Writing and Blogging Across the Curriculum

1. Writing and Blogging Across the Curriculum By Tom Thompson (Lowcountry Writing Project) and Amy Hudock (Pinewood Preparatory School)

2. What is a blog? • The word “blog” is short for “web log” • Began being used by the innovators of the internet to track their movements on the web. • Taken up as a diary form for personal publication • Blogging programs made for first easy and direct web publication • Now blogging going respectable

3. Blogs Taking Over You can now find blogs replacing columns at • The New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/ref/topnews/blog-index.html • The Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/opinions/columnsandblogs/

4. Why are blogs so popular with readers? • Readers enter into a joint publication project with the author • Readers become “authors” themselves • Readers feel that they get their say –immediately • Readers interact with other readers

5. Why are blogs so popular with authors/bloggers? • Ease of publication • Immediate publication • Reach wide audience • Immediate feedback from readers • Interaction with readers • Feeling “heard” • Informal format • A genre still developing

6. What is Writing Across the Curriculum? Writing . . . . . . to make connections, . . . to make sense of facts, . . . in short, to learn.

7. Students need a chance to assimilate information, make connections, and face whatever may still confuse them. This kind of writing is a way into or a means of learning, a way into understanding through articulating. S. Sorenson. “Encouraging Writing Achievement: Writing Across the Curriculum.” (1991)

8. Writing requires knowledge and focuses thought. In order to write, students must have something to say. Students do not merely express knowledge by writing, they also discover knowledge. Writing is an inherently integrative process, combining the total intellectual capacities of the writer. C.F. Risinger. “Improving Writing Skills Through Social Studies.” (1987)

9. One way to use WAC . . . Give students the facts andlet them work with those facts. For example,let them write a poem. (Samples borrowed from Christy Wegmann, Lowcountry Writing Project.)

10. Black Death: 1348 - 1351 Date Poem: Each digit in date = number of words/line 1 3 4 8 1 3 5 1 Fleas. Unknown filthy culprits decimating the European population. Bodies ringed and rosy before the inevitable decay. Everywhere false cures spread. Priests preached plague as punishment. Death.

11. Each line begins with “I” plus a verb “I AM” Poem: I am the Church I see my wealth throughout Europe I feel powerful and sometimes a bit corrupt I stand at the center of everyone’s life I control the king, the knights, the nobles, the nobodies I help the poor after myself I hope the Holy Land will be regained I’ll never stop collecting my tithes I’ll be remembered with buildings, sculptures, windows, pain I am the Church

12. Poem for Two Voices: Two characters, one topic, some shared lines Knight Castle Chef So many depend on me. So many depend on me. I protect the lord, the castle, even the peasants. I cook for the lord, his family, never the peasants.I represent my lord in jousting tournamentsOf course, I always win. I provide food for my lord and his huge feasts. Of course, no one ever complains. I serve my lord. I serve my lord.When called upon, I’ll serve my king. When the king visits, I’ll serve my blackbird pie.

13. (Knight) (Castle Chef) I’m brave, pious, chivalrous. I’m tasteful, organized, efficient.I don my armor with pride. I don my apron with pride.With my horse, battle ax, and sword I face the enemies. With my mutton, suckling pig and pudding I please the crowds. My lord couldn’t survive without My lord couldn’t survive without ME! ME!

14. Blog Enhanced Writing Process • Prewriting  • Drafting • Initial Peer Response: fact-to-face peer editing • Peer Editing on Blogs • Teacher Comments on Blogs • Revise and Bring New Hardcopy Draft for Face-to-Face Peer editing • Turn in Paper (post and/or print)

15. What Students Say about Peer Editing on the Blogs • Allows them to read the work of all their classmates • They can judge their own paper against others • They can get ideas about what to do and not what to do • They learn to set up standards and judge against them • They get good feedback from classmates • They learn to write better by editing others

16. What Students Say about Blogs in General • After last years’ test case project, 100% of students said “DO THIS AGAIN!” • This year, with a larger groups, again, 100% say “I WANT TO KEEP MY BLOG!” • 100% of students said the blogs helped improve their writing through the peer editing process. • 100% said they wrote better because they knew others would be reading their writing.

17. Let’s try WAC in the biology classroom… • Describe, in first person (“I”), “A Day in the Life” of a . . . • Mitochondrion • Nucleus • Vacuole • Golgi body

18. Earth Science. You’re studying the planets . . . • You are a travel agent. Design a brochure to attract vacation travelers to the planet of your choice. • You are a rap star. Write and perform a rap song praising the attributes of your assigned planet. • You are a novelist. Write a chapter from a novel set on a planet other than Earth. Account for the characteristics of the planet. • You are a trading card designer. Design a card for each planet: picture on the front, stats on the back.

19. How can we use blogs for educational purposes? • Engage students in a writing community • Create on-line student writing portfolios • Track student writing across disciplines • Foster writing across the curriculum • Assess writing program progress • Teach internet safety and appropriateness

20. Class blogs Allow the teacher to: • communicate with the students • encourage students to communicate back to the teacher and with each other. • post questions or writing prompts for comments and discussion, provide a list of homework assignments, and post a list of students’ individual blogs. • Example: http://blogosphere.pinewoodprep.com/blogs/honorsenglish10thgrade/

21. Homework or In-Class Writing Post The teacher posts a question or writing prompt onto the blog, to which the students respond by leaving a comment. For example: • http://blogosphere.pinewoodprep.com/blogs/honorsenglish10thgrade/inclass_writing/

22. On-Line Portfolios • follow students through their academic careers • eliminate the need for paper portfolios. • can’t be lost and don’t have to be stored • can be accessed from any computer • can be viewed by students, parents, and administrators • can be used to track a students progress across time and different disciplines • Example:http://blogosphere.pinewoodprep.com/blogs/honorsenglish10thgrade/

23. Research Blog • Students find sources on their topic. • Students post the link and an evaluation of the usefulness and authority of the site onto their blog. • Students keep a record of what they might want to use from that source. • Students then can produce the final paper, report, or other product, and enter into the blog enhanced writing process.

24. Let’s get out of the box one more time . . . It’s English class. You want students to understand the various characters (and their actions) in a story. • Write a letter of recommendation for Character X, who is applying for Job Y. • Write a letter (or IM or email) to someone who missed class, explaining a key idea discussed that day.

25. Should you try blogging? • Blogging can enhance what you already do • It engages students • Grading on-line homework and assignments is easy • Can foster a writing community across your campus • Can be fun!

26. HappyBloggingAcross the Curriculum!