Wow, Blogs...What a Powerful Literacy Tool

Let's file this under "Things That Mr. B. Didn't Know"....

After reading the chapter titled "Blogging and New Literacies" from Diane Penrod's Using Blogs to Enhance Literacy my eyes are wide open.  As a new blogger I had never given consideration to the wonderful ways that blogging can enhance literacy development.  As I read the four affects Ms. Penrod suggests blogging has on literacy development they made total sense.  Here they are again;

1. Blogging encourages fluency in writing. 
2. Blogging encourages cooperative learning.
3. Blogging encourages critical thinking.
4. Blogging encourages performance based learning among other cross-curricular strategies.

In a nutshell, students view blogging as fun, not work!  The nature of blogging lends itself to cooperative learning as a collective intelligence regarding a topic is developed through posting to other sites and threads.  A blogger must be able to back up their opinions, so persuasive and argumentative writing skills must develop. If teachers are to be providing real-world context to their lessons, then blogging fits the bill!

Especially eye-opening is the powerful affect blogging can have for special needs students.  Ms. Penrod makes a wonderful point when she discusses how through use of a blog a special needs student escapes their "body", and any of the labels and preconceptions that may go along with their special needs designation.   In my field placement over two-thirds of the class is labelled ESOL.  When I googled ESOL students and the effects of blogging on literacy development I couldn't believe how much material is out there on the internet.  Check this site out for more information on the uses of blogs to promote literacy development with ESOL students: http://esl-lab.blogspot.com/ ....

Mr. B