Composing a blog
English concept: Composing
Outcomes addressed:
Outcome 4:
A student selects and uses language forms and features, and structures of texts according to different
purposes, audiences and contexts, and describes and explains their effects on meaning
Introduction to the lesson:
The following activities are designed to introduce you to the world of blogs. Some of you may be
very familiar with this form of communication. Others may not be so sure. After this activity you will
have composed a blog for yourself.
Before you begin, there is one very important consideration that everyone must remember:
BLOGS ARE PUBLIC SPACES
Questions and activities
1. Change the Header of this document to reveal your name, class and avatar and SAVE in the
appropriate file.
2. Read through the following definition of a blog by Lorell Van Fossen found at
http://lorelle.wordpress.com/2005/08/29/learning-about-blogging-and-how-to-blog/
A blog is a website or part of a website that usually features one or more of the following criteria:







Editorial commentary
May, or may not, be factual
Tells stories
Usually about a specific topic, subject, or genre
Tends to be opinionated and personal
Could be considered “newsy” rather than “news”
Provide opportunities for participants to comment and interact with each other
As you can see, blogs contain a variety of features. Like all types of writing, the features you use when
you compose a blog depend upon on the purpose of the blog and the potential audience.
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3. Consider each of the following blog purposes.
a. Write down who would most likely be the audience for this blog, noting that ANYONE who is
a member of the blog site can access it
b. Rank the level of formality required for each, where:
5 = strict formality
(specific vocabulary, exact structure, content restricted to the one
specific
topic only)
1 = Very Low formality
(colloquial vocabulary and slang, no structure, no fixed
content.)
FEATURES USED IN COMPOSING A BLOG
PURPOSE OF BLOG
MOST LIKELY AUDIENCE
LEVEL OF FORMALITY
(5 = strict to 1= informal)
Personal blog on blogger.com
Student blog on EduBlog.com
Blog on sportsblog.com
(established for sporting clubs)
Economic research blog
HSC Extension II blog
GossipGirl blog
Sydney Morning Herald blog link
Daily Telegraph blog link
4.
Given all of the above, try to compose a practical list of general rules for the STRUCTURE,
LANGUAGE & CONTENT used in personal (as opposed to professional) blogs by completing the
exercise over the page.
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Composing a blog
Tick each box if you believe the feature belongs in a blog. Place other features you have found in
the remaining cells.
Language
Feature
Structure
Tick for
Yes
First person pronoun
Eg: ‘I believe...’ or
‘We went there...’
Contractions
‘won’t, can’t, you’ll’
Colloquial jargon
‘It was heaps cold’
Swear words and /or
offensive language
Write in sentences
Feature
Content
Yes/No
Write in paragraphs
C
h
C
h
C
h
C
h
C
h
C
h
Have an orientation
Follow a strict
chronological order of
events
Bullet points and subheadings
Contain small
anecdotes (stories)
C
h
Yes/No
Stick to the one topic
only
C
h
Contain personal
opinion
C
h
Explain personal
opinion
C
h
C
h
Either be consistently
negative OR
consistently positive
C
h
C
h
Describe events from
a personal point of
view
C
h
Quotation marks
used when you want
to say what someone
else said
C
h
Always write in past
tense
C
h
Invite other people to
comment
C
h
Contain current
events
C
h
C
h
Always include your
address and phone
number in the top
right hand corner
C
h
List what you did in
the day and who you
did it with
C
h
SMS txting
Absence emotive
words or abstract
nouns
© Commonwealth of Australia 2009
C
h
Conclude with a
coda.
C
h
Feature
Eg: ‘So that is why
slow and steady wins
the race.’
Have a profile
containing your
name, age, gender
and photograph as
your ‘signature’
C
h
C
h
Avoid politics, religion
and popular culture
Contain personal
information such a full
names, addresses,
emails, bank
statements and so
forth
C
h
C
h
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Private information
about people
C
h
Personal polemics (A
‘polemic’ is where
you discuss
something in
completely negative
and often derogatory
terms.)
5.
C
h
Out of the following two examples of personal blogs, which one do you prefer? Explain your
answer commenting on purpose, content, language and structure. Give your answer over the page.
Extract One
The day began with my mum yelling at me to get out of bed and this was probably the best thing
that happened to me because the day got worse from there. Cheryl texted me soon after and she
said that we had a Engish tst and I said no way I h8 eng and she said bad luck and then my
brother used all the milk and mum yelled at me for eating all the bread for toast. When I got to
skool there really was a english test on and of course I flunked it cause i H8 english. I thought
lunch was going to be OK cause mum had to give me money cause I ate all the bread for breakfast
but the canteen line was realllllllllly long and by the time i got served they ran out of pies so I gets a
ham and salad roll but it has too much lettuce on it and I throw it in the bin.
As I get home Pop is there and he hogs the TV so I’m forced to watch boring news. Mum won’t let
me go to Cheryl’s house cause what she said to her on the weekend I still think she was in the right,
so I’m forced to sit down and write in this boring blog.
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Extract Two
A DAY I’D RATHER FORGET
Have you ever had one of those days?
Seriously, nothing went well for me today. It was almost as if the BEST thing that happened
was when mum yelled at me to get out of bed this morning. My life went downhill from there.
Firstly, my brother drank all the milk so I had to have toast for breakfast. ‘Not so bad’ I hear you
all say, but then Mum yelled at me for eating all the bread.
I arrived at school just in time to do an English test. I had forgotten all about it even though my
best friend had sent me a text that morning to say it was on. I bet I failed.
I was actually looking forward to lunch because mum had to give me some money (I’d eaten all
the bread) but by the time I eventually got to the front of the line they’d run out of pies and I had
to have a ham and salad roll.
To top it all off when I got home Pop was hogging the TV. So here I am, typing this up and
trying to feel better about myself. Sometimes the life of a teenager sucks. Well at least I can
have a rant on this blog. Maybe you could post a comment and tell me if your day was just as
bad?
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My Opinion
6. Now it’s your turn. On the next page, compose a personal blog, commenting on what it’s like being
a teenager.
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My personal blog:
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Assessment Criteria for a Personal Blog
Composing a personal blog
GRADE
CRITERIA
Skilful choice of language reflecting composer’s purpose and engaging viewer
A
20 – 17
Purposeful structure that engages and keeps the audience involved
Focused content revealing insight and interpretation.
Choice of language reflects composer’s purpose and considers viewer
B
16 – 13
Logical structure that introduces, builds and may invite further comment
Focused content revealing interpretation.
Appropriate choice of language
C
12 – 9
Logical structure. May invite further comment
Content reveals purposeful description.
D
8–5
Some language choice open to criticism (too colloquial, many errors, may result in
filtering by administrator etc.)
Structure is difficult to follow or tedious
Difficult to discover purpose to the blog. Too much digression.
Problematic &/or inappropriate use of language
E
Structure is illogical
4-0
Without apparent purpose.
Comment: Click here to enter text.
Result:
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