How do blogging and RSS fit into the Common Core State Standards?

In an attempt to narrow this topic into something manageable and relevant for me as an educator implementing these standards and as writer responding to the directives of this discussion, I made some decisions about which standards and which contexts I will choose to examine through this particular critical lens.

I chose to focus on the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts in Writing for both grade 3 and grades 11-12 in particular, since our district’s Curriculum Maps imbed these standards fairly consistently and I am intimately acquainted with their practical applications in both the elementary classroom, due to my teaching assignment, and in the high school classroom as a result of having read virtually every piece of writing my son (who graduated high school last year), has written. More specifically, I will focus on opinion, or persuasive texts, as these skills are constructed on a continuum from elementary through high school.  Below are the standards as described for persuasive writing for both 3^rd grade and 11-12^th grades.

Grade 3

1. Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with reasons.

a. Introduce the topic or text they are writing about, state an opinion, and create an organizational structure that lists reasons. 
b. Provide reasons that support the opinion.
c. Use linking words and phrases (e.g., because, therefore, since, for example) to connect opinion and reasons. 
d. Provide a concluding statement or section.

Grades 11-12

1. Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence. 
a. Introduce precise, knowledgeable claim(s), establish the significance of the claim(s), distinguish the claim(s) from alternate or opposing claims, and create an organization that logically sequences claim(s), counterclaims, reasons, and evidence. 
b.  Develop claim(s) and counterclaims fairly and thoroughly, supplying the most relevant evidence for each while pointing out the strengths and limitations of both in a manner that anticipates the audience’s knowledge level, concerns, values, and possible biases. 
c.  Use words, phrases, and clauses as well as varied syntax to link the major sections of the text, create cohesion, and clarify the relationships between claim(s) and reasons, between reasons and evidence, and between claim(s) and counterclaims. 
d. Establish and maintain a formal style and objective tone while attending to the norms and conventions of the discipline in which they are writing. 
e. Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the argument presented

While the scope and development of these comparable assignments differs, the essential aim of the assignment is the same.  That is to formulate an opinion, support it with details, to use the appropriate logical language and syntax, and to wrap up one’s argument in a germane manner. The depth of the logic and the breadth of references and citations by necessity differ, as they are linked to what is developmentally appropriate for each age group.

So, allow me to unravel some common skills.

Grade 3:

a. Introduce the topic or text they are writing about, state an opinion, and create an organizational structure that lists reasons.

Grades 11-12: 

a.  Introduce precise, knowledgeable claim(s), establish the significance of the claim(s), distinguish the claim(s) from alternate or opposing claims, and create an organization that logically sequences claim(s), counterclaims, reasons, and evidence.

This is the formulation period of this assignment.  How does one forge an opinion?  One must be exposed to enough experience in a particular domain, to compare similar phenomena, and decide that one is different, and/or preferable to another.

Blogging and RSS would dovetail nicely in this endeavor. To develop a catalogue of background information, differing opinions and current research, students would spend some time following blogs and reading incoming information from RSS feeds pertinent to their general topic. The source of this information would by necessity differ between these age groups, since elementary students do not have the discriminating skills needed to construct this kind of search.  This is where the teacher would have to do preliminary research to create a “delicious” account, with tightly controlled appropriate, yet relevant content.  High school students would (hopefully) have acquired the skills by now to discriminate between relevant and irrelevant documents.

Let’s examine the next component of this essay.

Grade 3: 

b. Provide reasons that support the opinion.

Grades 11-12:

b. Develop claim(s) and counterclaims fairly and thoroughly, supplying the most relevant evidence for each while pointing out the strengths and limitations of both in a manner that anticipates the audience’s knowledge level, concerns, values, and possible biases.

While the sophistication of these endeavors differs substantially, in essence they are demanding the same goods, which is to defend one’s position with details.

Again, the same accessibility to research and the opinions of others interested in their topics, both amateur and professional, would be available via Blogs and RSS feeds.  In this case, the development of their ideas could be enhanced and transmuted through interactive blogs by having real-time feedback to their reasoning, (as opposed to a “grade” imposed by a teacher at the end of the assignment.)  Similar content controls to those mentioned above would be necessary for elementary age students.

Let us continue to the skill that addresses appropriate logical language and syntax.

