Share to Learn

At our recent Secondary Connect, three teachers from Bay of Islands College shared how blogging has become part of the learning culture in their classrooms. While each teacher uses blogs in a different way, a common theme emerged: when students have authentic opportunities to write, share and connect with others, their confidence as writers can grow.

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Building Students' Confidence in readiness for exams

Ruth Hills, a teacher of PE and Health shared how class blogging provides a space for students to explore their thinking and learn alongside one another. Her class discussion threads are grounded in whanaungatanga and manaakitanga, with an emphasis on respectful, supportive relationships and responding positively to the ideas of others.

Regular opportunities to write also give students the chance to practice articulating their ideas without every piece of writing feeling like an assessment. Over time, Ruth has seen students become more confident in expressing themselves in writing — confidence they can draw on when preparing for exams.

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Construction and Trades

Jason Tane offered another perspective from the Construction and Trades Academy, where students use blogs to make their practical learning visible. They document projects around the school and experiences on worksites, describing what they did, the tools and processes they used, challenges they encountered, and importantly, what they learned. Putting these practical experiences into words encourages students to recall, sequence and communicate their understanding.

Over time, these reflections create a visible record of students’ developing skills, knowledge and experience. Their blog becomes a digital portfolio of authentic work — an archive they can draw on when applying for future employment, while regular writing helps them build confidence in explaining what they know and can do.

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Making Learning Visible Beyond the Classroom

Jaime Faulkner is the Yr 12 Dean at Bay of Islands College, alongside her teaching roles in Vocational Studies, Environmental Science, Agriculture, and Industry Studies. One of the key components across all her teaching is ensuring students use their blogs to reflect and share what they are learning.

Jaime Faulkner highlighted a successful initiative involving QR codes, which allowed parents to easily access their children's blogs,

Learn Create Share

What stood out from these three examples was how regular sharing online creates opportunities for students to write frequently, make their thinking visible, receive encouragement, reflect on their learning, and share what they know with an authentic audience.

Whether through a classroom discussion thread, a piece of structured writing on an individual blog, or a practical project, regular writing in authentic contexts gives students valuable practice in articulating and explaining what they know, building the confidence and fluency they need for assessment and exams. At the same time, sharing this learning online broadens the learning narrative beyond the classroom, inviting whānau and others into the learning conversation.

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