Why blogging should be used in more classroom settings....

Students are regularly asked to show what they know.  Educators have multiple ways of assessing their students and often the assessments come down to a few formats: multiple choice tests, short answers, T/F tests, or projects.  While all these assessments do give some information on what the student knows at that particular moment, ultimately they really don't show what the student really knows how to do. The student needs an opportunity to show in an adequate space what they are capable of to an authentic audience. 

Blogging is a method that allows the student to create a portfolio of sorts, showcasing all they can do in multiple formats.  According to edgeek.com, it is more important than ever before that students can create an online place to engage with the audience around them.  They are learning new digital skills that will allow further proceeding into certifications, jobs, and schooling. It is important that we give our students time to work with the new technologies in workforce environments and to search through multimedia formats.  Students will have those opportunities and more when building a school blog.

While blogging is fairly new in schools but becoming more commonplace, it still takes a bit of work on the school and teacher to get the blogs made.  It takes time to teach expectations, social media risks, go over rules and acceptable behavior.  This time may often seem daunting and overwhelming, leading the teacher to just junk the project.  If all those that that have stock in the project can keep their eyes on the reasons and benefits for pushing for students to blog, the frustrations may be kept to a minimum.

The benefits of students doing web logs, aka blogs, far outweigh the time constraints and possible bad outcomes.  Students will learn lifelong skills, build a portfolio that can be shown to future schools and jobs.  Finally, students can see how their writing and video making actually influence real audiences.  Students need opportunities to have their voice heard beyond their peers and teachers.  Blogging allows that and more.

This is an example of what I want to see for the persuasive or argumentative blog post.  I have shown both sides to the argument, but I clearly have one side I feel is more important.  I have gone through and edited this multiple times, read this aloud two times, and went back and rewrote parts until I published this.  Again this should be a minimum of 250 words, pull in a source from somewhere with an explanation of why I am using it.  I want four paragraphs.  This means that you will likely have nearly 300-400 words.  This one is 343 words.  I also expect to see that you have gone through the writing process from brainstorming, drafting, editing, rewriting, and publishing.  I should not see grammatical errors or spelling errors. The tone should be formal and not include cuss words, slang, or jargon that would not be understood.  The writing should be school appropriate.  Remember this is a public forum and is searchable.  Keep it clean, keep yourself looking good, keep the school looking good.