Putting Students at the Center of Learning: Student Blogs

“If students do not develop a valuable relationship to the things they study in school,
their relationship with their teacher will not have accomplished its full purpose.
This challenges (teachers) to resist the desire to be the center of the story….”
Doug Lemov in Teach Like a Champion 3.0 (Jossey-Bass, 2021, pp. 103-104)

How do you measure student success as a learner? The AASL Standards for Learners echo Doug Lemov’s comments: “Put the learner at the center, focus on growth…and enable learner voice, choice, and agency” (AASL, National School Library Standards for Learners, School Librarians, and School Libraries. ALA, 2018, p. 124). Educators provide a variety of learning experiences that offer opportunities for student inquiry, exploration, and growth as a communicator; however, student blogs have the potential to engage students with personal choice, critical and creative thinking, and decision-making skills through the creation and sharing of digital content for an authentic audience. In addition, student blogs offer librarians exciting ways to guide students in developing skills as ethical communicators and digital citizens.

Video Bloggers Characters Flat Set. Britannica ImageQuest, Encyclopædia Britannica, 2 Nov 2020.
quest.eb.com/search/186_3417278/1/186_3417278/cite. Accessed 28 Jul 2022.

Several years ago I challenged sixth graders to create their own mock-up of a blog. In this article I will share some details from that early exploration with student blogs, and then I will share additional ideas on how to expand the project, inspired by a summer conference presentation by educator Allyson Spires, Principia Middle School.

The Martha Payne Story and Digital Citizenship
Sixth graders were introduced to blogs through the story of nine-year-old blogger, Martha Payne, and her blog Never Seconds. This news show video and Guardian article provided the background story of Martha Payne’s blog. Students viewed the global response to Martha’s blog on this blog page, which shows photos of school lunches shared by students in Japan, Israel, Brazil, Spain, and Chicago. As students viewed the video and read the article, they were asked to think about the following:

  • How Martha identified her passion (Love for journalism and interest in writing about
    school lunches. She planned to post photos of her daily lunches and rate them.)
  • How Martha’s father helped her to ethically set up the blog (Discussed idea with the
    school for their permission before setting up the blog.)
  • How Martha safely set up the blog (Father set up the blog and she used the name VEG to protect her identity.)
  • How Martha reacted to public response (Excited response from community, even globally, as other students emailed Martha photos of their school lunches. Later, Martha’s school demanded that she shut down her blog because of critical reaction to the quality of the school lunches. After a strong reaction from the community in Martha’s defense, the school backed down and allowed Martha to continue her blog.)
  • How Martha used her “brand”–the popularity of her blog (Over 10 million “hits” to her blog website. Martha set up a “JustGiving” page for Mary’s Meals–a kitchen to serve free breakfast to students in Malawi. Donations raised £131,666.79.)

After reflecting on the success of Martha Payne’s blog and the charitable donations to provide nutritious meals to children, students also viewed the STEM Kids Rock website. These teen articles describe how members promote science discovery and outreach to the community. The mission of STEM Kids Rock: “We’re inspiring the next generation of STEM leaders through our Free Mobile Science Centre that is powered by kids.”

Creating Your Own Brand
Both Martha Payne and the teens of STEM Kids Rock created a memorable brand for themselves by following their passions and expanding outward in efforts to benefit others. For the blog project, students were asked to consider the following: What could be your brand? What passion could you share to engage the interest of an audience? Using Google Slides, students were challenged to create their own mock-up of a blog. (See slides for a template and a sample “Book Ends” blog–note that links are not active in this sample template mock-up.) The resulting student blogs reflected an array of interests: food recipes, sports highlights, car models, pet tips, superhero movie reviews (including an article “Most Anticipated Sequels that Never Came Out”), and art blogs (featuring an article “There’s No Such Thing as Too Much Art!”). These sixth grade students commented that creating a blog was one of their favorite projects. Because of a short time-frame (four class periods) for the project, a community outreach aspect of the blogs was not explored.

