Teen Blogging
Clay wrote earlier this month about the state of teen blogging, taking apart some recently published statistics. To boil it down, he only recommends blogging in a [English] course that’s advanced: for kids who really like to write. The reason? Blogging, computers, and the technology don’t instantly make writers out of kids. If they didn’t want to write with paper and pencil, why is the technology going to change that?
I agree with his general point, but from a much different perspective. As the guy who has to manage student blogs, I don’t want hundreds of kids in our system blogging. At least until we have a better logistical handle on how to do it.
So, I’d rather just a few cases here and there emerge, with teachers who are going to regularly use blogs in the classroom, with kids who naturally like to write.
But I also look at the computer, the blog specifically, and the audience it gives emerging writers and wonder that if we hold back on the blogging that we might be throwing-away the incentive to write. I’ll be honest here, when I’ve asked kids to write in my classes, I get things that I’d never expect out of their mouths. Reading what they write was interesting. And despite the statistic Clay cites for how important kids think writing is for success in life, a good writer/communicator is never something that holds you back.
So, I don’t see the harm in introducing blogging if it gets kids to write, even when they don’t have a natural need of writing. But I am not sure I’d use it in the same way Burrell does–in English class.
I’d be interested in blogging in a blogging style: to keep track of what was learned, personal reflections, etc. To make this successful, we have to show models. Are there good models of blogs as learning databases out there?