Blogging is a great way to get students involved globally in social media. Student voices reach a global audience for a more authentic learning experience. Starting a class blog is easy and fun. First look at the different blogging platforms that would be appropriate for classroom use. Some blogging websites that I like are Edublogs, Kidblog, or Weebly. These all have different levels of security and privacy settings, so find one that works for you. We like Kidblog for the setup and ease of use.
Set up your class blogging guidelines and expectations. Who will be allowed to post to the class blog? Will you use student’s names or maybe create nicknames for them to use when they write for your blog? This blog has some really good guidelines for an elementary level class blog. For younger students especially, blog posts should proofed by the teacher first for mistakes. Students need to be taught how to comment on others’ blog posts. Here is a link with more useful information on setting up guidelines.
What will you blog about? Your class blog can be as unique as your students and class are. Start with a class project, such as growing your class garden, to blog pictures, videos and descriptions. Students can blog about learning experiences which will strengthen and sharpen their writing
skills. Take a look at some good blogs by teachers and classes here and here.
