As an English teacher, I’ve had numerous conversations with college professors who lament the writing skills of their first year students. But not all writing. Most students are capable of solid expository writing. It’s their skill with persuasive writing that’s the problem. Specifically, they’re weak at writing a thesis statement that can be argued.
I spend three years teaching my high school students how to write a persuasive essay. For many students, it takes that long. (And I’m lucky to have them that long in my school.)
Part of the problem is that our current school systems — and not just in Canada — aren’t great at producing independent thinkers. Without this ability, it’s hard to create a great thesis statement, anticipate the arguments against it, and then compose your own argument in light of what you understand about the pros and cons of an issue.
So for three years, I write for them, and with them. We talk about opening paragraphs, and they learn how to write them with their thesis statement either as the first or last sentence. (The latter requires more skill.) They learn to use transition words, embed quotations to support their argument, consider the advantages of active vs. passive voice, vary their sentences, and many other skills, all in the hope of creating a strong argument.
The truth is lately I’ve come to question the point of much of this. Does the average person, once they leave school, spend a lot of time composing academic essays? Is this the best way for our students to show their learning? In some places, the academic 5 paragraph essay is hailed as the Holy Grail of non-fiction writing achievement. Yet even if a student can become a great persuasive essay writer, they’re still only semi-literate, at least according to the definition of 21st Century Literacies.
Blogging is a different beast
While traditional essay writing may not help alleviate this situation, I think blogging can. Here’s the problem; Blogging is an entirely different beast. And one of the things I’ve learned about my students is that they don’t necessarily transfer a skill they’ve learned in one area to another without difficulty, or even prompting.
For one, the paragraphing is different. The large, solid paragraphs of prose that can be found in a typical persuasive essay, can feel arduous and cumbersome to all but the most determined reader.
Instead, blog paragraphs tend to be shorter. It allows the piece to feel fluid and speeds up the rate at which your reader reads (often through the glare of a computer monitor or on a phone or tablet screen). And while the effective blogger still uses transition words, as many aren’t necessary to provide the piece with a feeling of fluidity and coherence.
Sometimes a paragraph is one simple sentence, used for emphasis.
Another thing is the thesis statement. Its placement, in a blog, is up for grabs. Did you catch where mine is? Actually, I haven’t written it yet. Huh?!
Double-dog daringly different
Blogging also requires a different voice. The way I blog isn’t quite how I talk, but it’s no where close to how I write a formal essay. Furthermore, the voice used in blogging needs to be rich, sharp and distinct, to gain an audience. And while some may argue that academic writing could stand to have a bit more colour and flair, I’m not sure that’s currently the accepted norm (although I wish it was).
In a formal essay, I would never use a sentence fragment. Ever. In a blog, it provides emphasis. Nor would I use slang in an essay. But here? Yep. In one of my posts, I double-dog dared my readers. Could you imagine double-dog daring anyone in an academic essay? If you try it, let me know the result.
Another thing that changes is providing your reader with evidence to support your points. In teaching the typical formal essay, I show my students how to quote directly, indirectly, and using individual words. Blogs still use direct quotes, but an indirect quote can be as simple as a vague mention and a link.
We discover my thesis statement…
I think blogging is the new persuasive essay -my thesis, finally.
Truth is, I love writing essays. There’s something satisfying about rendering the chaos of thoughts into an elegant form. But I love blogging more. It feels like playing.
I also find it more useful. While our students will need to know how to write essays to get through university, many won’t use it after that, unless they remain in academia. I think writing and persuasive thinking skills are important. However, I question the current products we require of students as proof of their learning. Most of the essays written by our students likely end up in the garbage or the computer trash can. And most are for an audience of one.
Blogging has the potential to reach and influence many. Furthermore, it has greater potential for being a life-long skill. And isn’t that our goal in education? People from all walks and professions blog for the purpose of teaching, creating, and informing. A number of my recent Masters courses didn’t require papers; instead, they required blogging. Why?
Because blogging is the new persuasive essay.
