through teacher facilitation, their blogs could be more like a digital portfolio, where original artwork or simple poems are posted.  They could definitely use a blog to write simple stories, with an artwork scanned in to accompany it, or create simple math word problems.   I also love the idea of writing about current events or historical figures – it’s never too early to start getting your students interested in the world around them and to foster citizenship and historical inquiry skills. 

In the article, “Bloggingwith Elementary School Students,” Bill Ferriter on Digitally Speaking says:

“Blogging and podcasting has allowed me to create a forum where my students discuss current events connected to our social studies curriculum while developing language arts skills like critical thinking and persuasive dialogue. It has also given my students the opportunity to be creators rather than simply consumers of online content. Finally, blogging and podcasting have given my students an audience for their ideas, which has increased levels of interest and motivation.”

Here’s a simple thinking map I quickly created using bubble.us to organize my thoughts and ideas about using blogs in the classroom:

As a first year teacher, I probably won’t incorporate blogging into my classroom this year, but I am really glad I delved deeper into this awesome digital tool and learned some ways to incorporate it into the classroom.  I truly believe in utilizing more authentic, relevant, and meaningful teaching activities and assessments in the classroom, and I think blogging is one really beneficial and excellent way to accomplish this goal.  I cannot wait to try one out for myself one day soon! :)