Blogging Your Way through Class: Class Blogs

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Class Blogs: Blogging Your Way through ClassA class blog offers an excellent tool for getting students to actively participate in lessons while learning some great twenty-first century skills. If you are thinking about starting one, there are some unique platforms designed for education which will make a worthwhile investment for your classrooms. With concerns like security, accessibility and ease of use, choosing the right platform is critical when starting to utilize a class blog. 

Blogging classes learn how to express and publish their thoughts. Children as young as kindergarteners can start to enjoy posting answers to questions and prompts assigned by the teacher. As students get older, they can respond to peers on class blog forums and maintain open conversations. This is a great tool for students who might be less likely to speak up in class. If students are required to respond to questions or answers from their peers on a blog, they can carefully construct their posts before publishing and participate without being forced to speak. Teachers can request for assignments to be submitted via the class blog as well, which allows them to easily keep track of who has handed in what and provide feedback on drafts in progress. No matter how old your students are, blogs help them work on proper typing and internet skills, both of which are becoming increasingly important. 

Parents can also view class blogs and appreciate the work that their children are doing in real-time. Rather than having to wait until papers are sent home, parents can see the progress that children are making throughout the year, and even go back and compare writing to see how much their children have developed and grown as writers. In addition to providing a forum for publishing posts, teachers can also use class blogs to keep students and parents informed. Educators can publish digital newsletters about what is going on in their classrooms, keep an updated list of assignments and homework and offer ideas for how parents can reinforce classroom learning at home. Another great tool is a forum where parents can post questions so teachers can maintain open communication without being inundated with personal E-mails and phone calls.

What about concerns for safety, privacy and cyberbullying for blogging classes? Sites like kidblog.org and edublogs.org, which are designed specifically for educational environments, offer special features and protections. Teacher-moderated posting ensures that only appropriate content is included in the blog. Additionally, requirements for personal usernames and passwords ensure that only authorized parties can contribute. Kidblog.org offers kid-friendly functioning so even young students can easily learn how to use it. Edubblogs.org allows educators to keep all of the technological tools they want to use in class in one convenient place. Pictures, videos and text can easily be organized and shared within a class, with other classes in the grade or organized on school-wide or district-wide sites.

Class blogs bring tech into the classroom in an educational and interactive way. By encouraging students and parents to take an active interest in education, blogs are changing the way our students learn and revolutionizing communication channels between educators, students and parents. Do you have a class blog? What is your experience with blogging platforms designed for education? How have the students, parents and teachers in your school responded to class blogs? We would love to hear from you. Please post your comments below.  

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