When you’ve never blogged it can be hard to visualise how to use blogs with students.
I like to stress that the most important aspect of blogging, and where the most learning happens, is in the conversations. So I’m hoping you will write a comment on this post or write your own post (which links to this post) so we can show educators new to blogging:
- How these conversations work
- Plus provide tips and links to resources that will help them work out how to get started blogging with their students
So can you please share with us:
- Why you blog? How does it benefit you or your work?
- How you use blogging with your students and how it has helped them (if applicable)
- Examples of class and/or student blogs for them to check out
- What are your 3 most important tips for educators, new to blogging, who would like to blog with their students?
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48 Comments So Far»
Lots of links to share, hopefully I’ve described them enough for you to be selective.
The use of blogs and wikis in my classroom changed how I look at teaching and learning. Students become participants in the teaching and learning like they never have before. Here is a slide show, ‘Brave New World-Wide-Web’ that looks at what I mean by this
Here is a blog post: “the use of blogs to learn not just to teach”
Here are a couple blog posts I have written about blogging with students… I’ve added a quote to let you know what I talk about in the post:
How do you know when students are learning? When they ask the right questions!
The fact is that I am not used to letting students take ownership of their learning in this way. I want to ‘teach’ them… isn’t that my job?
And finally, this reflection was for a wiki project
However, I wouldn’t start a blogging project with students without re-reading what I learned about Scaffolding, Timelines, Experts, and Grades… as seen in the post.
I hope what I have offered here will be useful to others:-)
Dave.
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Hi Sue,
I blog because… Sue told me to! Well not quite, but you have encouraged me to journal my experiences, and I thank you for your support. It would be a pointless exercise if no one read my updates, and if I received no feedback.
I started blogging after reading many blogs written by others. I knew I wanted to do the same, but I took a while to find a focus. I decided to write about my experiences as a beginner using web2 tools so that other teachers thinking of doing the same could benefit.
I encourage my students to blog but as they have limited Internet access, it doesn’t happen very much. That’s the main drawback. My students communicate mainly using images (photos and videos) so I try to encourage image posting at their Ning network. Since access to this site has been blocked, I’ve been developing a Wikispaces presence because this site is not (yet!) blocked.
For my personal musings, I chose Wordpress because I can blog images directly from Flickr. Every posting is a story based on an image. I like its uncluttered appearance as well. I guess these would be two tips from me. Additionally, I try to keep the message simple by using plain English.
I joined the 366photos Flickr group at the start of the year. Members post one photo each day of this year to the group photo pool. This has been an achievable goal for me, although I’m now a few days behind. I like to tell a story with an image here as well, and agreeing with you Sue, the learning happens in the conversations. It’s flattering to receive even the smallest comment, so I make sure to comment on others’ photos when I post my own, especially those who comment on mine.
I’ve learned a lot in the past few months – a little about photography, uploading to websites, formatting text and html – but mostly I’ve learned about building a community of practice.
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Hi, Sue,
I’ve used blogs with students in two ways:
1) Using one blog as a vehicle through which ESL classes from throughout the world share VoiceThreads and other mixed media projects telling about their countries and responding to each other’s presentations:
http://esleflstudents.edublogs.org/
This has been a great opportunity for students to practice language and technology skills for an authentic audience, plus learn about different cultures.
2) Using one blog as a way for students in my, and other, ninth grade English classes in our school to respond to prompts related to the thematic units we’re studying:
http://burbankarw.edublogs.org/
Even though we’re just beginning to use it, students appear to take greater care in their writing because others besides me will read it.
Larry
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I don’t work directly with students, so my blog has a different focus. As the Director of Library Services for a school district of about 35,000 students, my blog attempts to keep our campus librarians up-to-date on new thinking and ideas in the fields of school libraries and technology.
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I started blogging because I wanted to emulate the people I was reading in my RSS feeds.
I continue blogging because it gives me a creative outlet, a space for professional reflection, and a connective highway to the rest of the world.
I’d suggest that you read a variety of blogs and notice what catches and keeps your interest: manageable blocks of text; clear, precise language; and striking images appeal to me.
Comment on other blogs and link to other bloggers: they will return the favor and visit your blog.
Consider joining Twitter. You will build up a PLN (Personal Learning Network) and have access to a treasure trove of resources and possible blog topics.
Don’t be afraid to express your opinions, but be aware that ANYTHING appearing online is public and permanent.
By becoming a blogger yourself, you will be modeling the process for your students and have a better grasp of the possible problems they might encounter. And you will also be able to describe the very real benefits of this mode of communication.
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Kia Ora Sue!
I feel a post coming on
Virginia Vonkers highlighted in her post that ‘writing forces learning’ – a phrase that she had mentioned in a previous post and that had come from one of Tony Karrer’s handouts.
