Student Blogs and Collaboration

As part of this 20% Project experience, my students are blogging. They all have their own blogs, which they have designed and they are making weekly posts about their 20% Projects. Every Friday each student is required to write a blog post where they are discussing their progress. They will write reflective, analytical, narrative, persuasive, and informational blog posts by the end of the project. Each post is in response to a blog prompt, should be about 500 words long, and has to follow a format suspiciously similar to a 5 paragraph essay. But, these are not essays. The language can be more informal. They can use contractions, pronouns, and colloquialisms. Unlike in the standard MLA format essay (which I assure you they have written many) they can express themselves more freely.

Through the process of blogging they are reflecting on their experiences, sharing them with the world and each other, developing and exercising their English Language Arts skills in a real world application that is preparing them for future careers in a high tech world, investing their time into a pursuit that intrinsically motivating for them, all while and having autonomy over their learning! ...Yay!

One of the cornerstones of the Common Core standards is collaboration. This is a serious challenge for our program. Our students do English through independent study. How do you collaborate when you are working independently?!

Here is my solution... I am requiring a collaborative piece to this project. Now, all of a sudden, they have a cohort. Their blog posts are due on Fridays, and their are required to read and comment on at least 3 of their cohort’s blog posts by following Wednesday. It is my hope that some feedback from their peers will help enrich the experience. All comments must be constructive and kind. The idea is that they support and encourage each other, that they build each other up, not tear each other down. Comments should be helpful; they are supposed to be sharing ideas, and offering insights and suggestions. The idea is to be better because of each other.

Also, the students will be giving a formal presentation of their projects at the end of this. The cohort will comprise much of the audience. Now, because of this collaborative piece, the audience will already be pretty well informed as they have been following each other's blogs. I anticipate great, well-educated comments and questions at those presentations.