2/4/16 This afternoon we had our first session of STI’s Digital Writing Workshop. What did we do to set the stage? BLOGGING! First we looked at some mentor texts and blog favorites. Then, we discussed the features of a blog that make this the genre unique. Finally, we set up our edublog accounts and posted!

Hello BLOG WORLD! I’m here!

I am thinking about the genre of blogging as a focus of study with elementary students. We can begin by following the blog of someone we are interested in before they create their own. When students do begin to create their own blogs the writing will be familiar. In many ways the writing process of blogging would be similar as it is with print text brainstorm, develop ideas, come up with new ideas, revise, revise, revise.

In today’s session the question that teachers had was, How do we get student generated blogs up and running and what would they blog about?

Blogs are a form of social media that allow readers and writers to connect across time and location and share ideas, interest, and opinions with other readers and writers. We just need a vision for what they might craft.

So What can we blog about?
App reviews, book reviews, Narratives – serial novels, hobbies, vacations, territories, archiving and sharing booklists , reviews, and recommendations, or we can have students can use a blog as a writer’s notebook and teachers can use it as conferring tool through comments. We can even have students collaborate and set up dual voice blogs: two authors post and comment on one another’s ideas within the same blog. A couple of good examples are the blogs from Ziemke and Muhtaris https://innovateigniteinspire.wordpress.com/about/ or Two Writing Teachers https://twowritingteachers.wordpress.com/