Food Logging and Blogging Toward Healthier Nutrition: Bringing the Curriculum Out of the Classroom and Into the 21st Century

Project Stages

My role, as fifth-grade teacher at a laboratory elementary school located on a small New England college campus in the northeastern sector of the United States, has given me numerous opportunities to work with a number of professors. Five years ago, a health education professor, teaching a nutrition class, was looking for elementary classrooms for which her college students could teach in. At the time, my elementary school (Grades Pre-K to fifth) required classroom teachers to teach health education, and since I had no formal preparation in teaching this subject, I was eager to work with this professor and her college students. After meeting, we decided the focus of the classes would be to increase the fifth-grade students’ knowledge about nutrition and improve their attitudes toward healthier lifestyle choices.

During the first year, it was decided my students would complete a 2-week food log that consisted of weekly meals, drinks, and snacks, along with questions to complete regarding eating choices and related lifestyle habits. College students, enrolled in this nutrition class, are undergraduate community health and wellness majors or are pursuing degrees in nursing and health care administration. In addition, there are students taking this required course as part of the health and physical education teacher certification program. These college students analyzed the fifth graders’ logs using MyPlate, the current nutrition guide created by the United States Department of Agriculture, recommendations and dietary guidelines to draft summaries and make suggestions. The culminating activity was a celebration. The two groups of students met face-to-face to discuss the logs and recommendations. Both groups of students were actively engaged in inspiring conversations. With the obvious success of this project, and after a debriefing, it was decided we would add a blog the following year to further open up lines of communication between all parties as an additional piece prior to the celebration. The intention of the blog was to share additional thoughts about nutrition. We were also looking to expand dialogue and foster relationships between the fifth graders and college students.

Since this decision was made, I was now obligated to expand my view of children’s blogging. Because of safety issues, I never considered blogging beyond our class, yet here was an opportunity for both sets of students to connect through guided conversations for a month before they would actually meet. To prepare students, a Blogging Guidelines contract was generated that reviewed systems put in place for children’s safety and protection. Students were required, according to this document, to use appropriate and purposeful language. They were to spend time editing their written pieces before sending them. Additionally, the students would be held accountable for anything written on the blog that was in their names. Not only did the students sign this contract, parents were obligated to do so as well. The consequence for not following our Blogging Guidelines policy would be immediate removal from the blog. Although this blog was not public and all students had to be approved in order to participate, we thought it imperative to teach students the responsibilities of becoming digital citizens at the very start of this project.

The first year of our Food Logging and Blogging project appeared to be successful due to students’ enthusiasm toward both the project and blogging component. However, we later discovered “kinks” to be worked out, especially within the organization of the blog. Students posting similar questions and remarks throughout the blog made it repetitive and difficult to follow. Some of the disorganization was the result of students not understanding the differences between posts and comments. Within any blog there are posts, which are similar to journal entries. One main difference between the two is that in a blog, the most recent entry is shown first. Posts can consist of ideas, questions, and thoughts. Blogs are public, and those that reply to posts are commenting on what they are reading. Therefore, it was essential to teach not only what a blog was but also the structure of the blog too. When we reviewed the configuration of a blog, the students had a greater awareness on how to maneuver through it. To further organize the food blog, the health professor and I decided we would be the only two allowed to post, and the students would be permitted to comment only. We developed six health-related questions to ask over a 6-week period, one question per week. Because of this decision, each week had one post only, and all the comments were contained within the post. The blog became not only easier to navigate; it became effortless when reviewing the quality of the students’ comments. However, even while working out these glitches to make our blog more efficient, fifth-grade students were even more exuberant to meet with college students who reviewed their food logs. Additionally, blogging gave each group the opportunity to “meet and talk” during the prior month.

After our first year of blogging, a relatively new way of communicating among students, we found the fifth graders were developing digital literacy skills that extended beyond the classroom. Even with complications, surprising observations came to the surface through blogging. Most interesting were children’s thoughts and ideas about nutrition. One example was a fifth-grade girl who commented on body image and dieting. Many of the girls appear confident and have a strong self-image. However, the blog exposed negative messages this girl was already receiving from the media, along with older peers and siblings, and this concerned her. Another student gave a strategy. He replied, “A good way to learn to eat healthier is if you combine the healthy and non-healthy foods, slowly adding more healthy foods and decreasing the non-healthy foods.” College students felt empowered advising students and giving feedback on important issues on the blog for all to see. Reading student comments on the blog, therefore, assisted in guiding our instruction. We added additional blogging components based on students’ concerns and thoughts.

In 2013, our college formed a partnership with a local public school district. This innovative undertaking encouraged faculty members from both the college and district to collaborate in various service learning projects. The college professor and I saw an opportunity to expand this project and began to focus on how we could gather data to evaluate the differences between the two groups of fifth graders. A fifth-grade teacher from the district’s middle school joined us. Although excited about extending our Food Logging and Blogging endeavor, one concern expressed was the number of students who would be blogging—there would be more than 60. Because we discovered in the second year of our project the importance of keeping the blog organized, it was necessary to redesign our method. To combat these large numbers, we created three blogs. Each educator became responsible for a third of the students. We were now in charge of approximately 20 students instead of the 60+. Because of lower numbers, it became easier to analyze and categorize student responses for research purposes.

Discussion

One result of this project has shown all involved parties the validity of blogging as a viable way of communicating. Although we see college students as well versed in technology, a study completed by Hutchinson and Wang (2012) found that most college students are familiar with blogging, but many are not participating in this form of communication. Educators, therefore, must give college students preparing for the education and health fields opportunities to experiment within their academic courses.

