One advantage of blogging...

For many people, blogs may seem like just another social networking tool similar to facebook, myspace, and twitter. To be quite honest, I will admit that I felt this way before I created my own blog and discovered the many advantages of blogging as discussed in Diane Penrod's book Using Blogs to Enhance Literacy.

                                                   
In her book, Penrod describes some of the ways that blogs help students develop literacy skills, one of which being that blogs "encourage fluency in writing". When I first saw this point, I was in complete shock. How many people do you know that would spend the same amount of time and energy as they would writing a school paper on a blog? After I continued reading, I realized that I completely missed the point. Yes, it is very rare that you will run into someone who blogs in the same way they would write an academic paper. BUT, this means that many people view blogging as a non academic activity. In schools, this is crucial. Writing now becomes fun. Its an activity that allows students to publish personalized documents in a laid back manner, play around with technology, and explore different graphic. Little do they know that they are building literacy skills at the same time.

Blogging seems to be a growing trend in today's education. Throughout my education, I was never given the opportunity to participate in blogging activities, although I believe it would have had a postie influence on my writing. Next year, when I become a teacher, I hope to introduce this increasingly popular form of writing in my classroom because I think that it will make a once tedious task into an enjoyable, hands on learning experience for my students.