With the new school year beginning in Australia, many teachers will be introducing blogging into their classrooms.
Some teachers will be continuing an established blogging program with a new cohort of students, while others will be introducing blogging for the first time.
If you’re totally new to blogging you may like to check out Five Steps to Starting Your Class Blog. If you’re in a Victorian DEECD or CEO school, check out Getting Started with Global2.
Here are some tips based on my own experience of how to successfully integrate blogging into your classroom:
- Start small: don’t expect to know everything at once and avoid comparing your blog to more established classroom blogs. Begin with simple posts that include text and images. As you build your skills and confidence, you might begin embedding web 2.0 tools.
- Integrate: don’t make blogging an add-on. Integrate mathematics, literacy and other subjects into blog posts and comments. Make blogging part of your literacy block or homework schedule. Find more advice on integrating blogging into your classroom curriculum here.
- Be regular: a haphazard blogging program isn’t going to provide as many benefits as a predictably regular one. Set yourself goals (such as publishing one new post every week) and routines (like spending the first 10 minutes of each day reading the students’ blog comments).
- Start local before global: I recommend building teacher and student skills through a class blog before you begin to collaborate globally with other blogging classes. The students will get more out of global collaboration if they have established the basic skills around commenting, internet safety, etiquette etc.
- Begin with a class blog: If you plan to use student blogs in your class, whether students will be earning blogs or simply assigned a blog, I strongly recommend starting with a class blog. This allows the children to build those essential blogging skills that they can transfer to their own blog.
- Teach quality commenting: I always start the year by teaching the students about quality commenting. Initially, I write all the posts and the students’ role is to comment. I have found explicit teaching + high expectations + regular feedback + authentic motivation = high quality writing. In my class, our blogging program has a strong literacy focus.
- Integrate internet safety: Once you have established your blogging guidelines and made sure all parents and students are aware of them, use blogging as an authentic way to teach about internet safety. Blogging is an excellent way for students to learn about being responsible members of an online community.
- Collaborate: find a buddy to learn with, either someone at your school or another educator online. Don’t be afraid to learn with your students; you don’t have to be the expert. You might even set up a joint blog with your whole grade level, or with another class. Sharing the workload can make blogging easier and more enjoyable.
- Get parents involved: Parent involvement cannot be left to chance. At the start of the year, focus on educating the parents about blogging via a parent night, family blogging afternoon, handouts, emails etc. Continue to educate and encourage parents to become part of your classroom blogging community throughout the year.
- Keep going: it is easy to set up a blog but maintaining it requires work. Keep focussing on your goals and persevere. You will soon see your students enjoying many benefits from your blogging program!
What other tips could you offer?
Image attribtion: ‘Caution: Blog Ahead‘
[…] to the dynamic Kathleen Morris, for this inspiration and helpful post on introducing blogging into the classroom. As we begin a brand new school year, with brand new students – I look forward to sharing the […]
Hey Kathleen!! These tips are very useful for anyone wanting to start blogging in the classroom. I am not yet a teacher but if I ever decide to start a class blog, I will remember these tips. Thanks!!
Hi Jasmine,
That’s great to hear. Good luck with your studies!
Kathleen
Mrs. Morris,
Thank you for the tips about bloging. Some of them I would have never thought of for my classroom. I am still trying to finish my education and hope to one day teach after my military career ends. I will make sure to store these ideas for future use in my teaching career.
Hi Ralph,
Good luck with the rest of your military career and your education studies. I hope you get to use many of these ideas in your classroom.
Cheers,
Kathleen
[…] I read her post from January 28th, 2013, entitled, ‘10 tips for Introducing Blogging into Your Classroom’. […]
This is an excellent list. I would add that to maximize student engagement, insert attention-grabbing pictures into all of your posts!
Thanks, Bart!
Great list, Kathleen.
Number 2 is the important one with teachers new to blogging. If it is seen as extra work on top of our crushing workload, it won’t succeed. Blogging and commenting DURING class on the other hand just replaces or enhances what you are already doing. Convincing teachers about that is the challenge. Does your whole school blog ( class level I mean) or is still a challenge for some? We are at the beginning stages school wide and it is definitely being seen as an extra by some ( which is understandable for something new and tech oriented.
