C L A S S R O O M A P P L I C AT I O N S - B L O G G I N G

MODULE 5
I. LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

• At the end of this module, the students should be able to:

• 1. Identify the basic technology skills needed to start and maintain a blog;
• 2. Explore topics for blog posts and characteristics for good blog posts;
• 3. Recognize dangers and establish guidelines for safe blog use;
• 4. Understand motivational factors and benefits of blogging with students.
• 5. Formulate a Learning Development Plan
II. CONTENT FOCUS:

• Blogging for teachers and students

• *
• Overall, blogging for both teachers and students can be beneficial because
expressing one's thoughts, especially when it is in a personal area of interest
can be uncomfortable for some.
• With blogging, teachers and students have a platform where they can put
down their ideas, their questions, set personal goals, innovate and use their
space as a guide for continued personal development.
• It becomes a tremendous resource for students to learn to reflect and to see
their growth along the way, with the support of teachers in the process.
• Blogging is a safe space where students can simply write, reflect, and learn
in more personalized and meaningful ways.
KEY TERMS

• Blog- an online tool, similar to a journal, where a user can write entries
(called posts)
• Blog Post-a single blog entry on a specific topic
• Blogging Platform-an online site like Weebly or EduBlogs where blogs are
hosted
• Digital Citizenship - the skills and knowledge students need to fully
participate in society via online tools, including safe and respectful use
BLOGGING FOR TEACHERS

• Think of a blog like an online journal. They are the perfect place to share
ideas, post reflections, discuss upcoming lesson possibilities, and connect
with other teachers, administrators, and K-12 stakeholders.
BENEFITS OF BLOGGING FOR TEACHERS

• • Sharing your resources with others

• • Reflecting on your lessons, classroom, school, etc.
• • Staying on top of trends in your subject area
• • Sharing student work
• • Directing your own professional development
QUESTIONS TO ASK BEFORE BLOGGING

• Will a blog be part of a school website? If so, what are some considerations
to keep in mind?
• Do I need to use images/photographs that conform to district or school
policy? Do I need to use a specific writing style?
• Will my posts need to be approved by a school or district administrator?
• Starting your own ‘independent’ blog outside of your school. How much
leeway do you have in terms of using school logo or digital material created
in school or your class? Can you reference your school or classroom or do
you need to keep your posts more anonymous?
PURPOSE OF THE BLOG

• It’s important to think about why you’re starting this blog, who the audience
will be, what you hope to accomplish, etc. It’s usually best to start with one
or two main goals for your blog, and always keep a specific audience in
mind. This will help you keep your focus narrow, and you can always expand
from there!
LINKING TO SOCIAL MEDIA

• If you are an independent blogger, would your school let your posts be
shared to their social media sites? How can you tell the story of your school
in the most effective way? Conversely, how much approval would you need
to link to (or embed) media created by your school/district?
PLATFORM FOR THE BLOG

• Choosing a platform is just as important as deciding who your audience will

be. Some options to consider are listed below:
TECHNOLOGY SKILLS FOR BLOGGING

• In general, you won’t need a lot of advanced technology skills for creating
and maintaining a blog.
• Most blogging platforms are designed to be user-friendly so that even people
who aren’t as comfortable with technology can still create a blog.
• As long as you’re comfortable with basic text editing features like changing
fonts, inserting links, and things along those lines, you should be fine for
most blogging tasks.
• Plus, if there’s ever anything you run into that you’re not familiar with,
YouTube has tons of wonderful tutorials. For example, this blog tutorial
[https://edtechbooks.org/-Ae] provides a great introduction to blogging and
covers a lot of the basic terminology you might want to become familiar
with. Overall though, don’t let blogging be intimidating, even if you don’t
consider yourself a technology whiz!
MANAGING THE TIME COMMITMENT FOR TEACHER
BLOGGING

• One of the biggest concerns teachers can understandably have when starting
a blog is the time commitment.
• Teachers are already pressed for time, and adding a new task (especially if
it’s your first time blogging) can seem like an overwhelming task.
• However, once you get your blog set up and become familiar with the
posting process, blogging rarely takes more time than it takes to write your
post. In other words, as long as you have the time to write, you have the time
to blog!
• Plus, as mentioned above, becoming a regular blogger can lead to all sorts of
wonderful benefits that can help improve your classroom and your teaching
practice.
• For example, research suggests that reflecting on teaching practice can lead
to improved lesson and learning quality within the classroom. Blog posts
offer an excellent place to reflect on lessons, discuss hat worked and what
didn’t, and to share these reflections with colleagues and peers. Plus, teachers
can then get feedback on the lesson from others who have tried similar
lessons or who might have ideas for improvement.
• It also helps to write about what you know.
• If you want to post about a lesson you recently implemented, or a new
classroom management strategy you’re trying, writing these types of topics will
usually come easily and quickly since you’re already deeply familiar with them
from implementing those ideas in your own classroom.
• In short, blogging can take as little or as much time as you’d like.
• Set a goal for how many posts you’d like to create over a week or a month, and
go from there.
• Plus, like anything else, blogging will get easier and faster the more you do it,
so stick with it!
CONTENT CREATION FOR TEACHER BLOGGING

