Student Blogging for Assessment

Recently my 5th grade students finished their blogging project about the Renaissance.

After meeting with the 5th grade team earlier in the year we decided that we wanted more from the unit on the Renaissance than just a test. We wanted to incorporate not only 21st Century Skills but also 21st Century Assessment.

To ensure that the students would be safe online with their blogs, they were only allowed to use their student ID numbers instead of names since all of these students are only in elementary school. The students very quickly learned each others ID numbers when commenting on the classroom blogs. "Hey 48392, this is 38291, I really liked the photo you used of Leonardo da Vinici's Mona Lisa, it was nice and clear."

We were very surprised at how quickly the students picked up the art of blogging like making new posts, adding photos and images, commenting on other's blogs, etc.

What the students enjoyed was the fact that they had made a blog that was being read by many people instead of just their teacher (like most projects). When we got our first comment from someone in Australia students really stepped up the quality of their work.

It is just amazing that our students are growing up in a time where they have a voice that they can literally share with the entire world.