Hi Mark,
No, my whole class level doesn’t blog – it is definitely still a challenge for some even though I have been spruiking the benefits for years!
I hope it takes off at your school. I have seen it do well at schools where encouragement from the top is given.
We certainly do have a crushing workload as teachers so if educators think blogging will add to that, well I guess that’s the main reason they don’t do it. I won’t deny that I still do work on the blog and comment approval at home but there are levels of how involved you need to be. Starting small is what I always encourage!
Thanks for taking the time to comment,
Kathleen
Hi Kathleen,
I enjoyed reading your post about starting a class blog with you students, and like many of the previous comments, I had not considered many of your inclusions.
I am currently at pre service teacher about to embark on my practical experience in May with a year 1 class, and wanted to introduce the students to a class blog as a way to record their learning for the day and reflect on the success of my own teaching capability. I volunteer in the class one day a week and should be able to set up the class blog by the time my prac starts in May. Although the class is exposed to ICTs in the classroom (smartboard, laptops etc) I feel this group of digital natives are capable of creating so much more, and a class blog would really be a great way of showing students how ICTs can be used, not to mention a way of documenting their learning, and sharing that learning with the rest of the school and parents. I realise this will add to my workload during this time, but might also be a way of organising ideas and celebrating learning success.
I will direct fellow peers to you blog through a post on my blog to share your wealth of information and experience at http://jenbrown.edubligs.org/
I look forward to reading more from you
jenni
Hi Jenni,
That sounds like a great idea. Good on you for getting into blogging so early in your career.
While it will increase your workload, it will be worth it and hopefully you inspire some other teachers to do the same.
Good luck,
Kathleen
Hi Kathleen
Great & detailed infor ! Awesome !
I have link this Blogging link to my Manningham Chinese Network Blog for all other Chinese teachers to see.
Hope it is OK !
Kerry Law
Sounds great, Kerry. Thanks!
Kathleen
I Think these are great for beginners like me, I will start these once I begin to start blogging.
Thanks for the tips!
[…] 10-tips-for-introducing-blogging-into-your-classroom/ […]
Hi Kathleen,
I’m a middle school math Teacher and I started “blogging” with my class last year, but when I read these tips I say there’s a lot for me to improve. Thanks for these awesome tips, I will definitely use this as a guide to improve my class blogs.
Thanks so much.
Myrna
Hi Myrna,
Thanks so much for letting me know the tips helped. That’s great to hear. Good luck!
Kathleen
[…] http://primarytech.global2.vic.edu.au/2013/01/28/10-tips-for-introducing-blogging-into-your-classroo… […]
[…] http://primarytech.global2.vic.edu.au/2013/01/28/10-tips-for-introducing-blogging-into-your-classroo… […]
Fantastic tips!
We are introducing a blog this year for the first time and we want to thank you for tips. It has been VERY helpful! 🙂
That’s great to hear. Thanks for letting me know. Good luck!
Thanks so much for the tips! I am really looking forward to introducing blogging into my classroom.
Hi Cali,
I’m glad to hear they helped. Good luck!
Mrs. Morris,
Thank you for this compiled list of ways to integrate blogging into a classroom. I find this list extremely helpful as a future elementary school teacher. I especially found tip two integral. I too also believe it is important to integrate technology into a lesson rather than attacking the lesson and technology as two different entities. It not only better connects the flow of the lesson and provides applications of using technology in student learning, but it also aids students for the future as high schoolers, college students, and eventually workers in the world. Students will have the responsibility of being resourceful when using technology as they progress throughout their school and work careers, and as a result it is best to start integrating technology into the classroom at the younger grades, such as first grade, when possible.
Thank you again for this list. I will definitely be using this as a resource in my future classroom.
Emily
I like how you laid out all the aspects of blogging and provided tips of integrating other content area into blogging project.
In P.E. I have always integrated science and math by figuring Heart Rated at resting levels and after exercise. Students also learn about the cardiovascular and respiratory systems and how they are affected by exercise. Having students blog can help them understand the benefits of exercise and how they feel.
That sounds fabulous, Nancy. Keep it up!