There is a lot in this that people maybe either take for granted or miss all together while posting/commenting. I may be presumptive in thinking that people feel that the learning only happens when they read what others have written. My gut feeling is that it’s not as simple as that though it may be for those who read posts but never comment.
Sorry for thinking too deep about this
Ka kite
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This past school year, my AP English Language students used blogs throughout the year. Two projects were very rewarding:
1) One quarter they did weekly blog posts on a current issue. Each student created a Google Reader account and subscribed to several news sites. Reading current issues regularly, they had to select a topic of their choice each week and write an argument. The last week, they omitted writing a post and “comment blogged”: I required them to visit six blogs and enter a conversation by posting a comment (three had to be blogs outside our school).
2) The last quarter my students created ePortfolios, documenting their progress toward the NETS for Student and the Arkansas English Language Arts Standards. It was one of the most rewarding projects I’ve undertaken. If you visit some of them, you’ll notice several of them used other digital tools–other than the blog–to format their portfolios. But–that’s the beaty: these kids started with the blog, then discovered other tools and used them in combination to create a product they wanted.
You can visit the student blogs at the class wiki. This summer, I’m using another blog for my summer assignment. Also, I have several posts and blogging resources (rubrics, writer’s checklists…) on my blog.
Hope this helps inspire other teachers.Blogging has been one of the most beneficial undertakings I’ve tried over my fifteen years of teaching.
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I use blogs with other staff mainly in my school – posting tips I pick up on various feeds on applications I think may be useful for them in the classroom. I also run a blog with my 13 year-old students of French. We use different pages for grammar revision, audio files, and interactive games and relevant videos. On the revision page we have uploaded the students’ PowerPoint revision materials on different tenses. You can see this at http://www.haythorneg.edublogs.org. They love it and it has motivated them to really get stuck in this year. I have a bottom ability group, but they are so keen on French I’m finding it hard to promote them out of the group (”please don’t make me go…”) and most of them have opted to continue with French next year.
Top tips: Consult the students on which relevant widgets they would like to see in the sidebar, and/or on the design template and uses and names of pages.
This one is sneaky: use a widget that is filtered by school (in my case, that applies to the vodpod widget) because it stimulates their curiosity and gets them logging on at home for more exposure to your subject.
Lastly: have a live connection by your desk at Parent-Teacher meeting so the students can show the blog to their parents while they wait to speak to you. I also had a slip of paper with the address on to give to them to take away.
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I have been developing my blogging slowly over the last few months inspired in part by the Comment Challenge (although I did not participate that much).
I have a personal blog that I am using as a place to reflect on what I am doing and also to promote what I do to schools in my area (www.larkrise.net). This is also (but probably shouldn’t be) a place where I experiment with themes/plugins etc.
Second I am promoting a multiuser blog in my local school and learning quite a bit in the process. This is a 4-11 (UK) primary school (http://shepeaustow.net). We started out with a main school blog, one for each of the four classes, some extras like the office etc and have since added blogs for a few of the children.
Even the keen teachers find it difficult to write very regularly and although the children have some home access they tend not to update their blogs unless specific time is allocated in school. As has been said forcefully elsewhere the key is in engaging in conversations with others, but in the case of the children even this is not enough. Whereas if I ever get a comment on my own blog I am thrilled and reply within the hour (or so!) the children are much more laid back and will not reliably respond.
I think this happens for a number of reasons. Part of it is the age: these children are from 8 to 10 and do not socially network as readily as slightly older children (not absolutely sure about that). Ownership must an issue too. We have given them their own blogs but have to retain some control, and we moderate all comments; so the blog is theirs, but not absolutely. We have also tried to encourage them to use them in a school related context and obviously to support their writing.
I think that we just need to hang on in and also to consider dedicated curriculum time for them to blog. We should continue to build in curriculum opportunities that we will support through blogging. Finally I think we need to note when they are getting comments and to be very pro-active in supporting them to respond and engage.
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I started blogging as a way to provide my students with a purpose and audience for their writing. I have found that many reluctant writers will complete their writing now as they know that there are people out their who read their work. I also wanted to give parents an easier way to access some of their child’s writing and also look at some of the activities we do in class.
We publish photos/slideshows of things we do in the class or as a class on the class page of the blog and the students each have their own page attached. Parents, grandparents, friends and blogging buddies can read all of this and the students love to have feedback from other students, family and friends about their blogging.
You can find our class blog here:
http://classblogmeister.com/blog.php?blogger_id=98041
I also have a personal blog that does not have much on it yet but I would like to document my journey into blogging and the Web 2.0 world on there – hopefully sooner than later. I’m still working on it!
Our family has a blog too which we use to keep in touch with family who are not near and other family members have blogs too!
