The new civics based blogging community is launched. Students have introduced themselves with pride and accomplishment as they share their team pages and game ideas. Opening up your blog and finding comments from the community is fun. The smaller number of blogs to keep up with will surely allow for real back-and-forth in the spirit of collaboration.
The challenge I see is that there is an expectation that civics content will be discussed - but where do these great insights come from? How can a student use this new twist on blogging to go deeper into their subject and also learn about the other subjects reflected in the games? How can someone leave thought-provoking comments that elicit thought-provoking answers?
I think that there are a number of elements needed to reach this new goal:
It takes practice to be introspective. The weekly blog prompt will give lots of practice.
It takes curiosity to do the research to understand the background of these civics games to be able to discuss them intelligently, and to ask good questions. Students are now uploading hyperlinks, videos, photos that will help share their resource base with their civics community.
It takes exposure to diverse ideas to be able to formulate opinions. An exchange of ideas is enriching. Sometimes it takes reacting to what you do not believe to clarify what it is that you do believe.
It takes time to put words together well to be understood. Writing can be a tool for someone to clarify their thoughts - especially when the goal is for their readers to understand them.
I look for my Globaloria Civics students to use this new learning opportunity to develop their critical thinking, to learn about other aspects of civics, to be able to weigh the information they see, and finally to make and to express their personal opinions. Wow. Way to go, Globaloria!
I agree for blogging to benefit the students these factors need to be in place. The only thing I think you missed was that it takes encouragement from us. Thanks for sharing.
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