As anyone working in education will know, there are many effective ways to support the wellbeing of children and young people, and the best methods facilitate development in other areas too, such as creativity, writing skills and communication. One of the most inspiring examples of this is blogging.
Expressing yourself in the written word has long been associated with boosting wellbeing (see the work of Celia Hunt, Fiona Sampson and Gillie Bolton for starters) so it seems logical to facilitate whole school blogging so that every child has the chance to be involved. Those schools that have embraced blogging wholeheartedly have found that even reluctant writers are encouraged by the opportunity to express what blogging offers them.
However, for some, simply blogging isn’t enough. Enter Quadblogging! For the uninitiated, QuadBlogging ensures that blogging pupils have readers and therefore a purpose for writing. (In Illuminating Ecothe author Umberto Eco stresses the importance of the writer having a reader: “There is only one thing that you write for yourself, and it is your shopping list. It serves to remind you what you need to buy, and when you have bought these things you can destroy it since it serves no one else. Everything else that you write, you write to say something to someone.”) It works by grouping four classes together in a quad. Over a period of four weeks, each class gets a turn to be the focus of the quad, writing blog posts and having the three other classes in the quad read and comment on them. The classes in the quad rotate so each gets a turn to be the main focus. They can be from schools all over the world, connecting pupils from diverse backgrounds and building links across borders and cultural difference.
The potential to enhance wellbeing in a school through the use of Quadblogging is immense. Not only does it ensure that pupils aren’t writing in an uninspiring vacuum but it also helps young people to build relationships, work collaboratively, critique texts and share information while developing skills associated with the use of technology.
David Mitchell, Deputy Headteacher at Heathfield Community Primary School in Bolton, who has been recognised with awards from Naace, Microsoft, Toshiba, Learning Without Frontiers and the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust for his work in encouraging blogging in schools, knows from experience that blogging encourages young people to become confident writers, develops international mindedness and opens up opportunities. He shared with Youngminds in Schools some of the comments from his students about how blogging has had a positive impact on their life and learning at school:
Blogging has changed my life. These were the opening words from Binyameen as he opened his BETT Show presentation. Binyameen spoke of how blogging had changed his attitude to learning and how he now considered writing as a hobby. His mother was equally impressed as she gave a video interview to me about the transformation in her son.
Blogging has taken me from the detention room most lunchtimes to speaking in front of 150 people at the biggest educational computer show in the world! This was Thomas as he opened his presentation. Being able to publish his artwork to a global authentic audience had given him a focus and something to do which he was really proud of. Blogging had a huge impact on Thomas as he matured and applied energy in a different direction.
Blogging has changed the relationship between me and my Dad! This was John’s reflection on how blogging had impacted him. John and his Dad shared a passion for football and blogging about other subjects like WW2 gave him and his Dad a totally different context to develop their close relationship. In fact, John ended up in the centre of Manchester with his Dad locating hidden shelters from WW2 after his audience had helped identify where these were.
There is so much potential power in an authentic audience for children’s writing. If you’re inspired to get your classes involved visit the Quadblogging website. You may also be interested in Feb 29th – The World’s Biggest Blogging Project. It crosses all age groups and continents and will be live for posts for one day only. Organisers say that the blog will not only be “a celebration of technology, but a celebration of audience and purpose, who will be the youngest author? Who will be the oldest? Which country will top the most posts?”
As ways of boosting wellbeing in your school, both of these initiatives are certainly worth considering.
Quadblogging to happiness…
As anyone working in education will know, there are many effective ways to support the wellbeing of children and young people, and the best methods facilitate development in other areas too, such as creativity, writing skills and communication. One of the most inspiring examples of this is blogging.
Expressing yourself in the written word has long been associated with boosting wellbeing (see the work of Celia Hunt, Fiona Sampson and Gillie Bolton for starters) so it seems logical to facilitate whole school blogging so that every child has the chance to be involved. Those schools that have embraced blogging wholeheartedly have found that even reluctant writers are encouraged by the opportunity to express what blogging offers them.
However, for some, simply blogging isn’t enough. Enter Quadblogging! For the uninitiated, QuadBlogging ensures that blogging pupils have readers and therefore a purpose for writing. (In Illuminating Eco the author Umberto Eco stresses the importance of the writer having a reader: “There is only one thing that you write for yourself, and it is your shopping list. It serves to remind you what you need to buy, and when you have bought these things you can destroy it since it serves no one else. Everything else that you write, you write to say something to someone.”) It works by grouping four classes together in a quad. Over a period of four weeks, each class gets a turn to be the focus of the quad, writing blog posts and having the three other classes in the quad read and comment on them. The classes in the quad rotate so each gets a turn to be the main focus. They can be from schools all over the world, connecting pupils from diverse backgrounds and building links across borders and cultural difference.
The potential to enhance wellbeing in a school through the use of Quadblogging is immense. Not only does it ensure that pupils aren’t writing in an uninspiring vacuum but it also helps young people to build relationships, work collaboratively, critique texts and share information while developing skills associated with the use of technology.
David Mitchell, Deputy Headteacher at Heathfield Community Primary School in Bolton, who has been recognised with awards from Naace, Microsoft, Toshiba, Learning Without Frontiers and the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust for his work in encouraging blogging in schools, knows from experience that blogging encourages young people to become confident writers, develops international mindedness and opens up opportunities. He shared with Youngminds in Schools some of the comments from his students about how blogging has had a positive impact on their life and learning at school:
There is so much potential power in an authentic audience for children’s writing. If you’re inspired to get your classes involved visit the Quadblogging website. You may also be interested in Feb 29th – The World’s Biggest Blogging Project. It crosses all age groups and continents and will be live for posts for one day only. Organisers say that the blog will not only be “a celebration of technology, but a celebration of audience and purpose, who will be the youngest author? Who will be the oldest? Which country will top the most posts?”
As ways of boosting wellbeing in your school, both of these initiatives are certainly worth considering.