I think the 3 most important tips for educators new to blogging would be:
1. Have a go – there’s lots of help around and if I can do it anyone can.
2. Let the students have a say in what you put on the class blog page and in what format. Depending on their age they can do most of the blogging for you.
3. One of the best things about my journeu into blogging so far is the connections I have made with other educators who blog with their students. There is a whole world out there waiting for you!
Go on! Have a go!
Jane
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Like Jane, I have blogged so far in conjunction with students. I have used one blog as a resource and discussion area for my “Technology for Educators” class at a local university.
In addition, although I was out of the classroom this year, after I attended California’s CUE conference (I had not attended for about 5 years!) I “borrowed” an 8th grade reading intervention class from April to June a couple days a week and we learned to blog together. Some of the students had me last year for a technology exploratory; others were not at all experienced in tech use. We think it was a fantastic success!
As Jane and Larry mentioned, just the fact that their work was published gave students their first motivation. We designed the blogs, designed avatars, then they wrote their first post–introduce yourself, tell why you chose the quote on your blog, and finally, talk about the issue you think is most important in the world right now.
The class was divided into groups of about 6, and each student had to leave a comment responding to the posts of everyone in their group.
What worked well was the idea that comments are a conversation. It fit in perfectly to the intervention unit which focused on writing summaries. We practiced aloud first; I posted an issue, in partners one person gave his/her opinion, the partner had to summarize that opinion, then respectfully agree or disagree. Since many are English Language Learners, I had them pick a sentence starter (e.g., “So what you’re saying is… or “In other words…”)
Then they posted and generally did a great job commenting! Here are some examples: first example
; second example
We had time for them also to use Google Docs to put together a summary of an article on one of the many natural disasters we had in May. From there, they had a choice to create an Animoto video to embed (we did this on a private page because of copyright issues), embed an MSNBC video that explained the disaster to them, or create a quiz from MyStudiyo.
Example of embedded MSNBC video: (This guy I’m proud of, he really knew nothing about technology and hung in there big time)
MyStudiyo example
This was a class that had no motivation for their intervention class, and not because of their teacher, she’s fantastic. They were at the end of 8th grade and just couldn’t keep going. But on the computer, they worked. They had to write. They had to follow directions. And they saw results. One student received a comment from a teacher from Brazil. They saw our ClusterMap and how people visited from all over the globe. Wow. They were creating something that counted.
We ran out of time, so they weren’t able to comment on each others’ projects at the end, but I’m looking forward to next year.
My assignment is 8th grade reading intervention and 7th grade Language Arts. I’m looking forward to it, as well as wondering how I will manage 6 classes of blogs!
3 most important tips:
-Take each thing step by step… I had a check-off list with each of these which all contributed to their grade for “Blog Design”: Logging in, choosing a theme, renaming their blog and for the tagline choosing a quote that meant something to them, adding widgets (I required some, then let them choose others if they wanted.), creating and uploading an avatar, and finally, adding their first post and commenting on the students’ blogs in their group.
-Model what you want to see. The commenting activity I mentioned before worked really well. The PowerPoint setting this activity up is here (scroll down)
-Have high standards, students rise to them! One goal I had for them as we explored the Web 2.0 applications, was for them to register, follow directions, and try to figure out the app themselves in expectation that they can continue using these tools in high school.
Thank you to Larry Felazzo and Vicki Davis who I’ve gotten tons of ideas from!
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Ok, I’m just starting out. This is a test.
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Here are the links that are messed up above:
tilgunas.edublogs.org – University class blog
lmsilgunas.edublogs.org – 8th gr. class
kevin180.edublogs.org/2008/05/22/about-me/#comments – Comment Example
ruben180.edublogs.org/ – MSNBC video embedded
sergio180.edublogs.org/ -MyStudiyo example embedded
Hopefully this works.
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I started my first blog as part of a Web 2.0 online course where we blog about each weeks activities. It’s still going but I think I’m going to continue with it when the course finishes.
I started to see the possibilities so I have now set up a blog for our staff (secondary school) called the Reading Cafe. It’s a blog about books and reading because lots of our staff are readers and are always wanting to know what to read next. It’s only just been launched so I’m not sure how it will go. I have incorporated a reading challenge where staff will log their books read by writing a review (post) on the blog. We have lots of teachers here who are a bit scared of technology and I’m hoping that this might be a way of introducing them to blogging by stealth! If anyone is interested this is the blog: http://mpscrc.globalteacher.org.au
Heather
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Apologies in advance but this is long response and broken into two comments. Taking the time to read through the comments, reflect and respond is back of my learning process
BTW I also had trouble adding the HTML links
@David Your slideshow “Brave New World Wide Web” is excellent. Have you thought of adding your voice or music to create video or SlideCast?
Your example of the importance of knowing when to bite your [digital] tongue is excellent and shows how blogging conversations can take so many interesting paths with the students learning so much more, if you give them the opportunity.
