3. Why Blog?
●21st
century skill
●Write for an authentic audience
●Global connections
●Improve writing skills
●Cover the 4C’s – creativity, critical thinking,
collaboration, and communication
5. Classroom Blog
●Teacher can write posts
●Students can add comments
●Students can be guest bloggers
●Keep others informed of classroom news
●Try for a weekly post
6. Group Blog
●Set up a blog based on literature circles
●Set up a blog based on a research project
●Set up a blog based on a common theme
●Set up a blog based on common interest
●Set up a blog based on a common passion
7. Individual Blog
●Ownership of all content
●Online eportfolio of work
●Evidence of growth
●Show in-depth knowledge of a topic
●Celebrate individual milestones
●Pride
8. Blogging Platforms
●Class Blogmeister – few bells and whistles, teacher
control of posts and comments
●21Classes - limited to ten 1Mb student accounts for free;
one central teacher blog that the student blogs are
connected to
●Weebly – create 40 student accounts for free with no
student emails required
●Edublogs – Wordpress; lots of features; not all features
are free
●Kidblog.org – Free; no email required; full teacher control;
blogs are private by default; simplified Wordpress
9. Getting Started
●Inform parents of your intention
●Have signed AUP from all students
●Choose your platform and create accounts
●Set up blogging guidelines and expectations
●Design a blogging rubric, if you will grade
10. Paper Blogging
●Gather some great writing paper
●Visit some other blogs for inspiration
●Begin with a paper blog
11. Learn How to Comment
●Watch a video on quality commenting
●Remember to compliment the writer, add
more information, connect with the writer, ask
questions to extend the conversation, and
make sure you proofread your comments.
●More words less exclamation marks
12. Comment on Paper Blogs
Use Post-it notes to add quality comments to
the paper blogs
13. Blog Commenting Party
●To get more parent involvement
●Host a party
●Have your students teach their parents how
to comment on their blogs
●Example flyer
14. Going Global
●Need a really good reason to be on Twitter –
well here it is – tweet about your students’
blogs using the hashtag #comments4kids
●Read about my first experience with this
●Last year we received over 1,900 comments
from around the world
