Blogging can take many forms and addresses all kinds of topics. When it comes to education, blogging can be a great tool for developing writing skills. It can encourage creativity, improve language skills, give students a wider understanding of the world, create more opportunity for constructive feedback and develop them personally in countless ways.
Encouraging students to develop a personal blog is one of the best ways to prepare them for the workplace. Writing is a skill that won't go away once they've learned it and the best way to encourage it is to give them a reason to want to write.
1. Encourage creativity
Blogging gives students a purpose for writing and they will want to create content that engages an audience. This encourages them to become more creative in how they express themselves. They don't want people to be bored when they read their blogs and will probably go out of their way to find unique, appealing content.
This will also encourage them to read more which will also develop their writing skills. Teachers need to allow them creative freedom but also emphasize that it's important to include a variety of types of content.
Creating a blog is easy with WordPress and students can express their creativity in the themes, headers, designs and photos they choose. A blog that reflects their own personalities is a fun and innovative way to develop all kinds of useful, creative skills without them even realizing how much they are learning.
2. Develop consistency
All writers who want to improve their skills have to write consistently. Writing a blog post daily is the perfect opportunity to develop this consistency. If students write something for a blog every day, they learn how to express their thoughts and feelings consistently. The more they practice, the better they are at communicating.
Students can use a paraphrasing tool at Edubirdie to avoid plagiarism. For their blogs to be successful, they must not only post content consistently, but it must be unique. The tool can also be used for research work related to dissertation and thesis.
To consistently create content, students also have to hone their research skills. As well as researching on their own, teachers can give them plenty of pointers on the content they can create.
For example, they can write book reviews, write about songs they like with explanations about the lyrics or write about a field trip they took with links to the location and activities.
3. Improve language skills
Students will have pride in what they write and won't want it to be filled with spelling mistakes and grammatical errors that make it difficult to read.
The teacher can introduce them to grammar and spelling checkers, like Grammarly and Ginger, to help them correct their work. Many people today use these checkers and using them can help create an awareness of their errors and improve their writing skills.
It's only when they have to write on a daily basis that students start understanding the importance of grammar. By using dissertation writing services, they will naturally start developing a greater vocabulary and better language skills as they start to try and express themselves more clearly.
4. Get feedback
Blogging enables students to reach a broader audience and interact with readers. Encourage them to comment on other blog posts and to respond to comments people leave. Teachers should monitor this to make sure comments are constructive and there is no bullying or harassment involved.
Learning how to leave and respond to comments in a positive way is a great exercise in learning to receive constructive criticism and improve by receiving feedback from others. This is one of the best ways to improve writing skills.
Students are often unable to see the flaws in their own writing and find ways to improve it. Receiving constructive input from others, both positive and negative, is healthy and can help them to grow.
5. Become more confident
Students will gain confidence as they receive feedback and respond to followers' comments. Many students who do start blogs say that they have been able to "find themselves" through blogging. They become more confident about expressing what they think.
The best way to develop this kind of confidence in their writing skills is through the exposure they get to others from their blogs. It is not only their parents and friends they can receive encouragement from but others too. It only goes so far to boost confidence when parents tell you how good you are at writing.
It is often easier to accept feedback from those who don't know you as well. When others start expressing this to students how well they write and also give them ways to improve, it could be exactly what they need to take their writing skills to the next level.
Conclusion
Writing a blog gives students to develop all the writing skills they will ever need. They will learn how to construct sentences, spell correctly and write convincingly about their own thoughts and feelings. When they have to work on a blog consistently, they also develop time management and research skills without it seeming like work.
They will create a lasting piece of work they can take ownership of and have pride in which gives the self-confidence a huge boost. Encourage your students to create blogs could be the most important way to not only develop their writing skills but to help them with their personal development too.
