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My students have gotten the blogging fever. I did not expect this and am silently cheering. I am sharing our kidblog site with a colleague whose students are also posting. Also, two former students who are now in middle school are joining in. The site is getting lots of activity.
On my simple rubric for kidblog, my students have four requirements, each worth 10 points: Post 3 times, GUMS (Grammar, Usage, Mechanics, Spelling), 3 comments, and comments must be thoughtful and constructive. Here are the highlights:
1. Lots of posts! What are you reading? Slice of Life stories. Poetry Friday. My students are writing a lot. This must be good for them. I have seen great strides in just these first three weeks of school. They are adding details. They feel like their writing matters. They are using sentence structure and humor to make their writing more interesting.
2. I am using their posts to teach grammar, either in whole group or one on one. This is working. My students are realizing that grammar matters to the reader. They are noticing when other writers are not following grammar rules.
3. Sharing and caring! My students are getting to know the other students posting on our blog. They are relating, connecting, wondering.
How do I turn this activity into data? In this day of data-driven instruction, I want to find a way to track and analyze the progress of my students. I know it’s happening, but how do I prove it? I welcome your responses.
To read some of the many student blog posts, click here.
Please link up your own digital literacy post with Mr. Linky.
Reflections on the Teche 
Yeah! Cheering for the writers!
I don’t know how best to turn it all into data as a way to show learning, though.
Kevin
My students loved it when you hacked into their posts. Somehow all this interaction must grow them, right? I know it helps me. I struggle with this data driven world we live in. Art and relationship cannot be measured in data points.
Sounds absolutely terrific, Margaret! I also wonder that in addition to writing themselves, by reading other posts, they’re also learning about writing, what works, what doesn’t, etc. As for data, can you use examples from the beginning, & keep gathering them, on a point scale more than you’re using? Don’t know much about that, but I agree, writing helps improve writing!
I think I do need to keep better records. Maybe a file for each student with writing samples. The ease of using kidblog is I have access to their writing in all places. Thanks for joining in the conversation and linking up.
Margaret, I applaud you for connecting your students with the global world of writing. I am trying to bring that message to the teachers I work with in order to broaden their practices. I left a message for one of the writers. Perhaps, students can evaluate themselves and their trajectories as writers but this would be soft data.
I am thinking about making a reflection page for the end of the grading period so they can see for themselves how far they have come. Thanks.
Isn’t data when students learn and practice a new skill. For me blogging is about collaboration and community beyond our classroom. If you HAVE to can’t you look at the growth of students according to the rubrics. Differentiate the rubrics when students have mastered the current one you’ve created or better yet let them create their own. Excellent post!!!
I like the idea of differentiating the rubric. My students are pretty good at coming up with good things to put in a rubric. They know GUMS is a given. Surprisingly they will challenge themselves with word counts. Thanks.
Yay for blogging! I haven’t started blogging this year yet with the kids. I can’t wait to get them going. My current 6th graders blogged a bit in the summer since I set them up right before the end of school, but I’m ready to start them again. I’ll look forward to more discussions about data and assessing. Right now, though, I think it’s great that they’re enjoying public writing without too much added pressure of assessment.
I think the most MEANINGFUL way to assess their learning is to evaluate the progress in their writing over a period of time. Look at their first blog, then one a month later, and so on. I think it would also be meaningful to the students to do this, and to reflect on the way their writing has improved. This will include analyzing the end-product, of course, but it may also be helpful to have them reflect on their process, and how that has evolved.
I had great fun reading through their work!
I agree. I think I will definitely do some sort of reflection each grading period. It is both valuable and meaningful. Thanks for joining in the discussion.
I am starting this with my second graders soon. We’ve been doing paper blogging for a bit after I read this awesome post by Franki Sibberson http://clickherenext.com/2014/09/02/learning-about-blogging/
I read a great idea where you could use their blog posts and comments up on a projector as authentic writing for evaluation by the class (by permission of course). Pull one up and critique it. What was its purpose? Could the reader understand what was intended? Did poor grammar or spelling (etc) affect the intent? This has data written all over it in all the right ways, I think.
Thanks for sharing your joy!
I have used posts to teach and reinforce grammar skills, but I also like the idea of evaluating it as a writer (purpose, intent, etc.) We could underline good word usage. This would also give a shout out to the author in a more meaningful way than comments. Thanks.
I’ve tried to think through your question of gathering data here: http://whatelse.edublogs.org/2014/09/14/digilit-sunday-assessing-blogs/
Thanks for the challenge!