Blogging with Students

I think blogs could be a great way to introduce technology and information to your students. I also think it could be tricky and that you should be sensitive and aware of your students capabilities.

Here are some of the ways I might use blogs in my classroom:

*Having my students follow certain blogs--either we all follow the same one, or having them each choose one to follow--could be a good way to put relevance of what we're learning in our classroom with the outside world. It also may be a good opportunity to show the different ways to write--a blog can be much more informal than an essay for example. You could also have them edit blogs for sentence structure, grammar, development of ideas etc. to get the students mindful of writing elements.

*If the parents and students sign a release form, a blog would be a great way to post students work so the parents could see a presentation. Or, a grandparent from across the country could read their grand kids poem. You could also make it more public and connect with another school or class and comment on each others blogs.

*I could have a blog, as the teacher, with relevant links for the class to do research or have a better understanding of what is going on in the classroom. Or even post notes for them--being mindful that if you post your notes, many students won't pay attention in class.