I learned about blogging in the middle of high school when a more tech-savvy friend introduced me to http://www.xanga.com/. I really enjoyed sharing my thoughts with anyone who bothered to read and leave comments and give "eprops". Soon, many friends subscribed and we were able to know more about one another through reading each other's posts. Never having been a careful writer in the classroom, I spent time and effort to ensure that every entry I published was grammatically correct, and stimulating, yet tasteful. Knowing that it wasn't just one random teacher who would be reading my work motivated me to take pride in my writing. Blogging created a way for students to read each other's work and brought about peer pressure for me to start writing better.
Based on personal experiences of when I was a student and teacher's aide, I believe that children would put more effort into their work if they knew their peers would be evaluating it. Blogging allows a community of writers to be formed where everyone has access to each other's writing. If I knew a paper I had to turn in for class would require peer-editing, I would make sure to put in my best effort because I wouldn't want that person reading my paper to think I was incompetent or uneducated. Aren't children also mindful of being judged on their work? No one likes to be "that kid" who always misspells or "the one" who can't form sentences.
My main concern with having students blog is safety, parental resistance, and liability. I don't know if I'd be brave enough to mandate blogging as a class assignment, but I'd encourage my students to blog as a hobby and form of communication between each other. I am post likely to be old school and use the two-way notebook!
