Authentic Writing
- Students choose topics based on their own interests.
- Popular topics include fashion, food, sports, and other hobbies.
Teacher as Facilitator
- Students reinforce grammar and writing skills by commenting on each other's posts.
- Students help each other revise and edit their writing.
Lesson Examples
1. Homepage
1. Homepage
- This is a great opportunity to teach students about plagiarism.
- Students create their homepage by locating and editing a copyright free image.
2. About Me
- Students' first writing assignment is to introduce themselves and explain why they are an expert on their topic.
- Students read examples from other blogs like this one.
- This is a great opportunity to teach students about internet safety.
3. Writing Portfolio
- Students can use a section of their blog to serve as an electronic writing portfolio.
- This is an easy way for teachers to see how students' writing has shown growth throughout the year.
4. Expository Essay
- Students write an essay on the following prompt:
Some people say, "Write what you know." Your blog is an extension of who you are and what you know. Identify the topic of your blog and explain why you chose it. Include specific details and examples in your response.
By using Google docs, students can leave each other comments and suggest revisions.
5. How To / Process
- Writing blog posts is a great way for students to explore different organizational patterns and text structures.
- An open ended assignment like this one has unlimited possibilities.
6. Persuasive Project
- Students invent a product related to their blog and use persuasive techniques to create an advertisement for the product.
- Student Example