• Getting started with a blog sometimes brings many questions to mind such
as: What should I blog about? How do I come up with ideas? What do people
look for in a blog? How often should I post and how long should my posts
be?
• Teachers have many ideas and experiences that can be shared in their
educational community, and these experiences are beneficial to other
educators looking for new ideas, strategies, or tools to use in their classroom.
• For example, Richard Byrne’s blog, Free Technology for Teachers
[https://edtechbooks.org/-BHa] is an excellent place where teachers can
explore new resources, ideas, and experiences that they could implement
within their own classroom!
• For preservice teachers, you could blog about a field experience you had, a
lesson plan you designed, a book review you wrote, or discuss ideas for
future classroom management plans.
• Any topic that you are interested, or that you cover in a class would be
perfect for writing a blog post.
• As educators, we are constantly learning and we benefit by sharing our
experiences so that we can learn from each other and continue to grow.
• By opening up about our experiences, our successes, and even our failures,
we help one another and we provide a good model for our students in the
classroom.
• As part of teaching, we have to be reflective in our practice and that can be
done after each class that is taught, at the end of the school day, the end of a
week, or even on a completely random basis.
• Reflecting over our practice helps us better understand what went well, and
where improvements can be made moving forward. However, these
reflections make great content for blog posts. People read blogs because they
are looking for new ideas, trying to find someone who has the same
questions, or folks who had a similar experience or a frustration.
• Authentic experiences that are shared, with examples or suggestions of how
to move forward, to make changes, or to get started with something new are
always welcome themes in blog posts.
EXAMPLE TEACHER BLOGS

• Two Techie Teachers [https://edtechbooks.org/-aWIu]

• Teaching to Inspire with Jennifer Findley [https://edtechbooks.org/-GHL]
BLOGGING WITH STUDENTS

• There are endless benefits to having students blog in the classroom.

• Blogging is a great way to encourage students to express their ideas, be
creative, develop confidence in writing, to communicate and collaborate with
peers and the teacher.
• Blogging helps students to work on their online presence and become
reflective in their learning as well.
• Getting students started with blogging can sometimes be a challenge, as it
may seem like a scary experience, or something totally different than simply
writing on a piece of paper.
• However, once you share the purpose behind the use of blogs, how students
will be assessed, and reassuring them that it is just a different manner of
conveying information that can be done anywhere, using their device,
students tend to feel more comfortable and look forward to the experience.
GETTING STARTED WITH STUDENT BLOGGING

• In order to get started, look at the various platforms available for blogging.
• There are some options that integrate with different learning management
systems and other tools which have blogging features as part of their
platform.
• Find one that will meet your students’ level, content area, and especially their
needs. Some possible options are Seesaw, Google Suite Blogger, Edublogs
and Kidblog.
• Depending on your choice, there may be additional features available which
will open up additional learning opportunities for your students.
• For example, integrating the blogs into a digital portfolio to track student
growth over time.
• Once you decide on the blogging platform, first set up the class blog page.
• Personalize the page by selecting a unique theme, perhaps even involve
students in deciding on the theme for the class.
• Spend time familiarizing yourself with the settings and specific features
offered in the platform, learn how to access student blogs and their account
information, and how students will create their accounts and log-in.
• One other idea is to set up a student account for yourself, so that you better
understand the student experience and will be prepared to answer any
questions the students may have when they are starting to create their blogs.
• It can also be helpful to create a handout to share with students.
• A handout or other instruction should be offered that will explain the uses of
blogging, include a list of expectations and guidelines, directions for how
students will join the class, and some example blog posts that perhaps you
have created.
• Sharing this information with students and showing them what to expect that
can helpful for building student comfort and confidence for the new
experience.
• It may even be helpful to have students write their first blog post in the
classroom, so that the teacher could help with editing, and making sure the
content is appropriate prior to posting.
• Before starting, spend some time talking about possible prompts, how often
they will blog, who the audience will be, length and requirements for posts,
etc. Let’s go over these in a bit more detail.
FREQUENCY OF BLOGGING

