Making Blogging Visible

As I am speaking of the benefits of blogging as a professional and student, I sometimes wonder if the word “blogging” is not a word we speak as we talk at cross-purposes with other educators.

When I use the word “blogging”, I am NOT seeing :

• technology
• a project
• an add-on to the curriculum content.

When I use the word “blogging”, I am seeing:

• learning how to read and write in digital spaces
• the possibility of writing for an authentic global audience
• a platform for reflection, investigation, documentation and curation
• a platform that supports and amplifies modern skills and literacies

On the tails of Visible Thinking Routines for Blogging, comes this new blog post that wants to make Blogging VISIBLE!

A few days Blake Wile tweeted “Actual screenshots of blogs are so useful”

So, I am continuing to highlight, screenshoot and annotate to make it VISIBLE what I think,  when I say “blogging”. There is value in auditing blog posts and comments transparently in order to help other educators in the process of understanding the value of blogging in all area of learning. I am not adding assessment for traditional writing skills (grammar, vocabulary, genres, etc. )to the scenarios below, trusting that teachers will see and find ways to use blog posts/comments for formative assessment of these traditional skills and objectives.  I am placing emphasis on modern skills and literacies as well as the goal of transformational use of blogging as a platform to support these objectives in ways that traditional paper and pencil could can’t do.

Scenario 1: Connections (to other people as well as resources)

A sixth grade Humanities student, writes a blog post during the study of Apartheid in South Africa. His post shows evidence of connecting his thinking to other learning experiences and to further resources, by hyperlinking (one instance, moving up along the Taxonomy of hyperlinks)

He receives a comment from a classmate,  that alters his thinking. She not only points out the parts of his post, that she agrees/disagrees with, but she ADDS to his thoughts. The commenter is actively looking to continue a conversation with the author of the post. It will become part of the learnflow (in time…) Although he does not respond to the commenter directly as a reply to her comment, he shows evidence of reading and embedding her thoughts into his own thinking by leaving a comment on another classmate’s post.

He refers back to the comment that was left for him. [In time...] he will also leave a (hyper)link to the original comment that was left, to follow his train of thought.

Scenario 2: Process

In another 6th grade class, the teacher asked students to take notes on a Popplet, document their understanding of a topic at different points of the unit.They visually mark their notes by color coding bubbles, changing the colors after another learning activity or resource explored on the topic.

Using the popplet as their notes, students write a blog post reflection/summary of their understanding  at different points in time.

1. The first summary being written after a “visual gallery walk”, where student were exposed to images about the topic
2. The second summary after a text source
3. Third summary after further reading of different perspectives on the topic

The image below models the next step of asking students to make their learning process and (potential)  growth VISIBLE.

Students were asked to create their own annotated screenshot of the 3 summaries from their blog and color code facts, insecurities in their knowledge, incorrect facts that they believed to be true and cause and effect of events. The screenshot image below was created with Skitch

Scenario 3: Process

In a Media Basics’ class, students  document and reflect on the process of creating and learning, not just a final product. In addition, giving and receiving feedback becomes part of the workflow and learnflow. Not only does the feedback come from more than one person (traditionally a teacher), but it also allows the person who GIVES the feedback to see that it he/she had an impact on the work.

In time, the posts will include content specific vocabulary, with evidence of using them in appropriate context as well as explanations. The posts will CONNECT with (hyper)links to previously written posts and reflections, showing evidence of growth in skills.

Scenario 4: Commenting (beyond isolated opinions and non-value added compliments)

Another example from my Media Basic class. I made commenting part of our classroom routine. Students READ and LEAVE QUALITY FEEDBACK for their classmates. This could become part of warm-up work, an exit ticket, review or homework.

As I  leave feedback for individual students, I  model commenting for my students at the same time.  Emphasis is placed on connecting to the conversation that is going on in the comment sections and adding value to the original post for the author  (and other readers) by giving constructive feedback supported by examples. In time… as receiving and leaving comments becomes ingrained, so will writing with an audience in mind.

The sample scenarios above are from Middle school classrooms. Take a look at a previous blog post, titled Assessment in the Modern Classroom: Part Three- Blog Writing or Quality Blogging and Commenting Audit meme  solicited further links to blog writing and commenting audit  as a form of assessment in an elementary school classroom. ( by Stef Galvin, Andrea Hernandez, Sheri Edwards, Tracy Watanabe, Kathryn Trask, Shauna Hamman)

Do you have samples, screenshots and annotations for High School? Why not share and link to them in the comment section?

