Courage to Blog

"The Courage to Blog with Students"
by Marsha Ratzel
Education Week
Posted online on April 27, 2011
http://www.edweek.org/tm/articles/2011/04/27/tln_ratzel_courage.html?tkn=XNRFqQynRdxc1wDd4EJdOmqGnmvZ6oYGux5a&cmp=ENL-TU-NEWS2

We have discussed this issue in class about whether we should or should not blog with students.  This article really helped relieve my stress when it came to blogging with my kids.  The author, a teacher, gives eight really great points in how to start blogging.

Tip #1: The best way to get your feet wet without drowning is to use a group blog.
Tip #2: Teach students how to write comments.
Tip #3: Use what you already have in your teaching plan, with some minor modifications.
Tip #4: Practice commenting without computers.
Tip #5: Make student use of the class blog a privilege.
Tip #6: You can’t emphasize safety too much.
Tip #7: Decide how you will choose usernames.
Tip #8: Communicate with parents early on.

This article is the best I have seen so far for teachers in not only providing information about classroom blogging, but also providing great resources.  Ms. Ratzel provides many links so you can see examples of what she is talking about and also has links to the resources she mentions.  At the end of the article she talks about a Student Blogging Challenge and also a professional development site, Teachers Challenge, for teachers to learn about blogging and sharpen their blogging skills.

I now am excited to start blogging activities with my future classrooms and to get started in learning more about it.  It will be interesting to see how the blogs turn out!