So, I stopped. I needed the students to discover what was missing in their writing. So, we spent class time exploring well-written blogs--some professional, and some not. I simply asked them to make a list of the things that they see included in the blogs. What made them interesting? Why? How do these blogs differ from theirs? Then, students responded on a Padlet, sharing their "noticings" and notes. I encouraged them to go back into their responses to give examples.
When all was said and done, students developed a list of how to improve their own blogs. They made plans as to what they should try to do differently to make their blogs more interesting. This story is still unfinished, but returning to the essentials and helping students make their own discoveries about their own work seems to be inspiring them to push a little harder, and dig deep to write more interesting posts about their books. Stay tuned!