Thing 2: Blogging Begins with Reading

• What do you notice about the genre of blog writing in general? Blogging is a global conversation that allows people to communicate like they never have before. Our ideas become global just like our posts. What a powerful tool.
  


• (How) is blog reading different from other types of reading? How is it similar? Reading a blog is like reading anything else. You need to be able to recognize all the letters that form words and link the words to the ideas presented by the author. Its like a trip to the library. Read what interests you and leave the rest. What makes it different is that you can engage in an immediate conversation with the author and other readers. This is very different from the typical trip to the library. As book readers you are a passive participant in the work. Bloggers are active participants in what the work will become. Books (et al.) are a masterpieces written by an artist. Blogs bring many artist to the canvas, allowing for a collaborative work to emerge, a place where ideas converge and become more than what the initial author intended. That's how it's different.
  


• (How) is blog writing different from other types of writing? How is it similar? How does commenting contribute to the writing and meaning-making? In the same respect blogging takes on the same form. The sharing of ideas makes you mold what you're writing differently. New ideas, bring new thought processes that can change the course your writing takes.
  


• Is there a "blogging literacy?" How does blogging affect the way we read and write? Like any other fad that splashes onto the scene blogging has terminology that goes with it, just like gaming. In order to become a literate blogger you need to learn how a blog works. Most anything we read we read from left to right. However when you read an newspaper article you need to learn to read the columns in the same order. Depending upon how the blog is set up, to understand the conversation you need to read from the beginning. Some blogs have the oldest information first so you would read it conventionally. Others flip it so that the newest information is first. If you want to understand the conversation you need to find the beginning of the thread and read on.
  


• (How) can blogging facilitate learning? I think its an informal, safe environment for students to practice reading and writing on a variety of subjects. Because it's a safe environment where there thoughts and ideas will be respected they will begin to think outside the box and perhaps together our youth can start thinking about ways they can impact their world positively. Because it's global hopefully their knowledge of other cultures and communities will make them more tolerant.

I read, Why I Don’t Assign Homework by Dan Meyer, because I was recently having a conversation about this at school and I wanted to see the thinking that went behind Dan's policy. I knew that there was plenty of research out there supporting his decision not to assign his students homework, but I also knew that I didn't agree.



Once I started reading his post and some of the comments it became abundantly clear that he and others were speaking of older students in middle and high school. Perhaps for them this is the path, but for children just beginning to learn to read and calculate; homework is a valuable tool. It gives them the opportunity to practice and become proficient at the new skills.



Much of what he stated in his post was true. By the time these kids get to high school there is no sense in assigning homework. The top kids breeze through it and the rest don't bother. But just think if every elementary school teacher assigned homework, expected it to be done to the best of the students ability and then took the time to review it; if the parents of those same students also started to take partial responsibility in their children's education, by the time those kids got to high school they might not need the extra practice.



I've been teaching for 20 + years. I've seen struggling students not only close the gaps but excel. Due in part to

• maximizing learning time in school


• to well thought out homework assignments that give students the opportunity to practice in the areas they are weak in or challenge others


• giving these students the confidence they need to know they can do it


• letting the parents know that they are an integral part to their children's success

I read in Courtney Purcell's post: According to Marzano, assigning homework in elementary school does not lead to significant increases in percentile points, but there is a value to assigning it. I think helping youngsters and their parents take an active role in their education has a lot of value. I also think that having a consistent homework policy within each school is just as important. I would encourage teachers on each grade level to determine goals for the year and then maximize students learning of those particular objectives by creating homework assignments to meet that end. For instance, one of the third grade goals is to have every child reading at 110 words per minute by the years end. If that's what the state expects and I need to facilitate, one of my homework assignments is going to be about building this fluency.

In essence, if elementary school teachers prepared students for what was coming not just what is now perhaps homework wouldn't be such an issue in middle and high school.

I'd be interested to read what other elementary school teachers think about this. Come to think of it I'd also be interested to see how middle and high school teachers feel about this. i look forward to reading more posts.