Model Classroom Blogging

In an article for Learning and Leading with Technology Anne Davis discusses how teachers should first model blogging for their students before asking them to begin their own blogs. This can be done by creating a classroom or teacher blog. This is one suggestion that has been left out of many of the blogging in the classroom articles and resources I have found. Anne Davis suggests this as a first step to:

• Familiarize students with blogging
• Create an atmosphere where the student feels safe sharing and discussing their thoughts and ideas
• Provide students with examples of good blog entries and practices
• Start the discussion and lessons on blogging and internet safety

I think this is an important and valuable idea for incorporating blogging into the classroom. In addition to the reasons mentioned above, a classroom or teacher blog can serve as the hub for students blogs. Teachers can continue to use this blog throughout the year to communicate with the stakeholders in their classroom and provide prompts or other springboard entries for their students blogs.

At the end of the article she lists resources educators can access to find out more information about blogging in the classroom. The resource I found to be the most useful was one from a poster presentation Anne Davis and Ewa McGrail gave on the lessons learned from blogging in the elementary and university classroom. The presentation gives a list of blogs from elementary classrooms, both by teachers and students. I also found the information about how to start blogging in the classroom useful. She goes over safety issues and how to introduce blogs to students.

Anne Davis also keeps a blog that can be found here. She has written some interesting entries on blogging and pedagogy, such as this one. She has also given presentations and started a wiki on the subject of Blogs and Pedagogy.

References:

Davis, Anne. (2008). A vision for classroom blogging.(BLOGGERS Cafe). Learning and Leading with Technology, 17(1). Retrieved April 19, 2009 from Academic OneFile.

Davis, Anne and McGrail Ewa. (2007). Lessons learned from blogging with elementary and university students. Retrieved April 19, 2009 from http://neccposter2007.googlepages.com/home.