Some time ago I posted about why each teacher should develop the power of the blog and use it with their students. I cannot see any better way to teach students to write formally (if that were the only reason!). It will develop critical thinking skills and through a developing writing style, start to give written perspective and viewpoint on anything that might interest them.
Blogging is perfect. Why? Because (a) it develops READING, THINKING and WRITING skills, (b) it develops discussion even debate through commenting on a post, which in turn creates deeper learning and further critical thinking and (c) it places the author in a position where they can PUBLISH their work to any given audience, anywhere in the world. So many different skills powerfully encapsulated in this one digital tool.
Global Connectedness is never far away when we discuss blogging. Let me digress a little. This week I worked with Mrs Kholoud Odeh and her year 6 Arabic second class who Skyped their friends Sweden. They are second language students, using their Arabic language skills with Arabic language students in Sweden, who also want to develop their Arabic language skills as well as Islamic understanding. Could the next step be a joint Arabic Language and Islamic Studies blog between the two schools in two very different countries. This was a great experience for all of us and I hope this work continues to develop in the coming weeks and months.
Silvia Tolisano wrote, some time back, on her Langwitches Blog about why we blog. I included in a post the following links to a series of posts that were posted on her blog. These are the key areas, when blogging, that we need to think about:
Global Connectedness is never far away when we discuss blogging. Let me digress a little. This week I worked with Mrs Kholoud Odeh and her year 6 Arabic second class who Skyped their friends Sweden. They are second language students, using their Arabic language skills with Arabic language students in Sweden, who also want to develop their Arabic language skills as well as Islamic understanding. Could the next step be a joint Arabic Language and Islamic Studies blog between the two schools in two very different countries. This was a great experience for all of us and I hope this work continues to develop in the coming weeks and months.
Silvia Tolisano wrote, some time back, on her Langwitches Blog about why we blog. I included in a post the following links to a series of posts that were posted on her blog. These are the key areas, when blogging, that we need to think about:
On the Langwitches Blog there are a huge amount of resources on blogging (as well as many other parts of Digital Learning) and how to use blogging in the classroom. Take some time and have a good look. Silvia Tolisano and a myriad of other leading educators who are classroom teachers, freely share everything you will need to develop outstanding blogging with your students ... everything planning and assessment rubrics. Here is one idea from Alan November.
If you are reading this and you are a Year 3 teacher and you think your students up to this, then get into and find out what they are capable of ...
Next post: 'Blogging in EYFS and KS1 - why and how we should do it'
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