• How often should your students blog? Ask students to discuss how often
would they like to visit a blog and read up something that is important to
them.
• Typically readers might like to see something new every few days, so writing
a blog post more than once a week would be a good idea.
• Some topics might lend themselves to greater frequency, such as science and
school activities. Give them a scenario to brainstorm.
• If a Student Council member had a blog, what activities would he/she blog
about? If the school’s Yearbook editors had a blog what would they like to
communicate, or highlight through the year?
• Students enjoy the chance to be creative and have choices, and will probably
be excited about having options for choosing their own themes, fonts, and
more, which will help build some motivation to write.
• Move around the classroom, facilitate while the students set up their account,
personalize their page and begin their writing.
WRITING FOR A SPECIFIC AUDIENCE

• This is an area often overlooked, because there are many bloggers that ‘rant’
with no consideration for what the reader might be interested in.
• Get students to come up with a list of who their readers might be.
• Ask them to go beyond general descriptions such ‘Parents’ and ‘Friends.’
• Would the ‘parents’ be ‘Parents of students who are new to the school?’
• Make them understand that the tone of voice of their blog post should be
respectful and relevant to their target audience.
• Would a post containing inside jokes, snide comments, or emojis inspire an
older reader (say a parent or a teacher) to return to the blog? Just like the tone
of voice, the language and writing style needs to keep in mind the reader.
• Would the ‘parents’ be ‘Parents of students who are new to the school?’
Make them understand that the tone of voice of their blog post should be
respectful and relevant to their target audience. Would a post containing
inside jokes, snide comments, or emojis inspire an older reader (say a parent
or a teacher) to return to the blog? Just like the tone of voice, the language
and writing style needs to keep in mind the reader.
HEADLINES

• As in any story, a blog post needs a strong title or headline. When you
provide your prompt, as students decide on what angle to write about, ask
them to consider an interesting title to their blog post. A title that would grab
the attention of their Target Audience.
BLOGGING FOR THE FIRST TIME

• One way to have students start their writing in class is through the use of prompt
responses.
• At the beginning, start small by instructing students how to join the class and have
them begin responding to the teacher posts with meaningful discussion points.
• If you have time in class to do this, it is beneficial for their progress as the year
moves forward.
• Even before having the students enter their blogs on the platform, have them use
pen and paper, provide a prompt and give maybe 10 minutes for writing.
• Giving students this opportunity to first practice on paper helps them become
more comfortable with writing before publishing posts for a more public audience.
• When you give them the prompt, briefly discuss the Target Audience, and
remind them at this time to keep in mind who they are writing for.
• Once they have written, help them to learn to evaluate their work and reflect
on their writing.
• It will also help to reinforce the value in blogging as well as help the students
to feel comfortable and confident in expressing their ideas.
• Perhaps even have students share their posts with a classmate and offer
feedback to one another.
• Once the responses have been written, give the students some time to use this
writing as their first entry on the blogging site.
• By creating the first draft on paper, and then entering it as a blog post, they
will have an opportunity to process the experience, to think, reflect and
become familiar with how the activity will be.
• Once you get the students set up and hopefully excited for blogging, it will
be a continuous work in progress.
• Students will continue to express concerns, but we need to just provide the
support, and emphasize that it is okay to take risks, and accept challenges,
and work through.
• Blogging is a tremendous benefit for many critical skills for students.
• Through blogging, students develop their online presence and digital
citizenship skills, it promotes communication, collaboration, creativity and
critical thinking.
• It enables students to build comfort and confidence in a safe space, for
sharing their ideas.
• By having students read peers’ blogs, it can help to build relationships within
the classroom.
• It helps educators to better understand the student needs and interests and
will enhance the communication that takes place.
BLOGGING ACTIVITIES FOR STUDENT BUY-IN

• Storytelling with Blogging

• Blogging can be a good way to learn about students and become familiar
with one’s peers.
• It takes the first few weeks of school to get to know one another and become
comfortable in the classroom.
• An idea for a different way to start the year is by using blogging as a way to
learn about student backgrounds, interests, and learning needs.
• It is also a good way to develop an understanding of student skills in writing.
STARTING PROMPT EXAMPLES

• One way to get to know students is through “icebreakers.”