Blogging gives students a greater inspiration to write. Usually teachers and parents are the only ones who read students’ work. If there is time, students might share their written pieces with peers. Students know a larger and unknown audience will not read their writing. With blogging, “students come to understand grammar, punctuation, style, and syntax are not just a ‘teacher thing’ but rather a means for effective communication” (Davis & McGrail, 2009, p. 76). In Food Logging and Blogging, fifth graders now long to receive comments from college students and peers. They begin to understand that there is a greater chance of having their pieces commented on by others when their thoughts and ideas are written in a clear and organized manner. This was evident when a student mentioned he had difficulty reading another’s work. He was puzzled and asked, “Who would publish a piece that no one could read?”

Before children’s blogs, “audience was a cognitively abstract concept with which even adult writers struggle with from time to time” (Lapp, Shea, & Wolsey, 2011, p. 42). With blogging, students have an awareness that their writing could potentially be seen by millions, even though most readers and writers on blogs are potentially unknown. Because blogging involves an authentic audience, there are additional incentives to develop a well-written piece. As teachers, we discuss a writer’s audience and how our audience can change depending on the type and style of piece we are creating, when in reality, and children know this, the teacher is the audience.

Additionally, students start to differentiate between groups of audiences within technological literacies. When writing on our blog, students are beginning to recognize differences between the way they communicate with friends, using slang and acronyms to get their thoughts across, and how they should communicate with other groups on the Internet. Since our audience consists of professors, teachers, college students, and fifth graders, we discuss and model what appropriate comments on this blog should consist of, and they recognize why their writing needs to be completed in a cohesive and engaging manner. Other talks include how blogging, within the school environment, requires thoughtfulness and time to reflect because once they press publish, it is for all to view instantaneously.

A potential digital citizen is “learning how to behave appropriately, practice safety, civility, and respect with parents, teachers, classmates, and virtual strangers” (“Blogging helps students,” 2012, p. 7). Digital Etiquette, once established, are skills that will benefit students throughout their academic careers. Although it has been my responsibility to teach fifth-grade students how to become digital citizens, I find each year my students are more prepared to blog than in prior years. At our school, third graders are now blogging. They are learning at 8 and 9 years old what I was once responsible for teaching my 10- and 11-year-olds. Not only are my students respectful online, but they also are developing a strong working knowledge of blogging. The college students are also told to lead by example and are given a list of guidelines to follow when blogging. These guidelines are very similar to the ones given to the fifth graders. No slang language, acronyms, or emojis are allowed. Revising and editing work is required, so it is free of punctuation and spelling mistakes. College students are also reminded to think about the audience they are writing to. Participation of this project requires college students to take on leadership positions, feeling a high sense of responsibility, as they guide fifth graders by giving healthy living strategies in a real-life context.

Children who blog use higher order thinking skills (Zawilinski, 2011). Questions on this blog are answered by incorporating the students’ own experiences and backgrounds. One question posted on the blog asks students to describe festive events and traditions they celebrate with their families. Because of the array of backgrounds, many different affairs are celebrated. However, no matter what the students’ backgrounds are, the common thread throughout is that food is the central theme. Many comments expose more questions students have, especially as the blog discloses other students’ thoughts on nutrition. Students continue to answer questions pertaining to their own lives as they read a variety of health and nutrition texts, which leads to the contemplation of healthy food choices they are making or should be making in their lives. With these new understandings, students are actively engaged in synthesizing, which are unique to each child and will assist in acquiring healthy lifestyle habits.

There are many educational websites where a teacher can go to create a class blog with safety features. We use Kidblog, which is a COPPA (Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act) compliant site that can be used only by students and teachers who have been granted permission and is not open to the public. Teachers are able to activate controls, so students cannot publish their comments and posts without approval. As of this time, after using Kidblog for 3 years, there has not been one inappropriate incident from any student. Moreover, “findings show our concerns regarding student use of online networking sites at school may be formed due to our perceptions and assumptions rather upon actual data regarding school behavior” (Cowan, 2008, p. 22). All our students have been enthusiastic and use the blog as the tool it was intended for, to discuss healthy eating habits and lifestyles with peers and college students. Although we have set safety features on our blog, a true blog is for anyone in the global community to view.

Food Logging and Blogging was created in an educational setting; however, there are many arenas within the health profession that can easily adapt these blogging concepts. It is a valid forum for communicating and has the potential to expand any program that is considering to increase awareness within the health community. The Internet website, Quora, puts the number of blogs that exist on the Internet at roughly 152,000,000. However, it is difficult finding an exact number because of the blogs still online but abandoned by their creators (Lee, 2015). Although this number is high, there are many unique ways of creating and utilizing blogs that are thought-provoking, original, and encourage local communities, along with health professionals, to communicate over topics that affect citizens daily and to collaborate online to find solutions.

Conclusion

Blogging is not the future; it is now. No more can teachers view blogging as an “extra” to curriculum or as part of the classroom routine when there is time. Blogging is a strong addition to classroom writing in all curricular areas. Bringing the blog into our classrooms has brought our health unit on nutrition into the 21st century. In the classroom (and out) this type of literacy is engaging and transparent. It gives students an authentic way of letting their “voices” be heard on important subjects and topics. Besides the nutritional and academic pieces of this project, blogging teaches students to become valued and respectful digital citizens. Blogging encourages our students to thoughtfully get their ideas and views across because of an active audience. It encourages community involvement and engages students to use higher order thinking skills. Blogging is an innovative approach of proving, once again, that the pen (or keyboard) is mightier than the sword.