If we’re trying to prepare our students to think critically and argue well, they need to be able to blog. It allows for interaction. It allows for ideas to be tested. And the best posts anywhere in cyberspace tend to have a point that can be argued.
I think blogging across the curriculum, not just in Language Arts, allows for both formative and summative assessment. Blogs allow us to see the progression in the development of both thinking and writing. It may actually take more talent and skill to create an interesting persuasive post (or series of posts) on the French Revolution than a traditional essay.
We need to teach blogging as a skill
Students definitely need to understand how and why the mechanics (and style) of blogging are different.
Grade One blogger (Kathy Cassidy)
The solution? Blogging needs to start earlier, much earlier. I read recently of a kindergarten teacher who blogs with her students. Great idea. There’s a teacher in my division who does amazing things with her grade one class.
I’m not proposing that you need to do things radically different. Teach whatever you teach for Language Arts, or other subjects, but include a blog component. So if you’re teaching sentence structure, teach your students to create complete sentences while blogging. Blogs, like traditional writing, need great structure. If you’re focusing on capitalization or punctuation, transfer this skill to blog writing as well.
If you’re teaching paragraph structure, teach students the paragraph structure required for traditional essays and that for blogs. They’re different. Explain why. It’s likely they won’t be good at it at first. But there is merit to the quote, “Anything worth doing, is worth doing badly.”
A middle years teacher at my school used to stress out when we talked about student writing. She wanted to know if she was teaching them enough. My reply: “All I need them to do is write solid paragraphs. If they can do that, I can teach them all kinds of things.” Really, everything I teach is either an addition to, or a subtraction from, a solid paragraph. My work builds on her work. I don’t need her to teach what I teach. That’s my job. But without her previous work, mine becomes much more difficult.
The same is true with blogging. Starting from scratch with blogging in grade 10 isn’t impossible. But we could do so much more if they already had the basics. In order to write well, you need to write a lot.
If you don’t currently teach your students to blog, please start. Our students need you to. And if you already teach your students to blog, keep it up. Because blogging is an important 21st century skill. It’s the new persuasive essay.
Shelley Wright
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Shelley, I love this!! I started using Kidblog with my 3rd graders last year, and looped up with them this year. Their 4th grade blogs were much improved, and I enjoyed watching them begin to develop their own blogging “style”.
I did get some negative comments from both parents and other teachers that this was not “writing.” They felt it was too casual and too unstructured. (I’ll admit, the Grammar Nazi in me gasped when I saw sentences in your blog beginning with “and.”)
In lieu of a research paper this year, my students created Glogs that contained text boxes with information (well written paragraphs), but also allowed links, images, and a personal design. They loved it!
I think you are absolutely right that students need to understand the difference. There are times when more formal writing is necessary, so I’m sure to teach it and require it on certain assignments. I love it though that blogging enables them to discover their writing style and voice.
Blogging does feel like playing, and kids love to play. If blogging makes them love to write, I think we’re fools not to encourage it! Thanks for a great post!
Thanks, Patti. I think, unfortunately, there are many people who don’t see the point or value of blogging. My students, for the most part, have always enjoyed it. What I disgree with is teaching only academic writing in schools. I think there are many formats our students need to learn — blogging being only one. I think there’s value to academic writing, but most of our kids aren’t going to become academics, and that’s a good thing 🙂
Throughout high school I was taught that you couldn’t start a sentence with because or and. Then I went to university and was told you could. Boy was that a shock!
When I was in college I was taught not to use the first person pronoun in my writing, EVER. Then I went to graduate school (Harvard) and everybody did it! Shocked again.
Patti, thanks for posting links to keep me updated. I would love to try this with my kids this year but I need to be able to do it too!
Great blog post on writing. I’m constantly trying to find more and various ways to have students write in my Grade 8 US History class. Part of my task is to prepare them for the persuasive essay format on the ACT and the MME (Michigan Merit Exam). Your blog was helpful. Thanks.
Shelley,
As I started reading your blog I was thinking, I teach some of those things to my fourth graders. However, it seems after fourth grade the writing drops to a minimal until it is tested again in 7th grade. (Or at least that’s the way it appears to me).
