Teach42

Bud the Teacher put up a postthe other day that caught my eye. It’s basically a reflection about Will’s commentary on a post that Bud had made (wow, talk about blogs being a conversation in slow motion, eh?).
From Bud:

There is a “blog,” a noun, which is what this space is called. It’s composed of my links, my posts, the silly picture of me playing the guitar in the corner, etc. The blog is the management tool that I’m thinking about and have previously discussed.
There’s also “blogging” the verb, which is where I think Will’s mind is, and mine’s still catching up. Blogging is that set of skills that he talks about.

From Will:

blogs allow me to create content in ways I could not before, not just post what I could create otherwise in a different form. And in the essence of that creation I use and learn all of those skills that will serve me in my lifelong learning that were (I think) much more difficult for me to learn before: close reading, critical thinking about information, clear and concise writing for a real audience, editing, and reflection, all of it understanding that whatever truth I may put forth will continue to be negotiated by readers and more reading. This, by the very nature of the process, develops reading, writing, information, collaboration and computing literacies, literacies which I think most of us would agree are going to be crucial in navigating what’s ahead.

It’s a fascinating topic. Blog the noun, vs. blogging the verb. They are very different things. Thinking about blogging as the set of ’21st Century Skills’ that students must know to create and maintain a blog puts a very different spin on it. The reality is that this really needs to be considered closely, as these skills should probably be included into curriculum standards. Blogs are one way to teach these skills, they aren’t the only way. But they do need to be represented and built into the curriculum.

Hrrrm… Methinks this requires more thought. What are the important skills for a student to know in order to be an effective, quality blogger? What skills does a student need to know when they graduate lower school, middle school or secondary school? Finally, what is the intersection of those two sets?

One last question to mull over: Do blogs offer up a new way to teach the same skills we’ve already been targeting, or do they represent a new skill set that we need to be incorporating?

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