Re-Imagining Student Blogs: Choice and Voice
This summer I attended the STLinSTL summer conference, and a presentation by Allyson Spires, “Choice and Voice,” reawakened my interest in student blogs. Allyson Spires, a language arts teacher at Principia Middle School, developed a blog unit over a five-week period. She began the unit by challenging students to think about their knowledge and passion: What are your interests outside of the classroom? How would you share those with others? Students used Wix templates (wix.com) to create their blogs, and every aspect of the site was password protected (sites were shared through a link with the teacher and students could also choose to share the link with family and friends). Allyson Spires also used this Blog Evaluation so that peers could appraise the blogs and offer helpful comments for the bloggers. Students also considered how a blog could be a vehicle to spur positive action. View the Teen Activist resource list compiled by Allyson Spires (note that some titles are appropriate for high school readers).

Student Blogs: Next Steps
This Fall I plan to revive the student blog project with a seventh grade Creative Writing class. If possible, students will use Google Sites to create a private website for their blog and share the link with the teacher as well as family (if they wish). Students will have their choice of creating a blog that features an Indelible Moment or a blog that explores a Personal Passion. This criteria will be used to evaluate student blogs.  Beyond the creation of these blogs, students might choose to share their Indelible Moment or Passion article with the school community during their Language Arts class or during our weekly assemblies (each seventh and eighth grade student develops a personal essay that is shared during the assembly).

Final Thoughts on Blogs: Four Pitfalls to Avoid 

  1. Whose Blog is This? Student agency should drive the blog (not teacher-driven).
  2. Just Another Wiki? The blog should not be an info dump; instead, the blog reflects critical thinking and careful curation; the discussion of ideas shows new connections. 
  3. It’s All About Me? Blogs should illustrate (with a touch of humility) what has surprised the writer in the learning process AND what still needs to be explored or learned (new questions that arise). How has this experience or passion affected your life, your attitudes, and how have you grown as a learner? 
  4. You Said What? The blogger should be open to a lively exchange of ideas and allow the conversation to clarify ideas and enlarge perspectives. Remember that some commenters may criticize, but be thoughtful in your own responses. Dialog with ideas, don’t attack the person.

The goal of this re-envisioned blog project is to immerse students in a thoughtful use of digital tools to communicate to a wider audience. Empowering student choice and voice builds skills that will help students to become critical thinkers, creative problem solvers, engaging writers, and respectful, ethical communicators. And who knows, for some bloggers this experience may be the beginning of positive action in the community.

For further reading and viewing:
Melly, Christina. “Can We Blog about This? Amplifying Student Voice in Secondary
Language Arts.” English Journal, vol. 107, no. 3, 2018. Accessed 25 July 2022.

“Oversharing and Your Digital Footprint.” Common Sense Education,
commonsense.org/education/videos/teen-voices-oversharing-and-your-digital-footprint.
Accessed 25 July 2022.

“Profiles of Generation M2.” YouTube, uploaded by Kaiser Family Foundation,
youtu.be/rUOOAbTu07A. Accessed 25 July 2022.

“What’s in Your Digital Footprint.” YouTube, uploaded by Common Sense Education,
youtu.be/4P_gj3oRn8s. Accessed 25 July 2022.

AISL Publications Group

AISL Publications Group is a subcommittee of the AISL Board Communications Committee. The members of the AISL Publications Group are available to assist any members that are interested in creating a blog, writing for professional publications, applying to speak at conferences, or writing a book. If you are interested in any of these activities, feel free to contact one of the Publication Group members for help.

A recent AISL blog mentioned the number of private schools that are members of NAIS and the member count at AISL. One way we might be able to encourage more independent school librarians to join AISL is to write an article for Independent School the NAIS magazine.