I introduced blogging to my students 2 years ago and they loved it! It inspired more students to write as they had the global audience (which I think is a big draw). This year my students enjoyed it as well.
However, I never really thought about the difference between writing in a blog and writing formally – but will be discussing it with this year’s class.
Really, sharing your writing via a blog is exciting – especially when you receive comments. I’ll be sharing your post around as I would love to get more teachers to see the importance of blogging!
Thanks for sharing.
Thanks, Nancy! Students having an authentic audience is important. That’s why we normally write. We have something to communicate to someone, and we choose the best medium for it, as well as an appropriate style. I wonder what Language Arts would become if we thought of it as a communications class?
This rings true for me in every paragraph. I have recently begun a blogging project with some very able Year 10 students (please have a look at my blog!) and there has been quite a lot of resistance along the lines of “What’s the point?”
Your emphasis on moving with the times instead of stubbornly sticking to tradition strikes a resonant chord with my own teaching. Please keep this up, you have just made my day!
Hi Tom,
I think, sometimes, kids don’t see the point. They’re not really used to having any of their work having a point or a real audience. I found that once my students got used to doing work that was authentic and meaningful, the “what’s the point?” stopped.
Shelley,
While I agree with much of the fine print of your argument, specifically notions of voice and your ideas about what good writing should feel/sound like, it seems to me that your premise is false. The blog/ persuasive essay duality is a false dichotomy. Certainly, students should consider form and purpose when they write, but they shouldn’t learn, and we shouldn’t teach, that blogs are all short paragraphs richly voiced. Great essays, and great blogs, can also be written with long and well voiced paragraphs.
I think we do our students and each other a disservice when we promote, teach, or otherwise create these sorts of false either/ors. (The same is true of the grammar policing we do often at school, evidenced by Patti’s mention of using a conjunction at the beginning of a sentence in a comment above.)
Good writing works. We can explore and explain why it works, but it’s never as simple as following all the rules for the particular container or mode or genre. It’s in the playful fiddling with all of those that good writing emerges.
Thanks for engaging my brain here.
Hi Bud,
I agree that good writing is good writing, and I don’t believe that blogs or the persuasive essay is an either/or thing. I think both should happen, but where I currently work, it doesn’t.
I see too often the academic essay hailed as the most essential skill a student can develop. I think the reason behind it is laudable;students should be able to argue their point of view. But too often there is no authentic audience or task attached to it, and it becomes for students another hoop to jump to get the “A”.
I think the thing that bothers me the most about it is the heirarchy that develops around kids who are considered “academic”, those who can write the essay, and those who are not. This is bad for kids and teachers, so lately I’ve come to ask why are we doing all of this, and aren’t there more important skills they can learn?
I’m not sure I agree with you on the long paragraphs in a blog. I think you have to be a great writer to pull it off, and I haven’t read a lot of those. But that’s also what I tell my students. I don’t tell them they can’t do it. Instead, I tell them they have to be a strong writer to make it work. And for some of them, that’s the challenge they need. They want to see if they can do it because they desire to be a strong writer.
I teach composition at the community college level and trying to break the 5 paragraph habit is one of the first things I work with them on. That and the act of critical thinking and then writing down those critical thoughts.
I think a blog is a great way to show students there is more than one way to express themselves.
I am also a firm believer in blogging with my students! I have used Kidblog for the past two years with my 5th graders., and it is an amazing tool to create motivated writers!
“Write On!: Why I Love Kidblog!”
http://oldschoolteach.blogspot.com/2011/10/write-on-why-i-love-kidblog.html
I like and appreciate the fact that you made your points and also demonstrated them.
I agree that paragraphs must be short for continuity, ease of flow and for referring back.
I would add that you can include pics, vids, links, graphs, etc. to add flair and information to your persuasive blog/ opinion post.
Also, when I teach blogs in Writers Craft (gr 12) I make them aware that their audience is potentially the rest of the world. Daunting. And it makes them want to proofread a lot more and to consider the attractiveness of their blog and their writing style.
