expressive learning

Blogging Communities in the Classroom: Creating Engaging Learning Experiences
presented by Konrad Gonglowski at NECC2008


Engaging students in blogging can look very different across classrooms and grade levels, with a variety of purposes being served. But, what happens when a writing workshop approach is used when students blog? How will the habits of teaching and learning change and be developed?

How can we make our classroom a Third Place- a place where people go to hang out?

• Create a sense of constant interactions and fun and kids can enter any group and interact with each other
• Moving away from prompts and pre-identified ways to write toward students writing about that which is important to them

How will the uses and activities change?

• useful sustainable active
• opportunities for expressive student voice
• have freedom to do that
• freedom to speak
• Freedom to customize, build, design
• Freedom to interact and network
• To form networks with others and share common interests and goals
• They will find something that they are interested in following

How can we provide Access and Linkage

• We need a public space that needs to be accessible
• We need to propose what are students are doing in the community
• We need to define community
• We need to create a place where the interactions can be seen- one web page that hyperlinks to their blogs

How will our teacher stance change to develop expressive writing? What is the difference between expressive writing and school writing?

• Expressive writing will extend classroom discourse and can't be clearly defined.
  
• School writing has clearly defined formats and specific guidelines.
  
• Expressive writing is developed through writing and responding to ideas that mak a difference to the writer.
  
• School writing is a skill to be acquired - not something that comes from yourself.
• Expressive writing is what you do when you are passionate about something or want to sort or think through something.
• Expressive writing is full of voice.
• School writing can be voiceless.
• Expressive writing is written for an audience of many.
• School writing is written for one person to see

How does grading and rubrics affect student writing?

• The potential for conversation ends
• Language as a tool for shaping meaning is compromised
  
• Contributions to an ongoing discourse do not exist
• There are not active participants to further inform meaning
  

You need to redefine your presence- trade your teacherly voice.

• It will take time to change your voice
• Read differently- like you are reading a novel- not like a teacher who will assess
• Have instructional conversations
• Be a reader not an evaluator
• Show that you are human- share your feelings, connections to your experiences
• Make everyone feel heard- link to specific student entries
  

We need to help guide our students see the journey they will embark upon and the steps along the path that will enable them to grow a writers and thinkers.



How to Grow a Blog-Student goal setting

• What do I want my blog to look like in June?
• Roots- How do I sustain it? What resources will I tap in to feed and support my ideas?
• What habits will I develop?
  

Ustream of presentation at http://tinyurl.com/2adfyo

techsaavy picture on flickr by Mike Sansone
How to Grow a Blog on flickr by teachandlearn