Let me just say, though, that this is something that I struggle with, too – I have some very high achievers, and I don’t take credit for the voice that you see in their writing. I’m sure I had something to do with encouraging it, and providing an opportunity to write about whatever they want, practically whever they want, and to an audience that matters. These two factors, more than any miraculous, deliberate, explicit technique in my lesson plans, probably contributed to their developing whatever voice you see in their work (assuming they didn’t have the sense of voice before they came to my classroom!). I also have some much lower achievers, and haven’t been able to work any miracles yet!

Nevertheless, there are some deliberate things that I try to do in my lessons that might be helpful to any of you, trying to get students to blog with voice. Let me take my email reply to her, adapt it a bit, and share it with you here.

Look at my student named “Jake S.” He is actually me. Jake rhymes with Fake, and S stands for student. Kinda funny, huh?
1. When I give an assignment that really matters to me, that I really want quality work from, and is worth the effort as a whole class (each individual, dedicating class time, etc.), then I write an example as Jake.

2. Also, if one of my top achievers completes the assignment earlier than others, I also highlight that article for the class.
One great way to do this is to write a teacher article with a link to their article.

3. Once in a while, I don’t accept an article to be published unless they have “attitude”, “personality”, or whatever.

4. One of my favorite assignments is what David Warlick calls a “Past Blog” (in his Classroom Blogging book) to give them a historical figure, specific or not, and have them write as if they are that person, role-playing the person, etc.. For example, I have had my students write as if they are Pluto. This was right after Pluto was re-classified a dwarf planet, etc. I have done one like this for Early Man, or Julius Caesar, or Alexander the Great.

5. This works with Science, too, once in a while. I have done this for the Earth, when we were studying the layers of the earth. I told then to write as if they are bragging to the other planets about their layers, etc. “Don’t just say ‘…core, mantle, crust, blah, blah, blah… Brag about yourself! Show some attitude!” At least for some kids, this encouragement/description of the assignment seems to have worked.

Regarding your particular subject matter, if there’s anything that could be put into a Flow Map, which is to say that if it could be put into a story that moves through time, then that something could be the one narrating the story, telling the readers about the content
that you’re wanting the students to know.
For example, students,
1. Write as if you ARE your body, speaking to you, telling you the reasons why you should exercise.
2. You are a blood cell. Tell the story about going through the body.
3. You are a lung. Write to your audience, telling how the person destroyed you by smoking, etc.

4. In science, they could write AS an organism to all the other organisms in their community, telling how they are unique. Examples would help, here, too. Have “Jake” write as an animal or whatever, and show the classes what you’re after, since this will be a new thing for them.

–
Ed Warkentin
JFK Academy, Dinuba U.S.D.
http://ewarkentin.edublogs.org/ (my professional blog)
http://tinyurl.com/kkd4s (our classroom blog)
http://del.icio.us/wark (my delicious account)
http://del.icio.us/math34 (my math-specific delicious account)
http://courses.fresno.edu/tbese/edw/thesisintro.html (my Master’s Thesis)

The dream was dependent on my student having internet access when she was in India. Turns out, she didn’t have access. So, alas, my dream was not yet realized. However, the fact that I was able to think that way, and come up with that plan was really an important learning/growing experience for me.

I do have some positive news to report, though. One of my top students, also one of my most “online” students, has been sick for a few days. She has tended to blog quite a bit, and does so from home most of the time. Since we are working on a project right now where the students are in pairs, her presence in class is becoming more and more missed by her partner!

I decided to email her parents and ask if it’s possible, if she could find her notes about the project, and type them up on our class wiki. This way, her partner (who didn’t have any of the notes) could continue with the project! We’ll see how this turns out…

She’ll probably show up at school tommorow, making this entirely un-dramatic, but again…..the idea is what’s interesting!!

Great point!
I was just about to reflect on this general point myself. I see my own blog as sort of a resource for those teachers that I’m helping to see the benefit of maintaining a professional blog, and for blogging with their students.

To convince a teacher that blogging is worth it, that it helps us grow as professional educators, helps us to do our job, and unleashes lots of energy, learning, and growth between educators…..this point is very helpful.