Think about this: It is incredible that we as teachers can teach writing in such a way that the teacher isn’t the only one whoever sees their writing.
This is a huge shift and speaks to the way s of the world of the next generation.
Until someone comes up with an “The Elements of Blog Style” that Bud and Tom and Shelley and others agree deserves respect, we don’t have a real standard to go by. Shelley describes what makes sense to her — Bud Hunt, a respected National Writing Project proponent demurs. No doubt others do as well.
Tom says that “paragraphs must be short for continuity, ease of flow and for referring back.” I’m not sure it is a “must” but in nearly a decade of editing group blogs and online diaries with a hundred or more educators, my sense is that this is *generally* a good rule of thumb. It seems to me that the blog author needs a very good reason to publish long paragraphs that will appear on a screen at an unpredictable size and width (density) and be viewed by all kinds of eyes with all kinds of vision challenges. Certainly the writing will need to be compelling!
I don’t know the history of the long paragraph (chances are I’ll be researching it this week to satisfy my demon), but I’m guessing that long paragraphs are the residual of several thousand years of writing on smooth flat rocks and hides and papyrus and hard-to-get pulp paper printed a sheet at a time. Humans crammed as much as they could into the scarce space. Nothing scarce about cyberspace. Why not change the rules? Nostalgia for writing styles is okay – I certainly have some myself. But nostalgia is not a good basis for contemporary rulemaking.
Here’s an excellent way to create an authentic audience for your students! “Quadblogging:Creating a Global Connection!”
http://techlovesmyclassroom.blogspot.com/2012/06/quadblogging-making-global-connections.html
Very interesting food for thought. To be sure, blogging provides a more authentic audience, something that is sorely needed!
I also agree that when it comes to writing, there is no “form” with blogs. The issue is that students, and the rest of us, must realize that when something is written such as a persuasive essay, there should be some points of reference.
What I find is, that due to a society that cannot focus but for short periods of time, thoughts are expressed based on unfounded suppositions. Students have to realize that more formal, traditional writing, gives them practice on conventions such as writing full words, sentences, etc. and some other standards of grammar. Not old fashioned, but keeps things from becoming a free-for-all.
Hi Peter,
I think blogging should provide students with the opportunity to practice using conventions and form — in an authentic context. I don’t think that only formal writing can, or should, do this.
I think one of the things we often forget when teaching writing is that we’re teaching them to communicate, and that in writing there is a “code” of communication that has developed over the centuries between reader and writer. There are reasons we write and punctuate as we do. Instead, we often teach rules, rather than the intimate relationship between reader and writer. I think the latter is much more persuasive for students and creates better thinkers and writers in the long run.
Thank you for that article. I’ve been perusing articles on education for about three hours now, and I am glad I came across yours.(catching up on my education articles)
Not only do we need to move toward the realities of our students experiences, but there is room for interpretation on how we teach to it.
We can argue all day long on the who’s and how’s , but at the end of the day is your writing effective. In whatever form or voice you choose. peoples response to your blog will be the best indicator.
Now, how about those poorly constructed e-mails. Would someone please blog on the voice and content of e-mails. If I’m not written into your will, I’m not reading a long drawn out e-mail.
Peter, no one is suggesting that blogging should become a ‘free-for all”, it’s all about creating enthusiasm for longer pieces of writing that create and sustain a point of view. Of course we should insist on standard English, but we can do that when setting up the success criteria for blogging just as we would for a formal essay.
If blogging gets students to engage with and develop their process of writing, I’m all for it, especially if it helps students understand that they may express themselves in writing through a variety of structures. As a high school teacher I spend an enormous amount of time and energy trying to convince students that not every idea they have needs to be one that can be expressed in five paragraphs.
I do worry, however, that the informality of blogs may encourage vague and formless expression of feelings and suppositions. Though the academic essay is only one mode of written expression it does teach students important skills that transfer to other modes: the structuring of ideas, the presentation and rigorous analysis of evidence, the effects of sentence structure and voice on meaning, to name but a few.
