Authentic Learning with Internet Project

Preliminary Proposal:

One problem of practice that stymies me is the lack of cohesion in my grade 8 writing program. I’m not discounting the spontaneity and revisions of curricular evolution. My impression (and that, I am certain, of my students) is of a disjointed array of writing assignments. While writing assignments are varied, and I practice differentiation in implementing the writing process, I would like to provide more opportunity for students to see themselves as writers, and all their writing assignments as a cohesive collection of opportunities for experimentation, reflection, and improvement.
A classroom blog furnishes opportunities to improve my writer’s portfolio scheme. Prior experience tells me that blogging engages students to write more and often, but I would like to do more.
One advantage of a blog is that it is a central collection point. More than simply replacing the file folders on my desk, however, a blog can transform the writing process and portfolio by its interactive nature.
A blog interface augments my writing program by providing an organized posting venue for writing assignments, rubrics, resources, and more. School community members appreciate the opportunity to access school materials off campus, whether it’s down the block or across the world.
Authentic tasks motivate writing. Publishing on a blog provides the transformative power of a worldwide audience, whether it’s Gramma and Grampa reading and commenting from Chicago, or students from a partner school in an yet-to-be-determined locale. The spontaneous, social nature of the blog invites authentic sharing of ideas, and empowers the writer’s voice. What would happen if a student reflection on child labor (part of our Industrial Revolution study) were read and commented on by someone outside our community, or provided links to an activist organization that addresses the same issue?
The simple inclusion of a Clustermap hit counter will help students see that they have a worldwide audience:

Peer review is a useful practice for both the writer and the reviewer. A class blog would allow students to post their work in varied stages of the writing process, and solicit and receive feedback from me, from students that I assign to comment, from classmates who choose to comment, or from public readers. I will establish a system of categories for feedback (tentative: initial ideas, feedback requested, published) so that students can have some measure of control over their work.
A disadvantage of blog and wiki technology in the past has been limited connectivity. My school, Concordia International School Shanghai, has just adopted the myDragonet (now myConcornet) learning platform, which largely eliminates this problem by locating the blog engine on the server, rather than on the other side of the Great Firewall of China.
A blog transforms the writer’s portfolio by affording great differentiation; publishing is not limited to text on paper, but encompasses podcasts and vodcasts. These technologies also give me the opportunity to engage students with images, video, and sounds, and invite reflection and response. For example:

[Topics for inclusion in later drafts: Assessment, TPCK, student access]