Literacy in action: Law Primary School

The pupil weblog at Law Primary School in East Lothian embraces the digital side of literacy. Stef Rankin reports.

Law Primary School in East Lothian has embraced a modern definition of literacy, one that focuses on providing pupils with the skills to communicate in a way that is meaningful in the modern world, and increases their confidence in turn.

'The weblog breaks down the walls of the classroom and helps pupils to communicate beyond the school gates,' says Sandra Macniven, a P7 teacher at the school. 'Whilst general literacy throughout the school is good, it’s essential for pupils to develop their skills beyond traditional methods. Pupils can use the weblog to share their work, self and peer assess and communicate with parents.'

Before setting up the weblog, the school consulted pupils and parents to see what they would like to see online. Pupils were also given training to encourage them to take ownership of the content. Their preparation has paid off, with many pupils contributing to the weblog. Key to this engagement is the opportunity pupils have to see how their class work relates to the real world - and therefore how valuable literacy skills can be. 'One child received a weblog post from his aunt and uncle in Australia!' says Sandra. 'The possibilities are endless.'

Sandra's top tips for starting a school weblog

Speak to an expert

'David Gilmour of the ICT Learning Team in East Lothian Council answered all our questions and helped us set up. We couldn’t have done it without him.'

Involve the parents

'The weblog is a living diary and helps the parents to understand what their children are doing at school.
If they see the benefits of the weblog they’ll encourage their children to use it.'

Give the children ownership

'The children are definitely more literate than the teachers! We’ve introduced a scaffolding teaching approach whereby the pupils teach one another.'

Partner up

'We have a French blog run by Jackie Swan, the cluster specialist. It enables pupils to communicate in French and English with pupils in France, like a virtual exchange programme! Kathy McGrane, Lynne Lewis and myself are also developing a cluster blog where feeder primary schools can communicate with colleagues from other cluster schools.'

Keep it focused

'The weblog is an educational resource. We want pupils to share examples of great work and we encourage proper sentence construction and punctuation. It’s important that they continue to develop their writing skills even if they are using a keyboard instead of a pencil.'

Have fun

'Above all, the weblog is a really fun way for pupils to communicate.'

Posted on 22 September 2008 under literacy and english, curriculum for excellence, issue 21, features.
Tagged as blogs.