For previous student blogs I used very basic rubrics. I think the format I was using was a bit too vague for students to truly understand how they could demonstrate mastery. My job is made a bit easier with the Common Core because they lay out standards for discussion and writing online. The Common Core standard for 9-10th grade writing that I’m referring to is, “W.8.6. Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and present the relationships between information and ideas efficiently as well as to interact and collaborate with others.” The standards for discussion are really helpful, too.
I found quite a few helpful resources on evaluating student blogs. The most relevant to me, and the most comprehensive, was from The Chronicle for Higher Education. The Chronicle offered a few more resources, and I was pleased to see references to teachers who are actively using blogs in their classroom “Both Jeff and Julie look for thoughtful responses, good writing, original ideas, taking advantage of the medium (linking, video, audio) where appropriate, and, of course, actually posting the blogs on time.” These criteria seem very reasonable for blogging in the English classroom. The Chronicle also mentioned how to respond to student work in another article, “Grades are of course a superficial way of showing students what we value. Direct and immediate descriptive feedback does more than a single letter or number can. So in order to deepen students’ understanding of their own work, I comment on every student’s blogging at least twice throughout the semester.” I couldn’t possibly respond in depth to every post, but I can easily read each post. This is a good marker for me.
I found quite a few helpful resources on evaluating student blogs. The most relevant to me, and the most comprehensive, was from The Chronicle for Higher Education. The Chronicle offered a few more resources, and I was pleased to see references to teachers who are actively using blogs in their classroom “Both Jeff and Julie look for thoughtful responses, good writing, original ideas, taking advantage of the medium (linking, video, audio) where appropriate, and, of course, actually posting the blogs on time.” These criteria seem very reasonable for blogging in the English classroom. The Chronicle also mentioned how to respond to student work in another article, “Grades are of course a superficial way of showing students what we value. Direct and immediate descriptive feedback does more than a single letter or number can. So in order to deepen students’ understanding of their own work, I comment on every student’s blogging at least twice throughout the semester.” I couldn’t possibly respond in depth to every post, but I can easily read each post. This is a good marker for me.