These are really valid points in your reflections on using Web tools with sudents “I think sometimes the focus is a little too much on just ‘using the tool’ or ‘creating the content’ and not enough on skills like: How to have a meaningful online discussion; How to design a page/project/powerpoint; How to provide meaningful feedback to a fellow student; or What does appropriate online behaviour look like?” Its challenging for new
educators to scaffold these skills with their students since they
themselves are often learning to use the tool. What advice would you give these educators regarding the scaffolding?
And what can I say love how you explained how do you know they are learning when they ask the right question. The comments between your students were excellent — especially this comment in response ““ umm Charlotte I was actually hoping that you would actually post something to either contradict or go along with my observations.. not
just say that’s meaningful and true.. Tell me what you think is meaningful and true!!” – - – - -”
@Simon and we are both glad that you now blog
. This issue with blocked sites is soooo frustrating and I’m sure that a wiki is not an ideal solution for you. We can also post photos directly from Flickr to Edublogs it is a really cool feature.
Obviously photos really engage you so it is excellent to hear that you are part of the 366photo group on Flickr. From my point of view you have learned a great deal and I’m always amazed about what you are getting up to next.
@Larry Wow the ESL class blog is amazing. How many sister classes do you have that sharing their information on this blog? I think I should get my 9 year to check out your posts on http://burbankarw.edublogs.org/ — that is such cool information on mountain climbing
@Mary How are you finding the response from the librarians in your area? Are they engaging with new thinking and ideas in the fields of school libraries and technology? Do many of them have their own blogs?
@Diane Those are excellent tips and advice for all new bloggers.Your point “I’d suggest that you read a variety of blogs and notice what catches and keeps your interest: manageable blocks of text; clear, precise language; and striking images appeal to me” is really interesting. The shared friends feature of Google Reader has made me so much more aware of how our likes and dislikes are so individual.
Can you share your tips of finding blogs worth reading?
@Ken Nope I don’t believe that you have thought too deeply but
definitely has made me ponder. Surprisingly I really struggle with language; the more complex a persons use of words in writing or text the harder it is for me to interpret the meaning. What I have found is the more I write the better I become at coping with it all.
In terms of reading/writing — it’s the reflection that’s important
for the learning. Language can be a barrier to this reflection
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And the rest of my comment
@ Lisa Huff I love how you used the AP English Language students blogs to engage your students. What a great way of them learning about current events, providing them with choice plus learn about commenting. I really liked the way you have used the eportfolios with them; especially how they got to chose the tools they used. I’m sure your links will definitely inspire other educators — thanks for sharing.
@haythorneg Thanks for sharing the link to your blog and explaining how you use it with students. Great tips I especially love the Sneaky tip. Are you finding the parents are starting to visit the class blog more? And your blogs that you use with other staff — are they starting to use the tips you share on the blogs?
@Chris You have raised lots of interesting points relating to adequate access, ownership, social networking and commenting. I would love to hear the thoughts from others on these points you raised.
It’s a fine line balancing safety issues with ownership. How much
more access do you feel they need per week to make your program more effective?
@Jane The best aspect I loved when you showed me your class blog (when we meet f2f) was when you explained the connections your class had made with other educators. It was so great to hear the stories behind each post, the global connections and realise how much the students gained from these interactions. What feedback have you had from the parents, family and friends?
@tilgunas Your post that explains how you stepped your students through learning to blog is really good. Educators find embedding can be challenging — so he definitely deserved to be congratulated. I can see from the blogs you have shared that they have gained so much. Well done to you, the teacher and the students. Let me know how you go with 6 classes of blogs. Your checklist that you used with the students — is that available to check out online? Would love to see how you use it.
We all owe people like Larry and Vicki so much (I think Larry may be blushing above
)
@Colleen that is okay — test away.
@Heather Are you part of the 23 Things project that is running at the moment with Global Teacher? I checked out your Reading Review blog and think it is a really great way to engage staff. The reviews by staff? Are you going to let others comment on their reviews? (I’m an absolute book lover and would love an opportunity to interact — perhaps even right my own review. Yep I’m passionate reader). Wonder if in time worth expanding to include photos? — since as Simon points out above some people are really engage with images.
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Hi, Sue (and everybody),
We had eight high school ESL classes from seven different countries participating in our blog during the last school year, and have classes from eleven countries lined-up to do so this coming school year.
And there’s always room for more!
And I’ve “borrowed” so many ideas from so many others that I suspect I owe far more than anyone “owes” me!
Larry
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How do I comment on a other peoples’ blogs from my computer 2.0 class?
Thanks,
Christie
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Sue,
I had access to a “news aggregator” that subscribed to David Warlick, Joyce Valenza, and Will Richardson. When that site was about to close down, I went online and found out about Google Reader.
