Student Blogging

I teach a 6th grade computer class, and I have been very interested in student blogging for a while.  We had some setbacks this year, and went the whole first semester without access to computers or the Internet.  Now that we have moved into our new lab, we have been trying to play catch up with our required curriculum.  So at the end of this year, I decided to do a test-run with student blogging.  I know it's a great tool to use, but I just wanted to try it now so that I know a little bit more about implementation next year.

A blog can be such a great instructional tool, because it takes learning beyond the four walls of the classroom.  I know that my students take so much more pride in their work when they know someone else will see it, besides me.  You can use blogs as a way for students to communicate and discuss content, or you can use it for them to "show-off" their own work.  You can also put these two together and have students post their work, and then students discuss and give feedback on each others' work.
 
Currently, I have students blogging on a digital novel we are reading.  They have to post a blog entry after every chapter they read, and then comment on their classmates blog posts.  The first thing I have noticed (and this is new to me since I'm not a writing teacher) is that...well, students don't like to write.  So, I have had to really scaffold the process for them by giving guiding questions for their posts, as well as for how to give quality feedback.  So far, that is the only problem I have run into.  But this is not really a problem, as much as just part of the learning curve.  Students are so used to only turning in a writing assignment to a teacher, instead of having it viewable to other students and teachers.  I will be inviting their English Language Arts teachers to read and give feedback on their writing, for this year's blogs.  Next year, I am toying with the idea of doing quad-blogging, an idea I read about online.  In quad-blogging, you are put in a group with three other classes who are blogging, anywhere in the country.  Every week, a different group posts an original group, while the other three classes offer comments and feedback. The groups rotate so that every four weeks, your class is posting blogs and the rest of the time they are commenting on the other class blogs.  I really hoping that this will take the students pride in their writing to another level!