Why Blog?

More and more students, public school, post-secondaries, and businesses are using blogs, web pages and other online communications in the real world with many benefits and concerns.  I hoped by starting conversations, modelling and actively using blogs I could help my students become more aware of their public voice and using online communications for different purposes to enhance their learning.  So, I started blogging with my 3 classes last year for the first time with varied successes.  In fact we are all still learning.  Each of my classes have had a slightly different focus for their blogs with me setting up a "Home Base" Blog, like this one,  for each class.  All of my class blogs are linked under My Blog List if you are interested in seeing what is going on in my other classes.

En   -Developing literary writing skills that incorporate...

•  making connections between varied texts (poems, novels, movies,...) and lessons
• responding to "Big Picture" questions with references to literature
• writing skills - in particular, multi-paragraph writing
• reading / responding  other students' writings and offering specific constructive criticism
• being mindful of writing for a "public" audience (more authentic to real world applications than writing only for a teacher)
• To be able to see / have an online record their writing skills developing throughout the semester
• to share with a wider audience, including parents
• to work on collaboration skills - similar to a literature circle format for class group discussions, but in writing

Hum 8 - Most of the above still applies but the subject of our writings have been in the form of Learning
              Blogs described under Blog Expectations
Law 12:  (Just started after spring break.  Some groups are still getting started.)

• Same as above for writing expectations but the expectations are higher given the students are seniors
• Responding to legal and ethical cases / issues in the news
• Responding to class discussions
• Making connections between lessons, discussions and the news

These were some of our learning intentions behind our blogs.  Later I will share our reflections:  did we meet? exceed? or uncover more learning intentions / questions?