Grade 3:

c. Use linking words and phrases (e.g., because, therefore, since, for example) to connect opinion and reasons.

Grades 11-12:

c.  Use words, phrases, and clauses as well as varied syntax to link the major sections of the text, create cohesion, and clarify the relationships between claim(s) and reasons, between reasons and evidence, and between claim(s) and counterclaims.

Here is an area that, for me, in particular, is a double-edged sword.  In the democratic world of blogging and RSS feeds, one may be subjected to all manner of rhetoric, from the sacred to the profane—and unfortunately this domain of lackadaisical research and slovenly thought is a poor model and implicit permission to do the same.  As a teacher, one must hold one’s students accountable to the conventions of English language, which have been ideally constructed to deliver clear and cogent thought. Those who have internalized this language may have no difficulty discriminating between the two, but those who have not will have their weaknesses enhanced and supported by similar deficiencies.

Finally, we are looking at the way in which the essayist will wrap up his or her argument.

Grade 3:

d. Provide a concluding statement or section.

Grades 11-12:

d.  Establish and maintain a formal style and objective tone while attending to the norms and conventions of the discipline in which they are writing. 
e.  Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the argument presented

(For information’s sake, I have included the additional domain of style and tone imbedded in the upper level high school standards, which has been omitted from that of the third grade standards-- the assumption being that eight-year olds do not have sufficient mastery over language to control style and tone, nor adequate experience to be familiar with norms or conventions.)

That being said, I will focus on the ability to draw conclusions.  In my experience, the weakness of elementary students is that they will omit the conclusion entirely, or may say, “The End” or “Bye-Bye” as an approximation of a conclusion.  Upper school students may give a more sophisticated version of this by saying “and now I have told you why… (repeat thesis statement).”  A strong conclusion should reflect some sort of synthesis of ideas into one’s personal life or the life of our world, or perhaps even the universe.  It is realistic to expect third graders to personalize and upper school students to globalize or universalize.

So, where do blogging and RSS feed fit in this process?  I believe the act of articulating and sharing thought aids in the formulation of theories, and in the subsequent “realizations” that allow for minor shifts or major cataclysms in one’s world view, a view that embodies the personal or universal life, whichever this epiphany impacts.

A creative, flexible and dedicated teacher can make Blogs and RSS feeds work to support the standards, provided the district supports the teacher in this endeavor and is willing to create policies and that legally support the teacher in the event a student accesses inappropriate content.  Perhaps there would need to be expanded technology positions whose workers would screen the material and “package: it in such a way to be accessible to the different grade levels.  (Of course, there are the dangers of censorship with an agenda.)  But, with adequate support and staff development, it could work.

If I were an educational technology specialist working for a district, I would present a version of the previous argument as a way to substantiate the validity of utilizing the available technology to support the CCSS.

The preparation needed to make that a reality would involve a substantial staff development undertaking that would embody objectives similar to this course. This involves both familiarizing teachers with what is currently available and asking them to rethink the standard curriculum to embody these technological changes.  Additional staff development would be needed to train teachers to have adequate facility with the technology so that the implementation does not become a daunting, overwhelming undertaking.

If I were to imagine myself as a nay-sayer (which I frequently am when initially presented with a proposition which involves reconfiguring systems which I have worked long and hard to make work effectively), I might rant:

“Are you kidding me?  As if we don’t have enough to do?  I just spent five years giving up a program it took me ten years to develop so I could collaboratively create a grade level curriculum that is aligned to the new state standards and which interfaces vertically with all of the grade levels above and below me.  As it is, I often don’t leave work until six or seven at night, work through lunch and spend weekends assessing student work and adjusting lessons to address student needs!  Now I have to let the world into my classroom?  I have to spend hours hunting down and reading with a magnifying glass websites to find those that are appropriate, because, God forbid, a child sets eyes on something inappropriate, I could lose my job, get sued or end up in jail!  I have to be a servant to the “Disneyland” version of education where all work should be “FUN!”  As if these kids don’t spend all day with their eyes glued to a screen in which all of the thinking and selection of what is “interesting” is done for them.  Give me a break.  The district couldn’t pay me enough to compensate for the hours involved.”

