More and more teachers are using blogs in the classroom. Writing a blog gives students the opportunity to write to an audience. Commenting provides the chance to evaluate the writing and ideas of someone, and then respond. Both types of writing on a blog require stating a thought, idea, or opinion, and then supporting it in a way that will cause the reader to agree or respond.
Blog posts are an abridged version of several types of writing. Some are persuasive essays. Others are informational reports. Many of my favorites are memoirs that share a meaningful event from the writer's day in the classroom. Occasionally a blog post is a letter or note. Often times, blog posts are a combination of several types of writing.
Likewise, comments are condensed versions of all types of writing. This makes them a valuable task for students. If students are going to comment, then their work deserves to be scored. Although commenting is not used frequently as an assignment in Reading Workshop, students will at times respond to a specific post as part of their classwork.
If it is important enough to take time in class, and if a certain standard is expected, students should have something to measure their work. As with most assignments in Reading Workshop, a rubric is used to score comments.
You can see the entire Blog Comment Rubric on the wiki. Here is the standard for an A.
Blog Comment Rubric | ||
Score | Basis for Scoring | |
------------------------=4 or A |
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