When I saw a comment on one of my “foundation” blogs, I added them to my RSS feed. If I read a listing of top bloggers, I checked their sites out, too.
Once I began blogging myself, I took a look at the blogs of my visitors. I do the same thing with my followers on Twitter.
It’s almost too easy to find interesting blogs. I have over 300 subscriptions in Reader now! (not all of them post regularly).
I follow mainly librarians, teachers, and IT but have a few lifestyle & hobby sites also.
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I started blogging only a few months ago, and I have to admit, I’m hooked. I have 2 blogs. One is for my class ( http://kulikowski.edublogs.org ). I post weekly and ask my students to respond. So far, I have tried several different types of posts and I am mostly looking for my students to practice their writing skills, think creatively, and connect with both their classmates and any others who choose to read our blog.
My other blog is more for me to discuss my professional thoughts about using technology in my classroom and share some of the projects I have done/am doing with my class. I have been hoping for people to post comments, give advice, etc, but haven’t had much of that yet. Some days, it’s just a chance to vent out my frustrations with lessons or tech-related issues I am having. That blog is http://techieteach.edublogs.org
So far, I am FAR from really understanding the secrets of blogging, or even really being able to give any type of sound advice to others, but hopefully that will come some day.
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Below is the checklist I give students for the design of their blog. I’m big on checklists…since technology involves multiple directions and my kids are often ELL students, I can glance at their work, and tell them which step to focus on next…it’s easier for them to focus and feel that even though what they’re learning is complicated, it’s also do-able.
In addition, if the concept is new, I show students how to do the next step on the projector, but I also email students directions with screenshots, it really helps them to be independent, and me to not be crazily running around helping.
For example, below where I ask them to find a quote and add it to their blog, I emailed them a link to a quotations website if they needed it, and a screenshot of where I wanted the quote added to their blog.
Blog Design Checklist
Check this list to make sure you included all the items. To get an “A,” your blog must have all these features.
-Pick a theme – you can’t use the default (the original theme).
-Your theme choice must have at least one sidebar.
-You must create a new title for your blog.
-You must have a quote under your blog’s title (or in a widget).
-You must have all the required widgets (you decide the order, add more if you want to):
o Pages
o Links
o Recent Posts
o Archives
o Recent Comments
o RSS 1
o Meta
- You must create and upload an avatar. Go to the LMSResources wiki (http://lmsresources.pbwiki.com) and click on the “For Fun and Learning” page for links to avatar sites.
-Your blogroll must have at least two links:
o a link to Beginnings (http://lmsilgunas.edublogs.org)
o a link to LMS Resources (http://lmsresources.pbwiki.com/)
- You must have erased all the default items.
- You must add your first post.
- Leave respectful, thoughtful comments for the people in your group.
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I’m the CPO of an e-learning project in Madagascar (the country, not the movie), so it’s really really interesting to discover the Edublogs blogs.
We are preparing a blogging platform such as Edublogs, for malagasy students and teachers. The main aims are:
- to express themselves, to share about their country, study and work
- to create a social network between them
- to exchange with international schools, to learn foreign languages, to meet students and classes online and why not in place.
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This is going to be a very useful blog for me.
Thanks for the great posts!
~Jessica
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Let’s see. I blog because I find that I learn things from reading blogs and I like sharing things. An example of a student blog is http://lildeb25.blogspot.com/ and my blog is http://www.lmmath.blogspot.com where I post assignments. Students in this past inaugural year have used blogs mainly for summaries and reflections on their learning. It worked well, but was sometimes a stretch. I teach high school math. Some ideas are to have students set up an aggregator, have them set up comment monitoring and have them subscribe to some blogs that will interest them.
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Hi!
This is so new to me, very exciting, but also I’m feeling overwhelmed by all of it. While I want to use this for my students immediately, I keep spending hours…literally hours…linking to everywhere and everything!
How quickly can a blog be set up to operate simply, allowing of course, a growth curve in order to get the whole blog up and running with more sophistication?
Sorry…the answers should probably be obvious…but all of the information so far has me just feeling overwhelmed!
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mrscg–About a year ago that’s EXACTLY where I was. I set up an initial simple blog and just played with adding things to it…links, pages, posts, media. After a year I feel I have a pretty good handle (although I still make mistakes!). The addition of great directions to Edublogs was a big help, the forums also.
An Edublog blog is quick to set up, and easy to add to once you feel you’re ready. I’d say just jump in, and add a little at a time. Maybe decide what the first thing you want the students to be able to do with your blog. Add that element. See if it works. Talk to the kids and get their input. If it’s not working change it up. Add things as you feel more confident. It’ll be fun!
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I am having trouble adding others to my blog. I don’t understand how to add colleagues and other interested adults. I need to figure this out before I can add students. Anyway, I did the send email thing but those to whom I sent it still could not access the blog. I thought there might be a link for them to open but there isn’t one.
