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The joys of blogging!
Wednesday 23 February 2011
Categories: Education, Homework, Technology & the Internet
So Heathfields Primary School in Bolton have added blogging to their curriculum, even for five year olds. The initiative started in the snowy weather when, in an attempt to engage learners who were stuck at home, a blogging platform was set up on the school’s website and the children were asked to go into the back garden, measure the depth of the snow and report back. Children love to have a mission, and they enjoy communicating, especially with each other. This snowballed (!) and once school resumed, blogging became an integral part of the children’s writing experiences.
I think this is ingenious, tapping into something the children enjoy doing to build their skills and to make learning fun. Now older children in the school are using the blogging platform to write long stories – some of up to 5000 words. Blogging is seen as cool, even for boys, and the National Curriculum levels for writing have improved dramatically.
Although the modern-day craze for using such technology to share even the most mundane aspects of our lives, for example through Facebook and Twitter, causes concern to some, there are so many benefits from this kind of communication. If blogging subjects are well-chosen, children will be stimulated to write for a clear purpose to a real audience, to explore what they think about a range of subjects, and to clarify their understanding in the process. And they will find the experience energising and enjoyable. They may write at length, or concisely, depending on what is appropriate. They will interact, listen to and respond to each other, and to adults. People are interesting (why else would reality TV shows have proved so successful?) and relationships are crucial. Blogging can increase self-awareness, too – when writing about what has happened to them, children have the opportunity properly to process their experiences, as those who have written diaries and journals have done for centuries. Yes, they do have to think about what they are writing and its effect on those who read it, but this is a key skill we would want them to master.
Let’s hope more schools follow Heathfield’s lead, and many more children benefit from the opportunity.
13 years from now some HR Manager will be interviewing an 18 year old teenager for an emarketing post – he or she will be gobsmacked that a teenager so young has so much blogging experience!