Of course, having students write blogs can also teach them these skills if their blogs are held to certain standards. The five-paragraph essay may be some dirty bathwater that needs to be tossed, but let’s make sure to save the baby, the hallmarks of good writing.
I absolutely agree that blogging is an excellent platform for writing and provides the with an authentic audience. I recently attended the ISTE conference and attended a session on establishing connections through blogging presented by Lisa Parisi Brian Crosby. Your blog just reaffirms everything that I took away from this session. Lisa and Brian’s students’ writing is truly amazing because, as you mentioned, they have the opportunity to use their own voice to take on issues that matter to them, then when they receive responses to their posts, they are further inspired to write even more.
I have the opportunity to coordinate a Teaching American History Grant,, primarily targeted for fifth grade teachers who lay the foundations of American History in their instructional program. One of our grant goals is to utilize Web 2.0 technology as an instructional and collaboration tool. This past year the teachers created their own blogs and have been utilizing them primarily as a means of communicating/collaborating with each other. The goal for this next year is to have each of the teachers create a blog in their classroom (or utilize one they have already created) so that students can utilize this platform for writing, with the goal of having others responding to their blogs. Since persuasive writing is one of the types of writing taught in fifth grade, I believe there will be several opportunities for the students to utilize these persuasive writing techniques in their blogs.
Hi Shelley!
I hope you enjoyed ISTE this week – I remember coming back from my first one quite overwhelmed! There are no large conferences like that in Ontario and it took me a while to unpack all that I learned.
Although I have only been blogging for 6 years, I’ve noticed big changes. Blogs or ‘weblogs’ used to be places where folks shared their travels and learning on the web so that others could follow their links and have some understanding of where they received inspiration, new connections or knowledge.
Now, you’re lucky to have any links at all shared, and if they are, they are often links back to the writer’s own work!
Don’t get me wrong, I love that blogs give students an authentic audience (especially since persuasive writing is a part of our curriculum here in Ontario as early as the primary grades) and I’m not a ‘purist’ about them. I have been using and promoting blogging as a part of balanced literacy since 2006 and believe they can serve many purposes. I just hope that we do let blogs stand apart from some of our traditional forms of writing so that we aren’t trying to do old school things with new tools.
Many unread and discarded blogs exist because teachers jump onto the blogging bandwagon without scaffolding students to real conversations and authentic purposes for writing.
Thanks for bringing up some important conversations here. 🙂
Hi Brenda,
I completely agree with what you’ve said, especially your point, “Many unread and discarded blogs exist because teachers jump onto the blogging bandwagon without scaffolding students to real conversations and authentic purposes for writing.”
I think this is one of those “21st C. skills” that students need. What does it mean to speak and blog authentically? This will be an especially difficult thing for many high school students to answer since they’ve often had few authentic writing experiences in their academic career. But this ia an important discussion!
This is great! I worked with 4th and5th graders this past year on blogging. They did an amazing job! Really only since Jan…came so far. Thanks for this thinking! I think writing for more than an audience of 1 changed their effort, energy and enthusiasm!
It’s amazing what kids can do in such a short time. Thanks for sharing!
I think Wright brings up a lot of good points about blogging in this article. I remember writing persuasive essays and feeling stuck to pick a topic. When I did settle on one it felt so typical of a persuasive argument. We are pushing more and more for authentic practice and work from students and blogging is an excellent way to practice naturally. There are blogs about everything under the sun that you could allow students to use in order to start with and practice blogging. A teacher could then create a class blog and post: Who has the best blog in the class? Hook, line, and sink her! What better way to get kids into it then going right to what they are passionate about. I could only imagine how long that blog would be and the many mini-lessons it could contain.
