We Are Bloggers

When I was first planning out an informative writing unit for my students this year, I wanted it to be different than what I had implemented in years past.  I wanted to create a writing unit that was more engaging, to offer them the opportunity to write with real purpose and to have them write for an audience that was bigger than just their classmates and me. I wanted to find a way to draw all of my writers, including my most reluctant ones, completely into the fold.  I wanted every single student to be ALL IN on this.  I knew firsthand what blogging had done for me as an educator and realized that it could provide the same experience and benefits for my students. 

With so much technology being integrated throughout our curriculum to enhance student learning, digital citizenship has become a part of our daily conversation. Digital citizenship skills are being explicitly taught and practiced on a regular basis to ensure its safe and responsible use, but more importantly, students are beginning to develop an understanding of the true impact of their words, particularly those posted online. I remind students often that technology must be used for the greater good - that technology should be used to empower learning, communicate effectively, collaborate globally and create passionately. These conversations and practices have certainly paved the way for the journey my students and I are about to embark on.  

We began our informative writing unit using mentor texts to analyze and evaluate different text structures - descriptive, sequential, cause/effect, problem/solution, and compare/contrast. Students will be applying their knowledge and understanding of these text structures as well as complementary text features, as they create their individual blog posts for topics of their choosing (with my approval, of course), giving them a voice to the world.  The plan is to assign students a new blogging challenge to be posted every other week. Students will also be required to read each others' blogs and post thoughtful comments and/or questions. Parents and teachers, as well as the entire world, are encouraged to read students' posts and comment on them as well. I will be moderating all posts and comments to ensure the safety and integrity of our blogs.  

Well, here we are, folks... Week One of transforming students into bloggers, of transforming students into teachers of future generations because that is what our words become - thoughts and ideas that shape the future.  We are excited to begin this adventure and to present the world with our voices.  Stay tuned for an announcement about our first published posts in the coming weeks.  
      

Students learn how to set up their blog accounts