Mining the internet: a space for “writing without writing.”

An Annotation by Jeffery Ayer

This article really was by Emily Van Noy, the teacher who employed blogging in her classroom, and Kajder and Bull assisted in writing it.  The focus was primarily on steps in setting up and using blogs in the classroom.

Van Noy states that journaling in class was dying, and she even gave up on it altogether, until the new technologies came forward, and thus resurrecting journaling through online communication.

Essentially, Van Noy emphasizes the importance of planning and setting up a blog for a class in predicting its effectiveness with students.  From parent surveys to student technology permission slips, she covers all the pre-blogging steps thoroughly before cracking application.  Another step emphasized setting up accounts and assigning usernames that are appropriate, protect identity, and also contain something that a student will likely remember later (forgotten usernames and passwords can quickly affect a blog’s potential).

Van Noy then highlights some uses, including reflection postings, student responses, and “sharing ideas and work within communities” (34).

She also pointed out the benefit of archiving options that some sites contain.

Lastly, Van Noy stresses the importance of spell check tools – something many sites do not include (or if they do, are difficult to locate).

Favorite line at the end:

“We are convinced that, as we continue to work with blogs in language arts, they will expand the possible ways in which we engage and lead student writers in the classroom” (35).

Kajder, S. and G. Bull with E. Van Noy.  (2004, March).  Mining the internet:  a space for “writing without writing.”  Learning and leading with technology.  Vol. 31, No. 6:  32-35.