Anatomy, Grammar, Syntax & Taxonomy of a Hyperlink

Hyperlinks make the World Wide Web what it is. If links did not exist, EVERY web page would be a stand alone. Let’s take a close look at these “clickable thingies”

I  like the metaphor of thinking of hyperlinks as the “wormholes”, that transport us from one section of the universe to another, which is being mentioned on the Web Writing Style Guide 1.0 on the WritingSpaces.org site:

While U. S. Senator Ted Stevens’ metaphor of the Internet as a series of tubes (2006) is inaccurate, we can reasonably think of hyperlinks as the paths (or if you want to get sci-fi geeky: wormholes) through which we travel across the World Wide Web. Click a link and almost instantaneously you will move to a new page within a web site or—seemingly magically—to some new website hosted half way around the globe. In fact, the importance of hyperlinks cannot be overstated; there is no web without hyperlinks connecting one text to another (or more often, one text to many).

Hyperlinks make a word or a series of words “clickable”. Traditionally they underline the chosen word or phrase and are recognized by changing the font color to blue. Themes and other formatting of website  can change the appearance of links. [Langwitches blog currently uses a theme that turns the "clickable" word or phrase to a bold format (not blue nor underlined).]

Many educators struggle to make the transition from writing on paper, traditional student journals or worksheets to an online platform (ex. blogs or wikis)  for themselves and for their students. Ann Davis’ says “It is not just a matter of transferring classroom writing into digital spaces”. I wholeheartedly agree with her.

They struggle because writing in digital spaces is a different than writing on a physical piece of paper.  Most of them struggle, due to the lack of knowledge and practice  of reading and writing in digital spaces on their own part. Let’s become aware of the use AND quality of hyperlinks as we read and surf the web.

Tip: Take a closer look at this blog post you are reading right now on Langwitches. You will see hyperlinks sprinkled across the post. I have included  different levels of links from the Hyperlink Taxonomy. Are you aware of the hyperlinks? Can you find and classify the different ones?

There are three aspects of a hyperlink that I want to pay close attention to:

1. the anatomy (the bodily structure) of a hyperlink
2. the grammar & syntax (a particular analysis of a system and structure of language and the arrangement of words and phrases to create well-formed sentences in a language)
3. the taxonomy (the classification) of a hyperlink

One of the faux pas, I often see in hyperlinked writing, are “grammatical  and syntax” errors in expressing a well formed sentence while including hyperlinks.

• links are not integrated into the flow of the sentence  (Ex. Click here, here,  and here…)
• link text is not descriptive  (Ex. Click here to see , Check out my latest blog post, Take a look at…)
• links do not clearly indicate what the reader can expect to find if they were to click on the link
• links are the URL (link address) spelled out, instead of embedded into the flow of the text sentence. (Ex. Take a look at http://langwitches.org/blog/2012/04/03/hyperlinked-writing-in-the-classroom/)

Hyperlinking goes well beyond simply adding “clickable words” to an otherwise static, unilateral, linear, one dimensional and disconnected text. Critical thinking and strategy skills are needed to include “higher order hyperlinks. A digital writer can

• emphasize (point their readers) to a virtual place or connect them to a specific idea and concept by choosing what kind of link to place in their hyperlinked text.
• mix form and content to open up  different dimensions, making their writing non-linear, multi-layered and connected.
• use the hyperlink as a medium to convey her/his own train of thought

Download the Makeup of a Hyperlink as a pdf file.

I am open to changes, additions to this first attempt to create a Taxonomy of Hyperlinked Writing. Please help continue to develop it by adding, questioning or tweaking.

Assessment in the Modern Classroom: Part Three- Blog Writing

I believe we are on our way of taking a modern classroom learning opportunity and upgrading assessment forms to match new skills and new literacies while not forgetting traditionally assessed ones.

We took a classroom Twitter feed (Part One) , looked at the conversation skills students exhibited during the Skype call (Part Two) and now are moving on to looking at “blog post writing” as assessment.

Keeping a previously created blogging rubric in mind, we took a closer look at the blog posts written by the 4th and 5th graders during the actual skype call and edited and formatted after the call had ended.

(If you have a minute, take the time to give the 4th and 5th graders (“outside of the classroom”) feedback).

There is not enough time to allow students to write the blog post, but still require them to write, in addition, in their paper journal. The “new form” of assessment has to replace the traditional one….

[Sidenote: not all the time... students don't have to only write on their blog, just as they should not only write in physical paper journals.]

There are still more components to our learning experience. We have videographers in the process of editing the recorded Skype call. Yet another opportunity for an upgraded assessment.

• How will we give feedback?
• How do we assess these students’ artifact for evidence of learning.
• How well did they edit?
• Were they able to summarize important parts of the video clip?
• Were they able to tell a new story (showing understanding) from the clip?
• Is there evidence of growth in their fluency/literacy/ skills such as digital communication, connection, collaboration and critical thinking?

Do we need a hub to collect these new types of assessment. Who is sharing? Who is curating? Who is disseminating?