Blogs R Us

I've spent a lot of time lately reading Will Richardson's book, Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms. I guess most of the class finished it ages ago, but I'm pretty over-whelmed this semester, and I'm just trying (and mostly failing) to keep up. His chapters on using blogs in the classroom are really interesting, though, especially his discussion of including other website urls in the post and commenting on it. According to Richardson, much of what we do as "bloggers" isn't really blogging but rather more like online journaling because it doesn't include these evaluated links. If kids are truly blogging, then they are incorporating various links and discussing them, truly integrating reading, writing, and critical thinking skills. This seems so much deeper and more significant than having kids just write in their journals at night. Richardson writes, "more than just reading, bloggers that write this way learn to read critically because as they read, they look for important ideas to write about...this, in turn, requires critical thinking skills as they consider their audience and clarify the purpose of their writing" (30-31). He also quotes Samuel Johnson, which I love: "I hate to read a writer who has written more than he has read."

The thing about blogging in the classroom, though, or trying to incorporate ipods, cell phones, etc., is that you are making the assumption that all kids have them. A class that is very blog-intensive would require home access because it just wouldn't be realistic for kids to spend that much time in the school computer-lab. And in most districts, can we assume that every single kid has a computer at home? Isn't this just calling more attention to the kids without, who already probably feel bad about having less than those around them? I feel like this issue isn't really acknowledged because we think, "Oh, everyone has a computer" but I don't think that is necessarily so.