Find Your Voice With Blogging

Blogging has so many benefits. One of my favorite benefits though, is that blogging gives you "a voice". This goes for both adults, as well as students. One of my favorite examples of this is from within the classroom. We had a native Spanish-speaking student who came to our school part-way through the year as an 8th grader. Starting a new school is scary enough, let alone when you have a language barrier. This young girl knew almost no English at all. This language barrier lent to the her being extremely shy as well, so participation in class was a challenge.

One of her teachers decided she wanted to have students start blogging. To get blogging started, the teacher would post a prompt and students would write and reflect on it. All students had a chance to participate and comment to each other. The teacher asked her Spanish-speaking student if she wanted to try blogging, and the student said she would try. She asked the teacher if she could write her response in Spanish. Without any hesitation at all because she was thrilled the student wanted to participate, the teacher said "Yes!". So the student participated and wrote her entire response in Spanish. 

This was a great moment. 

She could participate, just like the other students. 

This student finally found her voice. 

This awesome moment had a ripple effect in the classroom. What happened next was so cool. Without any direction from the teacher, the classmates (who were all English-speaking), responded to her and they wrote their responses entirely in Spanish. They did the best they could using the knowledge they had from their Spanish classes as well as from asking other students who spoke Spanish. Her classmates embraced this opportunity to support and encourage. They replied to her, she replied back to them. There was finally an ongoing conversation between all students in class. It was such a great moment and blogging was the reason behind it.  

Blogging in the classroom can be used in different ways and at different levels. 

A teacher can have a class blog where:

• The teacher adds posts, and students reply
• The students have access to add their own posts
• Students create their own blogs

Blogging offers all learners a chance to have a voice. Those who have a language barrier, those who are shy and may not participate in class as often as others, those who don't think of the answer right away and want a little more time to process, those who have so much to say and there isn't enough time in class to share it all...all type of learners. Blogging "levels the playing field" and offers a place where a writer can be heard, be a part of something bigger, and be able to find a "voice". 

We never know the awesome outcomes a learning experience will have until we create the opportunities. 

Blogging Links:
Ideas for Student Blogging
Kids Learn To Blog

EdCafe - "Students in Charge of Their Corner of the Universe"

I was fortunate enough to be able to attend the spring EdCamp Chicago this year held at Palatine High School. It was such a fun professional development opportunity! If you haven't attended an EdCamp, they are referred to as an "unconference" because it's a conference that is participant driven. The sessions are not pre-determined by someone else. They are created that same day by the people who attend. People volunteer session ideas and the ideas get plugged into a schedule grid for the day. After the schedule is complete, you choose what you want to go to. The hard part is choosing because there end up being so many great ideas!! Once you get to the session, you along with everyone there can participate. If you volunteered a session idea, you may end up leading the group discussion, but you don't have to have anything prepared ahead of time. You'll find as the session gets going, people will share things they know about the topic, ask questions about it that maybe someone else knows, and it goes from there! It's just awesome being with people who are interested in learning about the same topic as you. 

Because I'm such a fan of the EdCamp model, I was super excited to hear about one particular session idea! The session idea was on having EdCamp in the classroom, or an  #EdCafe. Brilliant! This session was volunteered and led by Katrina Kennett. I loved it! 

Here's a great explanation for What is an EdCafe (more info found HERE): 

An EdCafe is a way to structure class that promotes student choice and ownership over learning. 

The model was inspired by EdCamp conferences, where participants build the schedule and choose what sessions to attend. 

This bottom-up approach shifts energy, engagement, and opportunity for exploration to the students, and transforms the teacher into expert facilitator instead of gatekeeper/manager.

So, what you'll need to have an EdCafe in your classroom: 

• a class of students and a space to work with them
  (12-15students works well with three corners, 15-23
  with four corners, 24+ students use the center of the room too)
• a way to make and see the schedule
  (a piece of paper on an overhead, a whiteboard and markers, or a projected Google Doc)
• a topic / theme / text / stage in the writing process
  (ex. WWII, Leaders as Behavior Monsters, 1984, thesis statements)

There can even be corners designated to where the students are at in a project they're working on. For example: stuck, confident, finished, beginning. The possibilities are endless!

Video: "Students in charge of a corner of their universe"