Using Blogs with Students

Use the following tutorials to create your first blog.





This video is for teacher use to link student blogs to the teacher blog.

Students Need Blogs to Read

As teachers we know that there is a process to introduce and/or improve writing for our students.  When I want my students to write a fairy tale, what do I do first?....make sure they read fairy tales.  When I want my students to write a newspaper article, what do I do first?.....make sure they read newspaper articles.  So, when I want students to start blogging, what do I do first?  Yes.....they should read blogs. 

You can Google search and find all kinds of blogs.  Encourage your students to search for blogs on topics that interest them: sports, sharks, cooking or comic books.  There are blogs out there on everything!  *Note: This is a good time to talk to your students on safety issues of writing and reading blogs.  **Double Note:  if you are not familiar with RSS feeds for blogs now is a good time to start researching that. 

How about I list some blogs for students to read to get you and them started!

Blog Written by Kids
Lauren's Hockey Blog

Sara's International English Blog
The Time of Our Lives
Sisterville
Diary of a Sugarmonster
My Footballing Life
Spider....The Tomorrow Club
Childtastic Books

Blogs Written for Kids
National Geographic Kids Blog
NY Times Student Opinion Blog 
Discovery Animal Planet Blog
National Geographic Travel Nomad

Blogs in the Classroom

One of the first Web 2.0 tools to hit the classroom is Blogs.  If you are reading this, you are reading a blog! Blogs allow communication and sharing of ideas on the web.  Teachers have picked up on the creative use of this Internet technology and put the blog to work in the classroom. The education blog can be a powerful and effective technology tool for students and teachers alike. There are many great sites that host free blogs, but I think my favorite is Blogger (www.blogger.com) a tool from Google.  Blogger has grown and changed over the years.  One new feature allows pages to be added to a blog.  The other change from Blogger is the ability to not only reply to a post, but to respond to someone else's reply.  Being a Google tool Blogger also has many "Gadgets" that can be added to the blog.  These are found in the "Layout". Since many younger students do not have Google Accounts, I often set up my blog to allow comments from Anonymous and then the students puts their name in the post.  This is in the "Comments and Posts" setting. What is a blog? A blog (sometimes referred to as a weblog) is a Web publishing tool that allows authors to quickly and easily self-publish text, artwork, links to other blogs or Web sites, and a whole array of other content. Blogs are set-up like conventional Web sites, with navigation links, and other standard Web site features. Blogs have one standard characteristic, however: the posting. Blog postings are text, pictures, links and other entries, similar to a diary or journal, which include a posting date and may include comments by people other than the author, photos, links, or other digital media. User-Friendly Technology Fortunately for teachers, blogs are surprisingly easy to use. They require minimum technical knowledge and are quickly and easily created and maintained. Unlike many traditional Web sites, they are flexible in design and can be changed relatively easily. Best of all, students will find them convenient and accessible via home or library computers. Educational Benefits of Blogs In addition to providing teachers with an excellent tool for communicating with students, there are numerous educational benefits of blogs. Blogs are: Highly motivating to students, especially those who otherwise might not become participants in classrooms. Excellent opportunities for students to read and write. Effective forums for collaboration and discussion. Powerful tools to enable scaffolded learning or mentoring to occur. Using the Blog in the Classroom As an educational tool, blogs may be integrated in a multi-faceted manner to accommodate all learners. Blogs can serve at least four basic functions. Resources Video Tutorial on Blog 5 Reasons You Should Consider Blogging the the Classroom 15 Awesome ways to Use Blogs in the Classroom Blog about Class Uses