What If We Couldn’t Blog Anymore!?
If you read my last post then you know we had a bit of a scare this week when suddenly access to our class blog was blocked at school. It turned out that the IT department was upgrading or tweaking the “filter” and Blogmeister accidentally was added to the block file - we had access again that evening. You might think this was a bit of an over-reaction on my part, but when I have conversations with the “higher-ups” in our school district IT department about how we blog .. and make and use wiki pages and Skype and such they always smile and say, “That’s great, but don’t talk about that too much. Just be happy you are able to do that NOW.” Not exactly a confidence builder. So when our blog access was suddenly blocked I thought, “Here it comes!”
We were just about to Skype with a class in Saskatchewan, Canada via Dean Shareski when I first noticed this, so I was slightly seething when we were Skyping.
Afterwards, I shared what had happened with the class and we discussed it for a few minutes. They were a bit upset, but that changed when I said, “What if this is it? What if we can’t blog anymore!?” I paused and let that sink in a minute as I scanned their faces looking for a reaction. You could see the gears turning in their heads and kind of a group realization thing happened.
We decided to blog about the situation … I explained that if nothing else we could post their writing the next day via my wireless card and modem. I’ve cut and pasted a few of their posts below without editing. Remember these are 5th graders, almost all “Second Language Learners” and children of poverty. Most hear nothing but Spanish or Vietnamese at home. You can tell by some of their wording and syntax errors … but these are their words. I’ve written before about how others will read these posts and wonder why you would post student writing that has errors? … but I know from whence these students come. I am blown away by the improvement. It used to take 4 to 10 re-writes and conferences with individual students to get to this point that they get to now on their own. I should just let them speak for themselves. You can read more on our class blog.
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Have you guys ever lost something? Well we lost something that we care about and that is our blog. If you guys take our blog away I would be really disappointed and angry about it.
I like blogging because I like to share my stories with other people in the world and I like learning new things too.
I have improved so many things just by blogging like my English mistakes, spelling and writing mistakes too. I have also learned how to edit my stories and that has help me a lot with my learning too.
Students should blog because it’s an amazing experience and it could help them with many things in school like their punctuation, capitalization and other types of mistakes too. That’s why you shouldn’t take our blogs away.
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How would you feel if you couldn’t blog no more? Well I would feel sad because I love to blog. Let me tell you how I feel about blogging.
If I couldn’t blog I would feel sad and shocked because we can’t be blogging no more.
What I like about blogging is that we can read better and understand more than before. Also we learn how to write better and learn our mistakes.
Students should blog because there are amazing stories around the world.
I also learn how to understand english, type faster and read better. I really enjoy blogging and I don’t want to stop.
My favorite thing about blogging is going around the world reading stories. Also reading comments from around the world.
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I REALLY ENJOY BLOGGING!!!!!
I love to blog! Blogging is chatting with people on the internet.
You put a story on the internet and people read it on the internet, and then they could leave comments too!!
My favorite part about blogging is that people leave me comments.
I think students should blog because they could get better at reading, writing and typing.
But guess what? They have just blocked my classes blogs! Can you believe it? Well I do! I thought that it was just so cruel! Well I hope they put it back on because, I LOVE TO BLOG!
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Bad News For Us
Have you ever felt upset for something like this? Well let me tell you how I feel about not blogging any more. I would feel bad about not blogging because I like blogging and because blogging taught my class how to edit our post. I would also be mad because it is cool and we get to meet other people when we comment them. What we learn about this is how to fix our mistakes on our stories. Since I’ve been blogging I have got better in reading books and editing my blog post.
Students should blog because it teaches how to write stories, put it in beginning middle and end, rereading it, finding correct English, finding mistakes and how to type faster. I am doing this because our school district blocked our blogging. Blogging is very cool for me!!!
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No More Blogging?
If we were not able to blog anymore I would feel really upset. I would feel that way because it is my first year blogging and I want to experience it some more.
Blogging is good because you improve in lots of things like I have improved in reading, writing and spelling. I have improved in reading because we always check our blog for comments and read them over and over. I have improved in spelling because I always spell check my stories and reread them carefully for spelling errors.
I think other students should blog because it is something kids could have fun with and still be learning. Kids also express them selves and enjoy writing stories. Kids also learn alot more things that they did not know.
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If I couldn’t blog anymore I would feel sad and angry because most schools can’t blog. I think every student should have the privilege to blog because you learn a lot about blogging. You learn to write better story\’s, correct mistakes and you can learn how to read better.
I like blogging because you can leave comments. You leave comments to tell people how you feel about there writing and if your comment is inappropriate your teacher won’t let it go on.
Students should blog because they can tell people what happens at there school and outside of school. If anyone takes the privilege of blogging away from students. I will fight for blogging until we get it back.
Learning is messy!
Blogged with Flock
Tags: studentblogging
February 9th, 2008 at 7:02 am
Great post, Brian.
Thanks for taking the time to elevate student voice into the conversation on why Web 2.0 tools like blogging are valuable to educators….
I’m pretty sure that my students would feel the same way about our blog, but I’ve never taken the time to ask them! I think that’s one of my fatal flaws when it comes to being a digital educator. While I’m jazzed by our tools—and while the volume of posts made to our optional blog suggests that my students love it too—-I haven’t taken the time to do any digging behind their eyes!
Has anyone reading Brian’s post become super systematic about collecting information from their students to document the value of digital opportunities to communicate, create and collaborate?
I’d love to start collecting more tips and tricks for doing so with my own students.
Rock on,
Bill
February 9th, 2008 at 12:55 pm
Hi Brian,
Your students are eloquent and passioned! I see your pedagogy as a tremendous model for scaffolding and nurturing learning to help students to think more deeply and rejoice in their learning. You absolutely should be proud!
Sending all the positive thoughts in the world that your IT folks don’t interfere with your classroom activities–
Best,
Lani
February 9th, 2008 at 4:38 pm
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February 9th, 2008 at 4:38 pm
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February 10th, 2008 at 9:41 am
Thanks for sharing your students’ responses here. The validity of their perspective makes it especially powerful! –Paul
March 14th, 2008 at 10:20 am
Thanks so much for articulating the fear behind the tools. I have also heard that same sentiment about how access is “for the moment.” There have been numerous days when I access an online tool - our filter catches my access - and the next day it is blocked. Then the two day to two week process of having it unblocked begins. And then it is almost a dice role to see if the site will get approval.
On the positive, your students show remarkable abilities to write down their thoughts so well coming from their different backgrounds. Tell them someone in Michigan is proud of them! Tell them to keep writing, AND BLOGGING, someone is reading.
Coachk
March 15th, 2008 at 3:19 am
wow, blogging is clearly embedded in your students’ learning, lucky kids to have you leading.
March 20th, 2008 at 7:48 pm
[...] We talked about how on the one hand we have the freedom of speech and can say what we want, but that we can’t yell “Fire” in a crowded building because people would be put in danger. We also talked about swaying public opinion with a well thought out argument versus complaining and ranting and coming across negatively. Next we talked about the situation with Al’s students and our 1 day experience with having our blogs blocked. That really hit home with them which I was glad to see. They tend to take life on the chin and not get riled about the important things. They wanted to express themselves about blogging and why Al’s students should blog from an academic standpoint and how they could be safe blogging and their parents should allow it based on following some of the guidelines we follow. [...]