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I am new to blogging and I am excited about what I can do with it. I really have not read that many blogs, but I thought it might be a great we for me to communicate with other science teacher. I started looking for science blogs and did not find very many where science teachers help each other. So I began to look into starting my own. I have today and as I was setting up my blog I found this link.
This has really opened my eyes to what I can do and to what my kids can do as well. I think I will start a blog for my students in the fall as well. For now I want to concentrate on the one and getting ready for the school year. Obviously have have just started (and currently trying to understand how to put everything together), but please check out my blog and leave me suggestions. http://sciteacher.edublogs.org/
Thanks and happy blogging
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I just began a blog in the past week for my new daughter. I figured that it would be helpful to keep family around the country in touch with how she is doing and it will serve as a documentation that she can look back on as she grows up.
I have been soaking up ideas in the area of education from several blogs including this one, Bob Sprankle’s, Alan November’s and Darren Kuropatwa’s. I’m excited about the possibilities in general.
However, most of the discussion is geared to middle/high school levels and I teach second and third grade. Does anyone know of discussions and/or resources that deal specifically with the elementary level?
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Our blog is entirely maintained by 9-11 year olds in a small primary school. I started the blog to extend my able pupils – appointing two as the editors. They are responsible for keeping a list of the class members and allocating entries for them to add. So if you visit our blog you will see lots of different names. The children love doing this and we now have linked to our Virtual Learning Environment. I am trying to create a forum for them to show and extend their learning. Please visit us and comment – the children are always excited by new comments.
Go to:
http://uptoncross.edublogs.org.uk
Beverley Etherington
Y5/6 Teacher
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Why you blog?
To communicate with parents and familes.
How does it benefit you or your work?
Clearer understanding of what is going on in the classroom as well as helping parents see a bigger picture and their own child.
How you use blogging with your students and how it has helped them.
Don’t use student blogs. I teach kindergarten.
What are your 3 most important tips for educators, new to blogging, who would like to blog with their students?
Give it a whirl, it’s fun!
You will learn as you go.
Students will enjoy the interactive learning.
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Hello Sue et al.
I am so very grateful for all the informative comments that you have all provided on this page and others. I am new to EDUBLOGS but the helpful advice has allowed me to very quickly develop new ways to try to get my students involved in their learning and research away from school. (Only pity is that we have also just broken up for the Summer holidays and so I cannot inform all the students about this blog !!) Check it out and let me know what you think:
http://alpertonscience.edublogs.org/
To be given interesting, sometimes surprising information and be able to see the applications of science in real life, I believe, shall prove useful to the learners and their parents too. To share resources and ideas was also important to me. This is why I started my BLOG. I am hoping to get feedback from students to improve it even more.
My tips for fellow NEW bloggers would be:
1. Choose a good design first that will be appealing and look at least semi-professional.
2. Try to use colour and photos to make it attractive and relevant.
3. Don’t forget what the blog was for, but to distract from it a little to engage the learners is okay.
I know there are many more experienced colleagues out there Sue, but I do hope this helps the newer colleagues. Do let me know.
Regards
alpertonscience
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Hi Sue
I have been helping my mum set up a class blog. We’re both teachers but I’m not in the classroom as much. http://wormbins.edublogs.org/
We made a video of our experiences.
http://blip.tv/file/830890/
The kids seem to enjoy being able to share their work with their families. They also enjoy reading and commenting on each others work.
Using it as an alternative way to communicate homework gives them a reason to keep going to the blog.
We’ve just started a homework thread on news which seems to be working really well.
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I reading your help pages because I’m NEW NEW NEW and I have a lot to learn. Somehow I followed a trail from your help desk to:
http://www.eastquad.com/e-books/the-best-websites-for-developing-academic-english-skills-vocabulary.html
I really really like this site.
But the links inside the post don’t exist, the comments don’t seem to work, and although the author asks readers to subscribe, I see no way to do it.
Is something wrong here or do I just not understand what’s going on. Can you explain why those 3 items don’t seem to work. Am I doing something wrong?
mshanson
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http://www.debrennersmith.com/
I have been blogging because I like it. I also like being able to leave a trail for the teachers to retrieve the information later. This is easy for them to get my posts. What I am struggling with is getting the blog more public.
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how do you blog to students in your schoul sue
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Hi!
I am a fifth grade teacher at Tommie Barfield Elementary School in Marco Island, Florida. While studying Universal Design for Learning (UDL) during a summer institute, I learned about the importance of creating flexible materials that are accessible to all students. I designed a classroom Weblog (jmundorf.edublogs.org) as a way of introducing my students to a new technology while at the same time using a medium that is flexible and accessible.
