Blogging: Maybe Not A Threat To Life As We Know It After All…

An interesting and encouraging article in the ‘Indy’:

According to all the data, Daniel Moseley and Rahil Thobhani ought to hate writing.

Educational research shows that many British schoolchildren are struggling with this basic skill, and that secondary school boys from poorer city areas are among those who flounder most.

But these two 11-year-olds sit in their school library talking passionately about letting their imaginations run riot, and how you can use suspense and dialogue to craft a good story.

Which, considering this is Thamesmead we are talking about, is quite remarkable.

Is it down to great teaching?

No. You can thank a surprising quarter: the school librarian:

So what's the big secret of turning boys on to writing?

"Technology," says Bev Humphrey, their innovative and sparky school librarian. "The boys here have more technology in their mobile phones than we could ever afford to buy for them in school. They don't see technology as separate from life: they see it as part of everything they do, so we can't just take all that away and sit them down with a pencil and a piece of paper and say 'write something'."

So instead, she’s using her head, and using their own technological bent.

Her approach is endorsed by research from the National Literacy Trust, published today, which has found that although nearly half of all UK schoolchildren claim writing is "boring", blogging and social networking greatly improve their attitudes and make them much more confident about their writing skills.

So long as this translates to a desire to write more than 140 character Twitter posts in the future, and an understanding of when and how to communicate for differing audiences, I can't see this as anything other that a positive step.

The research, which examined the attitudes of 3,000 children in England and Scotland towards writing, found that 61 per cent of those who keep a blog and 56 per cent of those who are on social network sites feel they are good or very good at writing, compared with only 47 per cent of those who don't engage with text online.

I’ve a few reservations about the use of the word ‘feel’ there, though (is there any objective assessment of whether they are actually any good?).

Technology is also a very social activity, she points out, even though it is often seen as insular. She has used Facebook and Twitter to persuade children's authors such as Theresa Breslin, Alan Gibbons, and Robert Muchamore to take part in the Write Path, and as a result has been able to take a group of boys to central London to meet writers – something that was, Rahil says solemnly, "a once in a lifetime's experience".

Let’s hope that the ISA sees sense and the threatened writer’s rebellion over the need to be registered doesn’t kill this initiative…

But doesn't writing online simply encourage children to ignore spelling and grammar?

"The thing about boys is that they are not good at transferring their skills," says Bev Humphrey. "They are always texting or on their computers at home but these aren't things they see as relevant to school. They think that school is work, and that they can't do it. So doing things online frees them up to have fun and enjoy writing, and if we can build up their confidence and get them writing, the paragraphs and spelling will come later. After all, they are taught these things in class."

Well, we hope they are…

In addition, Bev Humphrey devises electronic library quizzes, uses small eReaders to encourage boys to read, and constantly mines her own digital networks for ideas and inspiration. "Twitter is the best professional development I've ever had, far better than any course I've been on!" she says. "If I have a problem I can tweet about it and get help within a minute."

This is a really encouraging report – she seems to be doing all the right things, and she’s certainly getting results.

Her school is Woolwich Polytechnic, a boys' school in Thamesmead, south-east London, where results are improving but are still well below the national average. Pupils' ambitions tend to be modest and their horizons low. Many may never leave their relatively isolated Thames-side suburb.

But as an avowed tech-head, she is successfully harnessing cutting-edge technology to get them writing – and expanding their worldview in the process. For the past two years she has run an online writing project, The Write Path, which links pupils around the world and enables them to write stories together.

Let’s hope someone in the Department of Education takes a long hard look at this, and encourages it in other areas.

If they don’t, perhaps other librarians will take it onboard?

As for Daniel and Rahil, they can't see what the fuss is about. "Boys like technology," says Daniel, "so we like using it. But at the same time we're writing. So this is just like sneaking the learning in while we're doing it."

"And it's the way modern authors write," points out Rahil. "On the computer. That's how they do it."

Let’s welcome two potential bloggers for the future!

Here’s to Rahil and Daniel, and above all, to Bev Humphrey, for going the extra distance for these kids…