RM Winter 2016 FLIP

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Reading Matters
Teaching Matters
| 54| Reading Matters | Volume 16 • Winter 2016 |
Unplugged
Table-top blogging is a pre-reading, or pre-unit, activity
for engaging students in thinking about the idea, theme, or
meaning of the class’ instructional topic by activating prior
knowledge and making predictions using teacher selected
artifacts. This practice uses a selection of photos, political
cartoons, primary source documents, pictures, newspaper
articles, poetry, music lyrics, and videos that pertain to a unit
of study. Teachers can combine tabletop blogging with both
narrative and expository text to activate prior knowledge
before a unit of instruction (Beers, Probst, & Rief, 2007).
Here is how Table-top blogging works:
1. Select 4-6 artifacts related to the content being
studied, such as photos, political cartoons, primary
source documents, pictures, newspaper articles,
poetry, music lyrics, or videos. Place each artifact
on its own poster board or large paper.
2. Place the poster boards or large papers at
various stations around the room.
3. Partner students in small groups and explain that
students are not allowed to talk during the activity. At
each station the students are to respond to the article
by writing a summation, question, or thought related
the artifact on the poster or paper. The students are also
encouraged to respond to one another’s comments, just
as one would comment on a blog post. Depending on
the nature of the content, you may want to have each
student initial his/her responses; for more controversial
topics, anonymity may engender unguarded thoughts.
4. Once the groups have visited each station, the
teacher reviews each poster board article and
student responses with the class, keeping in mind
the day’s or the unit’s learning objective.
5. At the conclusion of the activity, posters can be
displayed on the classroom wall so students can
refer back to them during the unit’s study.
Plugged in
The paper format of tabletop blogging can also be
modified by using a class Twitter page, a classroom blog, or
a Google doc. For younger students, a site such as Kidblog
) allows for safe interaction between
classroommembers and invited guests (see Figure 4).
Blogging in the classroom has become increasingly popular
with the one-to-one and Bring-Your-Own-Device movement in
schools. According to Halic (2010),“[e]ssentially a form of personal
publishing, the blog is a text-based online environment which
allows for embedding links to other online resources and in
which the author’s posts appear in reverse chronological order”
(p. 206). By allowing students the opportunity to communicate
with each other via a weblog, educators shift from a traditional
teacher-student linear communication flow to learner-centered
knowledge construction. This shift not only creates a broader, more
authentic audience for student work, but it also encourages student
ownership of texts, and promotes critical thinking (Boyd, 2013).
Blogs also utilize the development of intertextuality in writing, the
component of blogging in which the author links to other texts,
visuals, and videos. As Gallagher suggests,“[t]here is a genuine
feeling of interchange here, of writers/readers reacting to and with
each other”(2010, p. 288). Figure 4 shows an example of a blog
prompt from a fifth grade social studies classroom that requires
students to follow the links to primary sources and use higher
order thinking skills to form an opinion and justify their response.
Lower grades may consider using a blog to discuss aspects of
community. Students can use images in their posts to explain the
role of community workers. Depending on the availability of at home
devices, students can take photos of leaders in their own community
and blog what they have learned about that person’s job.
Data suggests that teachers who use blogging in the classroom
experience multiple student benefits: growth on student
consideration of audience in writing; wider perspectives in
discussion; more effective revision techniques; improved grammar
and spelling, and; growth in confidence with communication
skills – all essential skills for improved literacy (Anderson-Butcher,
et al., 2010; Berezina, 2011; Boling, et al., 2008; Chen, et al., 2011).
Fluency
Fluent readers can read text with speed, accuracy, and
proper expression (National Reading Panel, 2000). Oral reading
practice to increase fluency skills is supported by research,
while silent reading has had less consistently positive results
(Learning Point Associates, 2006; National Reading Panel, 2000;
Reutzel, Fawson, & Smith, 2008). So, how do we, as classroom Figure 4: Tabletop blogging in action
Figure 4: Kidblog prompt