Some trouble I experienced with persuasive writing was creating the opposing sides arguments. Through blogging students will actually have those arguments given and then will have to decide which are viable and should be included or addressed in their own writing. Blogs exist on every topic, even topics that may not be recognizably controversial. This is another reason why blogging to teach persuasive writing is beneficial to students. Blogs are less intimidating because they are short bits of information and the reader has preference over which ones to give more attention to and which to ignore. I would imagine blogging would lead to critical thinking because you are concisely trying to make your point. No one wants to read a long blog post. That’s part of why people blog in the first place. Blogging is also able to reach far more people and cause action than an academic essay whose audience is far less accessible.
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Hey Shelly, I think this is an excellent blog, I really enjoy your outlook on education and your core beliefs that teachers need to move forward with the 21st century. I’m a Grade 10 English teacher in the Middle East and I was wondering if you had any suggestions for websites that would be ideal for getting my students excited about blogging?
I think it’s really important when students first start blogging that they research and write about things that really matter to them. It might be one way to infuse student choice into the classroom. Here are some resources that you might find helpful to get started:
http://www.edutopia.org/blog/quad-blogging-technology-classroom-suzie-boss
http://langwitches.org/blog/2012/10/08/implementing-blogging-in-the-classroom/
And this link has pretty much everything you could ever need!
http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2008/12/26/the-best-sources-for-advice-on-student-blogging/
Hope this helps!
Dear Shelley,
Thank you so much for your blog post – it was a gift that Carol Mayne sent me as I have had a huge investment in blogging with my classes. I’m constantly learning and revising the process, but love how it has transformed my class and the writing (and reading) my kids are doing. I look forward to more posts by you!
Cheers,
Pamela Hunnisett (Calgary)
I just wanted to let you know that this post inspired me in the beginning of the year, and my students are now blogging on an (almost) weekly basis. It’s transforming their writing and my classroom. Thank you!
Michelle,
That’s terrific to hear! Thanks for sharing your success it helps to propel me forward in my own journey 🙂
Can I just say what a comfort to find a person that truly knows what they’re talking about over the internet. You definitely realize how to bring a problem to light and make it important. A lot more people must look at this and understand this side of the story. It’s surprising you’re not more popular given that you definitely possess the gift.
Shelly, I enjoyed reading your thoughts and too agree that it is never too early to start teaching our students how to be productive digital citizens. In the age of IM and text messaging I was afraid writing in complete sentences with thought was going to increasingly become a lost art. Children at an early age are thirst for knowledge and just as they are able to more readily learn another language, digital literacy should be considered one of importance.
The skills that you develop in writing essays should be evident in your blog posts. In fact, these skills should be evident in all of your writing exercises. Beautifully structured paragraphs and concise sentences are always a joy to read.
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Thanks for the post. It clarifies my thoughts on the matter, as I sooo agree with your points. (Grammar police on the ‘so’).
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This is fact writing can be very helpful just like essay writing which is something more factor by writing an essay is variation use of punctuation
The fact about essay writing is that it really give your english a better role model for student and provide non copy content
Blogging has greater potential for being a life-long skill.
http://www.writingresearchwork.blogspot.com/
Shelley! Thank you for writing this. We’ve started a new project-based academy at The American School of Lima and students are constantly blogging. Best of all, they’re loving it and enjoying writing again. Here’s one of many great examples: http://gisellasilva.weebly.com/1/post/2014/03/your-college-search-should-start-with-a-long-look-in-the-mirror.html.
Through their blogs, the Innovation Academy students get to reflect on their learning, find their voice as writers, experiment with organization, play with words, and begin to think more clearly and critically. You’ve put into words what I’ve been discovering through this whole year. THANK YOU!
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Hi Shelley,
I’m a Grade 4 Teacher in Singapore, and this year we transformed a Persuasive Essay unit into a Blogging Unit. I thought it was engaging for students to powerful for them to think of themselves as writers who could access a wider range of readers, rather than just their classroom teacher and classmates. There was some resistance from some of the teachers in the grade level, but your argument sums it up nicely. Thank you. I enjoyed this excerpt and support your thinking!
A very informative post! I agree with you on the fact that blogging should be given more emphasis in our schools as opposed to writing academic essays. This is especially true given that technology is changing things and blogging can actually be a career choice for some students down the road. Excellent post, thanks!