Harry Hood talks about audience and context.....

In Left to Write Too, Harry has a couple of pages about the importance of audience and context. On P.85, he quotes a letter from a Year 5 child which is written really well. She is argung the point that she really needs a dog. The letter is to her father. Harry points out that the letter is probably at Level 5 in the curriculum and attributes her skill to her passion for the subject.

In a blog, I don't believe there will be any of this passion (well it would be nice but....) but the children will initially be trying to get to know the other members. I'm predicting that this will provide some authenicity. The children will be willing participants so would have a desire to be a "penpal"
The children in one of the sites I found overseas, told their classmates lots about the things they were doing in school. On the Blackboard site that I started last year, the kids only just began. They were really interested in finding out about each others interests in Ipods and xboxes etc.
I wonder how much moret he kids would get out of this if they shared similar interests? That could be something to look for. The true blogs start with shared interests don't they.
I'm off to find more about the effect of blogging. Maybe the large numbers of people blogging speak for the power of having an audience.
Kapai tou ra
Pamela