Blogs

=Blogs=

toc

What is a blog?
A blog, short for we** b log ** is a writing tool. Both teachers and students can blog about their day, classroom events, field trips and so much more. You can blog about any event or activity that you'd like to share with others. Blogging is a great way to practice essential reading, writing, and communication skills both during and after school. Blogging can also be a great tool for teachers to use to communicate with other teachers. There are tons of people on-line blogging about their jobs, kids, hobbies, and other interests.

Educational Purpose and Benefits of Blogging

 * 1) Students have the opportunity to share information with others;
 * 2) Create a classroom community both within and outside of the school building;
 * 3) Provides opportunities for collaboration between students, teachers, and parents;
 * 4) Inspires self-reflection;
 * 5) Increases reading comprehension and conversational skills;
 * 6) A means to scaffold learning;

[|Blogging? It's Elementary My Dear Watson]

Ideas for Using Blogs in the Classroom
Blogging can be used in many parts of the curriculum. For instance, story telling, reading response journals, class newsletters, on-line book clubs, explaining the steps involved in solving a particular math problem, journaling about math problems, summarizing daily lessons... the list goes on and on. For more information on bloggin in the classroom, check out [|On-line Journals]

**Where** can I register for a blog?
There are tons of blogging sites available for use and the majority of them are FREE. You definitely DO NOT want to pay for this resource. You'll want to keep a few things in mind when searching for the right blog...most important is student safety. Many blogs have a variety of security measures that can be implemented to keep them private - do read the site information to make sure the blog you choose is appropriate for your needs. In addition, you'll want to find a site that DOESN'T contain those annoying pop-ups! You just never know what might 'pop-up' while your students are writing or reading. You'll also want to make sure that the site hasn't been blue-coated before getting things set up. School Wires, the email tool we use at Central Dauphin also has blogging capabilities. This can be a great medium to use for beginning bloggers. In addition to School Wires, our school subscription to [|E-Pals] includes blogging capabilities. I've listed a few of the more popular blogging sites used by educators below.

[|blogster] [|Class Blogmeister]