• However, not everyone is a fan of doing the traditional icebreakers, so
perhaps trying something a little different might help.
• At the beginning of the year, sharing a survey with students or having them
write about themselves on paper, without writing their name, and then having
classmates guess, can also be a fun way to foster classroom relationships.
• Another idea is to focus on a particular concept or create a prompt as a means
of reviewing content material covered from the previous school year.
• A prompt done in this way can be very informative for determining the
content that needs to be reviewed, and offer insight as to how to provide
individualized instruction for each student.
• Blogging provides a highly interactive way for teachers and students to
convey information and show understanding.
• It promotes student voice and encourages students to feel comfortable in
expressing their ideas in a safe learning environment.
E-PENPALS WITH BLOGGING

• Another great activity to get students excited about blogging is connecting

with an e-penpal through a site like ePals [https://edtechbooks.org/-Td] or
through a teacher you know at another school.
• When students know that their blogs will be read by peers outside of their
own school, they typically become more excited and engaged in the blogging
process.
• This can be particularly engaging when you give students freedom to choose
what they can write about from a variety topics.
• While having a digital penpal can be great, you’ll also want to make sure
your students are familiar with the basic of digital citizenship (outlined
below) so that they know how to appropriately and respectfully interact with
their digital peers.
• Using a site like Kidblog [https://kidblog.org/home/] can also be beneficial
because it allows the teacher to approve every blog post and comment that is
submitted before it can be posted online for others to see.
STUDENT PRIVACY CONCERNS

• Any time your students post anything online, there are serious considerations
that must be taken. If students (particularly K-8) are posting in a public
location, they should never be posting personally identifiable information
that could allow a stranger online to find out who they are.
• Additionally, teachers should always take time to provide lessons and
instruction on online safety prior to an internet-based activity.
• Many times, teachers assume that because students grew up with digital
devices, they are familiar with online safety.
• However, this is often not the case, and the responsibility can sometimes fall
on the classroom teacher to be the primary source of information on online
safety for many students.
• When teaching students about online privacy, Common Sense Media
[https://edtechbooks.org/-Jwp] has a wonderful collection of resources for K-
12 teachers. These lessons can be used to introduce students to the ideas of
online safety, and can help make sure that students are ready for activities
like blogging.
BLOGGING AND DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP

• There are always concerns with digital citizenship when technology is

involved and students are going to be creating and sharing content in the
classroom.
• With the 9 elements of digital citizenship, there are several which are directly
related to blogging and should be addressed at the beginning as well as on a
continued basis to reinforce the expectations throughout the year.
• As educators we want to promote digital literacy for the students and make
sure that students understand how to use the technology, how to access their
blogs and cite information they use in their posts.
• There should be a focus on digital etiquette and how to properly interact with
others, what is considered appropriate behavior and communication in the
online learning environment.
• It is important to spend enough time setting up the expectations and
guidelines to make sure that students are interacting in ways which promote
digital citizenship.
• Students need to learn to respect others and also to think about the
information that they are sharing about themselves, to respect privacy of
others and to represent themselves in an appropriate manner online.
• Providing examples of how to create strong passwords, maintain security and
to be safe online are very important parts of lessons on digital citizenship that
should be included when starting to blog in the classroom.
ACADEMIC BENEFITS OF BLOGGING

• There are many academic and personal benefits to blogging. In terms of the
“21st century skills”, blogging promotes critical thinking, collaboration,
communication and creativity.
• When used in the classroom, blogging provides opportunities for students to
work on these and the 5th “C” content, and publish their ideas for authentic
audiences.
• As a blogger, a student has the benefit of improving their communicative
skills, expanding vocabulary, and becoming better with grammar, for a few
examples.
• Depending on the content area, blogging is helpful for students to learn to
write in a specific way whether it be persuasive text or a narrative for
example.
• Blogging and providing opportunities for students to read and provide feedback to
one another, opens up the communication and collaboration in the classroom,
leading to greater student confidence and building a supportive learning
environment.
• Students can share ideas and experiences, learning more from each other.
• Blogging enables you to write freely about your ideas and thoughts, and you can
choose to share them or you can keep them private, but the end result is that you
have a way to express yourself, be creative and can then use it as a means for
personal growth and reflection.
• In addition to these benefits, it promotes student autonomy in learning and can lead
to higher student engagement.
ACTIVITIES:
1. Write a blog about the following topics:
• Understanding cybersecurity
• Supporting emotional health
2. Create your own blogging website and post your blogs on #1.
FINAL OUTPUT
• SOC STUD 3: Formulate a Learning Development Plan aligned with the K-12 curriculum that
includes all the lessons, learning activities and course requirements as a student-teachers in your
chosen field and make 6 blogs using instructional materials in your different lessons. You may post
it and you may have a record of your followers and their comments this will be one of the criteria in
your output. This will serve as your major requirement in the course.
• Criteria:
• Content-50%
• Organization-15%
• Grammar-15%
• Style and tone-20%
• 100%
•