If I were to respond as loyal servant of the taxpayers in my district and as an aficionado of technology (which I also am, with some reservations), I would respond thus:

“I am being paid by the taxpayers of my district to do the best job I can to prepare their children to be workers in the 21^st Century.  I have an obligation to find a way to integrate this amazing, ever-changing technology into my teaching in such a way that does not compromise my vision of excellence in teaching, but does not prohibit students from acquiring the skills they will need to be competitive.  So, I’m game.  Bring it on!”

Blogging and its effects on the traditional classroom

The personal is the political. 

I am the proud recipient of a spanking used set of laptops for my classroom use.  The imposing white cabinet comes with a lock.  It takes me several days to hunt down the resident brilliant elementary school techno-dude to ask him for the combination, (he's probably at the D.O. working on their website) which he emails to me.  I open the lock.  Twenty-one Macs.  Cool.  I want to figure out a way to get my third-graders to bookmark the new premium Spelling City program our district has purchased.  I open up one laptop and the folders for K, 1,  2 pop up.  No grade 3.  I'm 3.  I take a wild guess for the password for grade 2.  I type it in.  It works.  I'm in.  I Google Spelling City and I find the forty lists I typed in last year.  I find the screen names and passwords I created my class in August.  I bookmark the site. Now I just have to get 21 eight year-olds who can't copy the date off the board to simultaneously do what I just did--and then remember their screen names and passwords.  Which brings me to the topic of this blog.

Could blogging have an effect on my third grade class? Assuming I could bypass the legalities of having third-graders blogging their innermost thoughts, (I shudder to imagine them publishing the succulent details of their home lives that they have so trustingly shared with me). Well, could it?

I need to backtrack some more.  I am a writing teacher.  I love language and the thought it simultaneously reveals and transmutes.  I love teaching "catchy beginnings" and the closely examined life.  I love simile and metaphor and "juicy words."   I love teaching children to move action through dialogue by writing plays about their lives.  I love fables and folktales and the moral of the story.  Could blogging get that smart little boy who spent twenty minutes of Writers Workshop in the bathroom to become passionate about writing? Perhaps.  Could it embody the English Language Arts Standards?  Absolutely.  So what's the problem?

The problem is the hurried life of the Elementary School child (and teacher) and the vagaries of technology.  The informational and technological expertise required for each of the five subjects I teach is increasing exponentially--all of my subjects are hands-on workshop-based models--Investigations Math, Teachers College Reading and Writing Workshop, Comparing and contrasting world cultures in Social Studies, Science 21, Words-Their Way spelling.  Children are being pushed to perform at a dizzying velocity--often beyond their current level of expertise and development. This simultaneous with homes with two working parents, single-parent homes and the lure of electronic games.  It is then incumbent on the teacher to provide instruction whose interest rivals computer games and that is differentiated to meet the needs of all children.

For the teacher, managing the materials, training and technology for all of these courses of study is becoming increasingly demanding--to the point where elementary teachers are spending more and more time preparing, cataloguing and implementing curriculum with each passing year--as we are being held increasingly accountable for student progress, to parents, principals, superintendents, the state and the federal government.

Can technology help?  Ideally, yes.  But just yesterday I was in the middle of a Smartboard lesson with an interactive 100 chart and my computer froze.  This had also happened the day before. Now, you cannot fiddle with a computer for ten minutes in a classroom full of elementary students on a regular basis. The techno-wizard told me to drop my computer off Monday morning for him to troubleshoot the Smartboard Program--so it will not be available to me on Monday, either.  Now, getting back to my plan to implement Spelling City on my classroom set of laptops.  If I multiply my issues times twenty-one--with eight-year-olds trouble-shooting the problems, I have an abject nightmare on my hands.  So, (I really am making a point here, however circuitous it may seem) would I love to have my kids blogging?  You betcha!  Would it support the ELA standards? Absolutely?  Is it realistic?  Absolutely not.

Not that that has ever stopped me from embarking on a new undertaking.

A Cautionary Thought

"And herein lies the dilemma for educators. What happens when a free-flowing medium such as blogging interacts with the more restrictive domains of the educational system? What happens when the necessary rules and boundaries of the system are imposed on students who are writing blogs, when grades are assigned in order to get students to write at all, and when posts are monitored to ensure that they don’t say the wrong things?" Stephen Downes