Blogging myself helps me keep track of my own learning. The more I blog, the more I develop a sense that, “I’m onto some important learning here – I should blog about this.” Then, as I’m writing the blog, I deepen my understanding as I put my reflections into words, that solidifies the learning.
As you point out, a very important side benefit is that others can learn from your reflection!

Sorry if my reflections here are a “duh!” no brainer for those of you reading that are more experienced in the edublogosphere, but this just resonated with me, and stimulated me to express my thoughts more completely.

This is what happened to me recently. However, this one was significantly different! It was so exciting, I had to share it with you here. My student was to be gone for 2 additional weeks just after the Christmas vacation. She went to India! (This is especially exciting for our class because later in the year, we will be studying ancient India!)
More common plan vs. This one
replaced activities,
activities that didn’t change,activities added to the list

1. Read as many books as you can get permission to check out, and take the Accelerated Reader test for each of them when you get back. as soon as you finish the book.
2. Write a “Response to Literature” in your notebook on your blog for every 2 points worth of your books.
3. Write a page in your notebook blog article for each day you are gone about each of the following prompts: How is India different from where you live? [several specific ideas about what to write about]. We will comment on your blog articles with questions and comments.
4. Science – Read the textbook [pgs], complete workbook pages [pgs]. Blog at least 2 articles, about things in the reading that you have questions about, and things in the reading that you hope to see and experience at Scicon. [That's our 6th grade Science camp. We'll be going up to Scicon for a week the day my student gets back.]
5. Social Studies -Read the textbook [pgs], answer questions [pgs]. Blog at least one article about what you read. [some specific prompts] OR Go to our class wiki and write a summary of what you read/learned.
6. I gave my email address, so that is there were any questions, my student could contact me…

This was all possible because my student:

1. had an internet connection where whe was,
2. is responsible enough to handle the technical skills necessary to accomplish the assignments,
3. is advanced enough to deal with the more advanced nature of the assignments

I was excited about this because it resembles distance learning, where there might be some face-to-face interaction, but a lot of the learning happens using internet tools, allowing direct interaction in various ways.

When my student wants to publish a blog article, the work will come to me via email. I will then be able to write comments and/or instructions for revision, and students will be able to read and comment on the work as well. This is possible using a tool called ClassBlogmeister.

To a remarkable degree, it will be as if my student never left!

I’m excited to see how this all turns out… I will blog again about how this turns out. I thought about publishing an article about this only after it works well. However, the more I thought about it, it made sense to share the beginning of the experiment, and then later share how it turned out. (That will be Part 2 – stay tuned!)

Here’s where I came out: I should be modeling for my students how I use a blog to reflect on my learning. I just learned about this thing with Pluto, so I need to practice this myself, and show them how it’s done. My enthusiasm will only grow about the power of this activity for a person’s learning. I put this post on my classroom blog, but obviously I decided to put it here, as well. I thought some of you would like to read my thoughts. If not the specific Pluto stuff, then maybe these reflections about how to model for kids!

—
I just read an article about how Pluto will no longer be considered a planet. Wow!

This will really change how students learn about the planets. All of those sentences that are really acronyms that help us keep the planets in the right order (My Very Excellent Mother Just Sent Us Nine Pizzas) will have to change!

Here’s the gist of what has occured:
The International Astronomical Union voted on Thursday, August 24th, to downgrade Pluto from its status as a planet to a “dwarf planet”. They did this by approving a new definition of “planet”, which has been met with a bit of controversy, which I found interesting.

Here is the new definition. A planet 1) orbits the sun, 2) is round due to gravity, and 3) “has cleared the neighborhood around its orbit”.

One point of controversy mentioned in the article made me laugh. One of the scientists quoted said, “What exactly is meant by planet ‘clearing its neighborhood?’” He said that Pluto swings inside the path of Neptune for 20 of the 248 years it takes for Pluto to circle the sun. He said, “I’d say Neptune’s neighborhood still needs some clearing!”

Pluto was discovered in 1930, when the instruments to view objects that small were not as advanced as what we have today.