While reading through the assigned readings about blogging and the influence it can have on students, I have to resist the urge to become a Negative Nancy. Before I go into my pessimistic viewpoint though, here is some background information.

As a student, I blogged a few times in class and have done many online discussions. These blogs and discussions have ranged from a boring classroom assignment that just needs to checked off a list to something I look forward to and go above and beyond because it is truly interesting. The difference between these assignments? The biggest difference, in my opinion, would be the students. The students who participated in these assignments were either lacking in motivation to complete this online forum or they were excited and interested in this assignment.

Fast forward to my teaching career. My colleague and mentor began blogging with her tenth grade English students. Her experience varied widely among students. Some loved the blogging and took it to the next level; others dreaded it and did the minimum. With some of her advice, I began blogging with a junior/senior English elective class, Film Studies. I varied the structure of the blogging many times. One semester I had one blog that students took turns writing a post for; other semesters I have students create their own blog where they would post multiple times in a semester. The only format that remained the same was that students were required to comment on each other’s blogs. Sometimes I assigned blogs to students; other times I would let them decide whose to comment on. (Here is my example blog students could work off of as an example: Mrs. P N104 Blog.) 

Regardless of the format or the students involved, I always felt underwhelmed with the results. I felt my students always found the assignment to be just another assignment. I never saw a student take it to the next level, where they were feeling inspired and creating because they desired to.

This is where my Negative Nancy side comes out: How do we as educators help students to understand the significance this blog can have? How do we aid students to create for their own accomplishment rather than to complete an assignment for a teacher?

Do not get me wrong. These readings about blogging have enticed me to try blogging again. I am determined to start blogs with my at-risk students this month, but I am scared of the push back I may get from them, of the negativity I will hear from them, of the groans I will have to endure, and of the amount of motivation I will have to force onto them in order to accomplish the assignment.