“There are a lot of stupid people out there … and stupid people shouldn’t write.”
“There needs to be a better system for tuning down the stupid people and tuning up the smart people.”
“Blogging is largely dead.”
So said Jason Calacanis at the recent ReadWriteWeb 2WAY summit.
Blogging in classrooms has been largely about helping students to develop voice and global connections. But what about expertise? Are we teaching kids to be experts? To be the people that others go to for knowledge on specific topics? While obviously every person cannot be a world class, world leading expert, developing expertise is important.
How do we go after this in classrooms? Is it just important that kids write and develop a voice? Is helping them to develop an online presence enough?
What are we after when we help kids to develop online content of all types?
If writing is a skill, and it is, then you have to practice it in order to improve. Helping kids develop a voice and an online presence is enough at certain levels as they develop that ability.
Helping kids understand expertise, authority (as in an authority on a particular subject), and authenticity are part of the journey at some point. I think his comments provide an opportunity for students to thoughtfully consider how to develop an audience for writing, what contributes to that, and how we are to filter the incredible amount of “content” to determine what we should believe. It is these things that I’m ultimately after in helping kids to develop online content, but I’ll settle for much less depending on the age group. Sometimes it just is about the opportunity for audience in order to improve students’ writing.
Hi Clarence – the short answer is blogs should be used to promote students to write more. If sometimes that means pieces of writing they publish are not high quality that is OK as long as we know that is the case. On the other-hand, student’s blogs should also publish pieces they have taken through the writing process with teacher guidance. In addition teachers should be teaching specific writing skills and genres. One of the great things about blogs is you CAN easily go back and edit an old piece … or just re-write it and leave the old post alone as a marker or artifact or archive of where you as a writer have been. Lastly, give students plenty of writing time.
Brian
Pingback: If I Call You Stupid, Accept the call in the Spirit it was Offered | Bill Schmalfeldt