Using Creative Nonfiction to Connect with Online Audiences Gary AndersonLeslie Healey Amy RasmussenTony Romano

Choosing a Blog Platform Questions to Ask/Answer: What does your school have? What will it support? Some blog platforms are free. Some are free but have ads. Some are part of larger platforms. Some are stand-alone. Each has advantages and disadvantages. Edmodo? Ning? WetPaint? Blogger? Wordpress?

What should students blog about? Anything! We write posts about books once a month, plus one more each quarter on a topic of choice. They are also required to post comments on each other’s blogs—at least 20 per quarter. Advice from our student bloggers: Compose off-line; copy it online. Writing a Book Blog Post

Assigning a Blog Post At least 2 paragraphs Includes some media: video, widgets, hyperlinks, photos, etc. Generally positive tone Specifically invites reader response

Working with Media For videos and other media, look for the embed code. In Youtube, click on Share. Then click on Embed. Then is the embed code for use in HTML settings. Put in this code, and the video appears.

Other fun, easy media to use in blog posts: ToonDo.com: creates a comic strip DoInk.com: creates animations Webcams, surveys, anything with an embed code. Spotify Playlists: creates musical accompaniment (with lyrics) “My blog is more than just writing.”

Should You Be a Blogger? Yes! Here’s why: Reflection is good. When writing teachers write, good things happen with students. Working with technology helps us understand our students’ world. Interaction beyond your school is healthy. Establishing an online presence shows leadership.

What’s In It For Me?

Blogging is a core feature of social media, and it is not THAT different than Facebook. If given a choice between writing a paragraph on FB versus writing an essay, a kid will always choose FB.

What Else Is Important? Choice Teen Topics: fun, friends, phones, dating, religion, fashion, politics Current News & Trends: interesting, shocking, outrageous stories Literature: characters, conflict, plot, tone, theme Audience Teacher/Students: Leave feedback on student posts. Ask questions. Carry on a comments conversation. #comments4kids #globaled #flatclassroom 21C Skills keyboarding and how to use search engines, tags, hyperlinks, and categories; how to imbed digital images and video; how to know reliable online sources and how to cite them.

““Writing and learning and thinking [and blogging] are the same process.” ~William Zinsser

This reader turns blogger This blogger teaches blogging Her students own their voices

ALL LEVELS WRITERS/READERS Different ability levels & grades Always present a “challenge” Correlate the challenge with your own experience

STUDENT STYLE Practice mechanics Practice rhetoric Practice personal style(s)

TYPICAL CHALLENGES Students build blogs that represents them=control Increase readership/followers=social Genre blogging=content Pump up their publishing savvy

HOW IT GETS DONE Subscribe on a reader/aggregator Follow through =many choices Student in control=they decide which posts I review for quality The experience of blogging > than your comfort level as a “grammar nazi ”