The students post and respond to questions on the blog about citizenship, math, science and socials studies; they have to read and respond to articles; view and respond to short videos on the internet; all the while sharing their opinions about the various topics as well as their opinions about the opinions of their classmates. The students post their homework assignments on the blog each day and are able to ask questions of one another about the assignments from home. Parents are also encouraged to post comments on the blog.
My tips for new bloggers:
1. Take your time. There isn’t a prize for publishing your blog quickly. I waited a few months before sharing my blog with anyone. I wanted to be sure I understood the new technology, as well as figure out how I was going to use it in the classroom, before introducing it to my students.
2. Decide how best to use this technology in your classroom to fit your teaching style. Look around and “borrow” ideas from the thousands of classroom blogs and incorporate them into your site. Technology solutions must be designed to integrate with your classroom instruction.
3. Have fun and be sure that your students are having fun. You don’t want it to become another dreadful school activity.
Sites I find helpful:
supportblogging.com/Links+to+School+Bloggers
aimcast.blogspot.com
udlguidelines.wordpress.com
rachelboyd.blogspot.com/
setbc.org/setinfo/BCUDL/
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Hi All,
My blogging began as a way of trying to get the boys who were “anti readers” in my school to read…..as literacy coordinator I was determined to try to reach the 22% of boys in my school who claim to hate reading. I enrolled in Reading Connects did all the usual stuff on sports stars who read, bring your dad in to read, etc etc but the impact was hardly worth mentioning. Then I got the idea from my son who also is an “anti reader” and yet will read the most sophisticated technical vocabulary on playstation and nintendo…not only that but can understand it first time.
So I created a book club and a reading blog, over half my members are boys and I have acquired quite a few anti readers. The readers; male, female , old, young have all shown interest in the blog and wrote about a book they liked.
Reading club has opened up a new dimension in reading for many of my children, they want to help participate and design the blog, which is very encouraging.
As for me I am only at the beginning of my digital literacy but next year I plan to have a class blog with my 6/7 yrear olds and a pen pal club as well as the reading club . The 21st century requires learners who can interact with their own learning and create new learning to add to the global knowledge economy. The use of ICT promotes the higher order thinking skills which will be the requisite of the 21st century learner. Already I see a difference and hope to continue this next year. Thanks to Edublogs and Sue….I could never have done it without you
Silvana
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nice article it was very interesting
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Hi Sue et al.
I have already written before about why I blog and 3 tips. However, I have found the following useful being a new blogger and can share these further tips with the blogger community.
1. Make the blog an exciting read and keep it short – provide links to larger texts of information. (I have learnt this from my personal experience. I once wrote one or two long posts that even I may not want to read again! I may go back and amend them).
2. If you want to promote your blog try visiting other similar blogs and do write a comment if you found something useful. Express your appreciation about that special something you liked about the blog and which you may wish to use in your blog too. Warning though – do not be disappointed or expect a return visit to your blog and a reply comment from everyone – again, experience!
3. Promote your blog on different sites e.g. Slideshare with a suitable entry. It takes time to do all this, ( I don’t have that much time myself), but it will help. Maybe sign up with Technorati too, etc. ( I haven’t yet – you guessed it – no time!)
4. And of course for ideas of some of the things mentioned here and before check outmy site at:
http://alpertonscience.edublogs.org/
Good Luck!
****** **********************************************
Sue, can you please recommend what you think is/are the “must-join/s” for newcomers, e.g. wordle, incsub, commentpress, wikis, etc.
*****************************************************
Kind regards
alpertonscience
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I teach freshman and junior English, from standard levels up to AP. Inspired by the eAnthology used by the National Writing Project, I created a blog with all of my students as authors. They post their writing along with a note guiding their classmates as to the type of feedback they hope to receive: praise only (for the reluctant writer), specific help in one area, or full criticism. Other students then leave comments to the post with said feedback. I’m lucky to teach at a school with tremendous technology, so bringing a set of laptops into the classroom was never a problem; however, my students chose to do a lot of blogging at home, as well. What i saw from this exercise was an exponential increase in the volume of writing my students were doing. They wrote more pieces, wrote longer, more thoughtful pieces, and learned about audience in a way traditional writing could never do.
I also had students create individual blogs to use as a final portfolio. They posted a work and then left a comment on their own post explaining why they included it in the portfolio.
This year I am having one blog for all levels and grades. I think seeing the writing of my AP students will help my less advanced ones…and the weaker students may teach the top ones a thing or two!
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@Larry thanks for telling us about the number of schools involved in your blog last year.
@christiereichel1, debrennersmith and Gary Hemmingway I’ve sent you all an email to discuss in more detail.
@Diane Thanks for sharing how you find blogs to read.
@amkulikowski Both your blogs look like they are going really well. You will find as you blog more it does become easier. Regarding advice for others often people new to blogging share some really good tips because they are seeing it all with fresh eyes.
