Why blog?
Blogging gives students an authentic audience to share their writing with. Blogging lifts away the walls of the classroom so that others, instead of just me, get to enjoy the writing the girls are doing and this in turn allows them to get regular feedback from their peers, parents and wider community too.
Year 8 students of 2013 have grown up in the 2000s and are no stranger to technology and the internet. While we, as adults, often feel a step behind we do need to come to terms with the fact that the future these girls face will require them to be tech savy. In their career they may be required to write a blog to advertise their business or thinking. They need to know what is appropriate and inappropriate to put out there in a public post. Therefore, it is vital that they are given a safe and monitored environment where they are mentored and discussions are held.
In a world of texting grammar, punctuation and spelling knowledge and accuracy often is not as good as it should be. Research has shown that students tend to take more care with their spelling, grammar and punctuation when blogging as they know a wider audience may read their work and they take pride in publishing it.
The writing process encourages students to plan, draft, edit and rework, publish and reflect. By publishing to a blog the reflection process is often more accute especially if they receive feedback from readers that not only comments on what the writer has done well but also what the reader would enjoy seeing developed in the piece. This often motivates the writer to go back to the writing to rework further before publishing again. SGHS encourages students to strive for personal excellence and I believe blogging will be a further motivator for them to be the best writers they can be.
The relationship between reading and writing is strong yet we are often better readers than we are writers. Hearing back from readers on our writing helps us to hone our writing skills and gives us motivation. I know the students of 8EK will love reading your feedback as readers!
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