Blogging in the Classroom

Hello to Everyone Out there:)

One of the endeavours that I really wanted to try out in my classroom this year was the use of a blog.  I had heard about how exciting the use of a blog could be in a classroom, though I worried about the complexities of integrating an online technology like this with my students.  Currently, I teach language arts to two sections of grade 5 students, and I have 58 students in total.  A concern of mine was that the "upkeep" or maintenance of the blog might prove to be difficult, since time is already so short for me during the teaching day.  Luckily, I came across a website called KidBlog, which allows teachers to create multiple sections of blogs for their classes. 

I have been using the website since September, and it has been a resounding success!  The hardest part admittedly was setting up the individual classes, since the name of each student had to be entered individually.  Once this was done, I introduced the blog to my students and they were off and running!  Of course, they needed some preliminary instructions on how to navigate the blog site, yet I was surprised that after 10 minutes or so the students were self-regulating their work.  They inserted pictures and other graphics into their web posts, and they have been very supportive of the work of their fellow students.

In terms of security, the site is secure since each student has their own login and password.  Also, any posts and comments to other students' posts have to be approved by me.  This means that if a student wants to post something inappropriate, I see the information before it is posted to the main blog site, and I can choose to delete it.  For the most part, I have not encountered students who have chosen to make inappropriate comments.  All of my students have been very supportive of this initiative, and I believe that I will be running the blog again next year.

I guess it is true what they say.  We are always weary of trying something new, perhaps it is a fear of the unknown or just a worry of things "not working out".  If you have some extra time, I suggest you check out the kidblog website at: http://kidblog.org/home.php and try it out with your class.

Happy Blogging!