Publications Group Expertise:

Debbie Abilock, School Library Connection columnist, speaker and education consultant, is the co-founder of NoodleTools, a teaching platform for student research. Recently she has been “noodling” on how to evaluate government information, why to teach data-rich infographics and when to collaborate with teachers using AASL’s new framework.
Contact: dabilock@gmail.com

• Matching your ideas to publishing venues
• Feedback on writing content

Tasha Bergson-Michelson is the Instructional and Programming Librarian at Castilleja School. Tasha presents at a variety of library-and education-related conferences on topics like data literacy, imagining sources, and engaging with news sources, with a preference for discussing targeted instructional strategies. She was a guest editor for Knowledge Quest and has also written articles for other library journals.
Contact: tbergsonmichelson@castilleja.org

• Writing conference session descriptions and proposals
• Planning conference sessions
• Brainstorming topics
• Editing feedback

Dorcas Hand has written articles for School Library Connection and Knowledge Quest, which will be published in Jan/Feb 2018 – as well as articles for non-library outlets including Independent School Magazine. She edits the TASLTalks blog (tasltalks.blogspot.com), and has practice editing all kinds of professional pieces. She also manages Students Need Libraries in HISD in support of local public schools, advocacy IRL. Personal Website: Strong School Libraries.
Contact: handd51@tekkmail.com

• Blogging
• Topic ideas
• Editing

Christina Karvounis has presented to her faculty on a range of topics relating to creating classroom blogs, writing for teaching publications and preparing documents for conferences. Publishing an article and/or presenting at a conference are in her 3 year goals.
Contact: KarvounisC@Bolles.org

• Brainstorming topics or flows
• Finding the right venue for your piece/research
• Editing content
• Blogging in all iterations

Sara Kelley-Mudie has worked at both boarding and day schools, and is currently the Director of Southworth Library at Thayer Academy. She has written articles for library journals and presented on creating collaborative relationships with faculty, question development, and ideas for sparking inquiry.
Contact: sara.kelleymudie@gmail.com

• Brainstorming topics
• Editing feedback
• Crafting presentations and slide decks

Cathy Leverkus is Director of Library Services at The Willows Community School and a member of AASL’s Publications Advisory Group. She coauthored the book Ebooks and the School Library Program: A Practical Guide for the School Librarian with Shannon Acedo. Cathy has written articles for library journals, and recently presented at AASL on collaboration.
Contact: cathyl@thewillows.org

•  Exploring the latest journal topic requests
• Brainstorming book ideas
• Finding book publishers

Nora Murphy, Librarian at Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy, has recently presented on source literacy, the topic selection process, and using video blogs as a way for students to report research results. She has also written articles for library journals.
Contact: NMurphy@fsha.org

• Feedback on writing content
• Pre-writing/planning strategies
• Collaborative writing strategies
• Video Blogs

The AISL Publications Group looks forward to serving you.

Twitter, Blogs and Credibility: How Are You Teaching It?

I admit, there are times when I am standing in front (or at the back) of a classroom and I mention the name of a database that I don’t wonder if 20 pairs of eyes glaze over just a little bit. I worry that I have become that database lady, instead of someone who teaches information literacy.

So, my goal for this year was to do things differently. And it has been working out beautifully.  We have instituted the personal librarian program for 9th graders, which I will get into later in the year when I have more data.  We have also instituted a campaign of joy, which is just something I personally feel is needed on a campus filled with stressed out students and teachers. I have also begun looking at former lessons and trying to make them more interactive. Here is what I did with my Honors Government Crossfire Debate Project. Let me know what you think.

Honors Government Crossfire Debate

In prior years, I would talk about twitter credibility and the verified checkmark.  We would look at a twitter account and talk about credibility.  Then I talk about where they could find good blogs and how to verify an author.  I would end with a tour of the Libguide and the databases they should explore.

boston_marathon

This photo was sent four minutes after the bomb blast. It is from a report analyzing fake content on the Boston bombing. (Source: http://precog.iiitd.edu.in/Publications_files/ecrs2013_ag_hl_pk.pdf)

This year, however, I started with the Boston Marathon Bombing.

