As an English teacher who has focused on writing for 20 years in the classroom, there’s no doubt that what first got me interested in Web logs was their obvious effect on the process of writing instruction; instant audience, true collaborative space, archived drafting for easy reflection, and more. This digital paper that Pat has spoken of for the past couple of years represents an incredible step forward in what teachers and students can do in the classroom (provided, of course, they have access to it.) I may have blinders on here, but I really believe that in five years if not less, many schools will be providing Web logs to students as vehicles to create some amazing electronic portfolios of work that involve all disciplines, many mediums, and many audiences. I’ve mentioned often my vision for Web logs here at my school, one that I think we are moving toward making a reality as each day passes (though change is not swift.) But nowhere is it the potential bigger than in teaching writing simply because of the obvious nature of the technology.

This article, also in the Times today, reports on some innovative and creative new ways that Internet technologies are being used in classrooms. But, as Eric Baumgartner says,

The Times writes about web publishing as a means to motivate students to write, but misses the boat on the use of weblog technology to support the process.

I agree. The article mentions Web logs as Wikis as something students do after school, but all of the three or four disparate technologies mentioned in the article (e-mail exchanges, online publishing, mentoring, etc.) can be achieved through this one technology. Even better, teachers can do even more in terms of discussions and feedback and publishing, depending on what software they choose. I’m convinced that in due time Web logs will get their notice. But I have to admit it’s kinda fun playing with this before too many other kids get in the sandbox.

Still, Web logs and students mentioned in TWO different articles in the New York Times on the same day? What could it mean????

UPDATE: Just got the latest Technology and Learning magazine, and guess what? A whole page for “Education Web Logs”. I feel faint.

UPDATE #2 Just noticed a third NYT article connecting schools and Web logs:

And, although the trend toward teachers’ Web sites is still in its infancy, it is already being chased by its logical successor, the Weblog. Unlike Web pages, blogs can easily be updated without rebuilding the whole page, and teachers can structure them so that students or parents and other outsiders have free rein to create their own content on all or part of the blog.

Gasp. Oxygen…
—–

From today’s NY Times: Can Johnny Blog?

This may be the year that school blogs come into their own. A school blog is simply a Weblog - an online blend of diary, links and commentary - that is used by teachers and students.

Blogs seem to be a natural way for teachers to maintain a class Web page and for students to handle research projects. One site for classroom blogs, schoolblogs.com, lists more than 1,200 worldwide, up from 800 a year ago. And new blog sites for teachers have sprung up, like the Educational Bloggers Network (www.ebn.weblogger.com).

One of the trendsetters among educators is Will Richardson, supervisor of instructional technology at Hunterdon Central Regional High School in Flemington, N.J., who made use of blogs in his journalism and English classes last year to foster discussion and collaboration as well as to showcase students’ work.

Students in his class on modern American literature, for instance, created a blog to study the novel “The Secret Life of Bees” (weblogs.hcrhs.k12.nj.us/bees) by Sue Monk Kidd. The author posted a 2,300-word message, and a group of parents read along and contributed their thoughts. Other Web users also happened upon it.

“The whole collaborative aspect blogs bring to the classroom is what I took away from my experience last year,” Mr. Richardson said. For this academic year, he is planning a collaborative blog with students in Krakow and Prague to study the Holocaust. Mr. Richardson’s efforts are chronicled - where else? - on his Weblog (www.weblogg-ed.com).

Pretty cool! Another little nudge to the tipping point…