@tilgunas thanks for sharing your checklist. It’s excellent and great way to develop blogs with students.
@Seheno Thanks for telling us about your plans.
@jones9 (Jessica) Glad our blog has been useful to you.
@N.D. I really enjoyed checking out how you are using blogs with your students. What an excellent idea. Have you checked out how people have used flickr with their students and maths? That might be an interesting addition to their blog posts?
@mrscg It can be very overwhelming. And @tilgunas gives you some excellent advice. Take it slowly, do it in stages and most of all enjoy yourself.
@Sciteacher I’ve also sent you an email. Please let me know if you need any advice or get stuck with any aspects.
@B.Schmidt I’m hoping there are some on this list that will help you. I have mentioned to James about setting up a system for connecting blogs of similar interests and it is on the list.
@Uptoncross (Beverley) I did go across and check out your blog. Can you tell me where is the best place to leave a comment for the students?
@poulingail (Gail) Love how you are using your blog to share what is happening in your classroom with the parents. I’ve seen a similar blog where the teacher also was scanning images of student work to share with them (although that can be quite time consuming).
@Alpertonscience Glad that our blog has been helpful for you. Unfortunately I often write posts that are too long
. Definitely sign up for technorati. I also encourage people to subscribe to and read lots of posts as it helps you work out what works/doesn’t in blog posts. Must joins are a hard one and very individual. I would suggest Twitter, Classroom 2.0, Facebook.
@Heathyliz That is excellent how blogging increase their writing in terms of volume and quality. Am looking forward to hearing how it goes with your new lot of students.
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Hello Sue and the Bloggers United (in edu),
I’m Altan. I teach grade 5. We started blogging in term 2 of this year. I initiated blogging via a class blog and set up student blogs through my class blog. Each pupil now has their own blog (links via my blogroll).
Much of the structure and approach I’ve taken was inspired through the tutorials and comment streams via Edublogs. I’ve essentially set my role as moderator for my students and am currently trying to inspire greater collaboration.
Since commencing blogs, I’ve established a focus on digital content. My students are encouraged to add pretty much what they like. Anything they think would be worth adding… digitised copies of their work, links to other sites, ‘About Me’ sections etc. The idea is that they seek social comment regarding academic interest through their own blog (a sense of ownership). Needless to say, all design elements become their choice and may aspects of curriculum are addressed in a contemporary and exciting manner. Most pupils love blogging.
Enter Web 2.0, the social network. Now that I’ve come to understand the implications, I sought to explore blogging further. I’m now involved with the DET Web 2.0 Innovations and Excellence Department’s project in developing Web 2.0 implementations for Victoria (and beyond). This is happening in the Knowledge Bank:Next Generation branch.
My particular focus is on blogging in the classroom context. I’m exploring cyber safe issues and ideal blogging tools for classroom bloggers.
Much of the work will go to development i.e. We’re looking at the total package. My role is part of the picture (typical of a software design… maybe one object/class for developing ideal blogging tools etc). Needless to say, Edublogs, Global Teacher and Wordpress are great platforms.
I,ve 2 blogs essentially. My first is the class blog. My second is my research blog. The research blog seeks input from teachers… ideas and issues for discussion. These points would then form part of requirements suggest to the developers.
The whole blogging experience has taken me from point to place rapidly. It’s been terrific both as a teacher/researcher and for my students. Please check my sites and drop in a comment or two.
http://altan.edublogs.org
http://www.kbng.net/ar/
Regards,
Altan
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I am just starting to use a blog as a part of my online class. Would anyone be able to tell me how to link other blogs to mine?
TY:)
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@akelly77
There are a number of ways to link to other blogs from your own.
1. Sue has great directions on using the ‘Blogroll’ feature of Edublogs.
2. The ‘Links’ widget. It allows you to generate a list of sites that you can link to. I’ve found that this widget doesn’t work in all themes though.
3. Use the ‘Text’ widget. Using this can be a bit time consuming though as you have to write in the HTML code for all of your links. Sue has a great post called Creating Hyperlinks Using HTML that I’ve found extremely helpful, even if you don’t use it in this situation.
4. If you use Google Reader you can create a blogroll to either go in one of your sidebars or on a separate page. I used to have my blogroll in the sidebar, but I now have it in a separate page; see here. Again, Sue has a great post on how to use Google Reader to create your blogroll.
Hope this all helps, and good luck!
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@Altan Thanks for telling us about your use of blogs in the classroom. Look forward to hearing how your research on blogging goes.
@Claire Thompson thanks for providing @akelly77 excellent instructions for how to link other blogs with their blog.
@akelly77 did you require any further information?
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I’m a bit lost here.
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Our school is doing a laptop test year, and our teacher gave us edublogs. We use them to communicate, answer essay and disussion questions in class, share our thoughts, and more.
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