After asking the students if they remember the bombing, I talk about how fast the news is now and that breaking news is even faster and that news consumers need to be critical thinkers and evaluators of the news that they consume.  According to an independent report analyzing fake content on Twitter, the first tweet about the bombing occurred within three minutes of the blast and the first photo in four minutes.

According to the report, 29% of the content was rumors or fake content. That’s almost a third of the content.  And they found that people with high social reputation and verified accounts were responsible for spreading some of the fake content.  Now, is this the time to abandon Twitter? No, of course not.  But it is the time to check up on the source that you are using.

When did your source start tweeting?  The day of the bombing?  Are they asking you for money? Are they a charity created the day after the bombing? Do they have five followers or 50,000?

One reason it is important to check on when a twitter source joined and determine how many followers they have and do they post tweets regularly is because during the Boston bombing over 6,000 malicious Twitter accounts were created and later suspended by Twitter.

Why does this happen? Because there are bad people wanting to take advantage of the kindness of good people.  So, check your sources.

boston_marathon_1

Photo from the Analyzing Fake Twitter Report which is an example of why you should always check your sources for length on twitter and focus of tweets.

If you take a look at my prezi you can see how I laid out my talking points.  That’s when we get to the verified accounts at twitter.

boston_1

Anderson Cooper’s verified personal Twitter account can be found by looking for the blue check after his name. (Source: Twitter.)

The key point to a verified account is that even though you are verified, you may not be credible.  For instance, it may be the real, verified Kim Kardashian, but she isn’t credible on topics of science.  She may or may not be for fashion.  I won’t judge.

The other point on a verified account is that a very small minority of people have verified accounts.  That leaves plenty of credible people out there with no verified check mark but plenty of credibility for you to find.  All you need to do is look for them.  Case in point: Mexico Drug War.

deciding

With this search, I just typed in Mexico drug war and the top two people were Sylvia and @puzzleshifter.  Of course, not having a name is a problem in and of itself, which we discussed as a class.  I have the class decide on which person to go look at and they usually choose Sylvia as the more professional of the two.

longmire0

With this photo, I am asking them to look and think about what other information can they glean from the site?  They should be looking for how many followers she has, for when she joined.  They should notice that her website is listed and that she is a regular tweeter.  If they are really good, someone might mention that her followers might be mined for other sources of information. Then we follow the website to find out more info on her.

longmire1

After clicking on the about page, I have them scan the page to see if her credentials match the subject in which she claims expertise.  If so, then we have a credible expert.

longmire2

Then we move on to blogging.

For blogging, we reinforce what we have talked about with Twitter, but we expand it for the blogs.  One source that I found exceptionally helpful in preparing this lesson was: Measuring Social Media Credibility: A Study on a Measure of Blog Credibility.

In essence, I boil it down to

A blogger is considered credible when they are

  • knowledgeable
  • influential
  • passionate
  • transparent
  • reliable

Blog content is considered credible when it is:

  • authentic
  • insightful
  • informative
  • consistent
  • fair
  • focused
  • accurate
  • timely
  • popular

Now that they have an idea of how to think about credibility.  I give them an exercise. I have them get into their debate groups of four people and then I assign them to a group.  Each group has three blogs to evaluate.  They need to decide if the blog would be a good credible expert, someone to use as a primary source (a hobbyist) or is too biased to use.  They have 10 minutes and each group comes to the front to discuss in front of the class and we deconstruct their reasons why.

And what do you know?  They were engaged, enthusiastic and their analysis was spot on (with a couple of exceptions 8-).  I even learned a few things.

If you would like to see the exercise and my liguide, go to Crossfire Debate Libguide  Let me know what you are doing or if you have helpful tips or ideas below or email me.

 

Additional resources that were helpful in constructing this lesson:

Heidi Cohen’s Can you separate real from fake content blog post (Oct. 29, 2013)

Heidi Cohen’s 7 Actionable Twitter Tips to build your following (May 30, 2013)