To introduce a proper format for blogging I employed an old teaching method know as "round-robin writing". Typically this collaborative writing is used in fiction writing and storytelling. A group of students (four or five) are given a sheet of paper and a brief prompt to begin their writing. At a prescribed time the students stop, slide their papers to the student to their left (right) and they continue the story. This process continues until everyone has contributed.
As future authors of a classroom blog the students will be logging into our blog with a user name and password, finding their social studies class from a list of five, and responding to a question, thought, quotation.... When they respond they will be required to address, respond to, agree with, disagree with... one student's ideas that may have posted before them. If they are the first to post, they will be forging the way!
In class this past week I arranged the students in group of four and five. Each student received a paper that had a short quotation from a Greek philosopher. Ask your child to see the paper they have in their binder. Below the quote were lines for responses. The quotes were thoughtful, thought-provoking, and for some, quite difficult to initially comprehend. Students were told to try and explain what they believed the philosopher was trying to state, cite an example of this from his/her life, and list any questions that come to mind. As I circled the room I often defined words from the quotes, reworded passages, and guided students towards meaning (scaffolding-link). As the students switched papers the responses became easier, as they were able to "piggy-back" on the previous students' responses.
What was most difficult for the students was to connect meaningfully with a previous student's response. Often children would write, "I agreed with Sam and what he wrote." and leave it at that. I explained to the students that what they need to do is agree, but build. Tell about something that happened that reminds them of this idea. They can disagree, but build. Ask the previous student a question, or write about something that contradicts that idea. Go in a new direction. Acknowledge a previous student's thought, but interpret the question/quote in a new way. The key here is contributing meaningfully, not just lip service. This will be a challenge, but time well spent on teaching children collaboration, and creative thought. Blogging will begin after our holiday break... darn those snow days!
J. Priest
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