Donna's Blog

Book Club Blogging

Description

"Blog" is short for the word Weblog. A Weblog is an online site where someone can post his or her thoughts for others to read and respond to. Some blogs are done by individuals, and others by groups. After reading them, visitors can post public comments about blogs. Blogs can also incorporate graphics and multimedia. Typically, a blogger posts regularly to his or her blog (daily, or every few days, etc.) Some blogs are about a specific subject, and some are more of an online diary/journal for the blogger.

Key Findings from Readings

One important point made in the article by Richardson about new web technologies is that we must rethink what it means to be literate. While it used to mean just knowing how to read and write, students must now be taught to be "editors as well as readers" when examining information on the Web. They must know that just because something is posted on the Internet, that doesn't automatically make it true, and learn how to evaluate information in order to determine if it is factual or not. Another good point made in this article is that teachers should model appropriate ways to use online tools such as blogs. For example, a teacher could set up a blog about his or her classroom and teaching experiences. Richardson also mentions some safety issues to think about, such as students publishing their names with their work, and the possibility of inappropriate content popping up online.

Applications for Teaching

In reading about blogs, an idea that I had was to allow students to start book club blogs. This would be similar to a regular book club, which is popular with many adults, in which a group of people all read the same book and discuss it. For the student book club, a group of students would either choose or be assigned a book to read, and then they would blog about it as they read. Of course, some guiding questions would have to be provided, but hopefully students could take those as a starting point and add their personal opinions, thoughts, and feelings. I currently use Reading Response journals - for anyone not familiar with these, students write about what they are reading in a letter format and I respond to what they've written. The book club blog would be like a reading response journal, except instead of only me responding to a student's writing about a book, other students could respond as well. The other difference with a blog is that people outside the class can be pulled in, since the blog is available for viewing by anyone with Internet access. I would like to have authors contribute to the blog. It would be great if the actual author of the book the group was reading could contribute, but that might not be realistic. If not, maybe another professional author, or someone who is an expert in the field of something mentioned in the book, or has first-hand experience with some aspect of the book, could be a part of the group.  

Posted at 11:11PM Jun 17, 2006 by DEAL, DONNA in General  |  Comments[1]