Elementary Blogging Club
Hi friends!
Do you blog with your students? This is one of my favorite activities as a librarian!
I’ve got a blogging club that meets after school every other Monday. We spend an hour writing, revising, laughing, and publishing, And I recently presented at TCEA (Texas Computer Educators Association) 2015 Conference about my elementary blogging club.
Here’s my presentation, shared for you to view, via Google Slides.
Why do I make it a priority to blog with our students?
- We work in a collaborative environment (21st century learning).
- We publish for an authentic audience.
- We develop literacy skills.
- Blogging is more engaging (fun) than pencil & paper.
- Our social media skills are valuable in the “real world.”
- We’re creating a digital portfolio of student learning.
- We connect to a global learning community.
- We connect to our local community with interviews.
- We connect with authors.
Obviously, I’ve been blogging for four years, and I love it! I share this enthusiasm (and a few animal crackers) with our students. I love to see them express themselves and share what they’ve learned! They are delighted with what they’ve accomplished.
You can see my blogging club blog (with links to our student blogs) here. I create a blog post for each meeting, with the links and focus for that session.
If you aren’t already blogging with YOUR students, I encourage you to participate in the Edublogs Challenge, now enrolling. They’ll guide you step-by-step through the process.
I’m going through this course myself, to learn some new tricks!
If you ARE already blogging with your students, will you share a link in the comments? We’d love to stop by and leave a comment at our next club meeting!
I am a first-year elementary librarian and was thinking about including blogging as a requirement for my 4-5 graders next year. In my mind it is a place where they can post assignments and respond to each other in positive ways. Do you have any recommendations for a smooth transition into blogging for me?
Hi Rachel!
To me, blogger is the easiest platform for blogging. You’ll want to make sure you have parentpermission for your students to post online. You can set up blogger to add contributors, and for you to approve each post before it goes public. To me, the easiest way to start out is to have one classroom blog, and have students post and comment to the same blog. You can change the settings so that you approve all posts and comments, to make sure nothing crazy goes online. I really recommend this TPT product from another teacher for helping you set up your rubric and expectations for your class blog: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Student-Blogging-The-Elementary-Teachers-Guide-to-Blogging-in-the-Classroom-1319583
Thanks for your question!