More and more teachers are starting education blogs and blogging in the classroom. And, why not! There are a lot of reasons to consider blogging in the classroom.
It gives your students an authentic purpose to write. The idea that their stories will be published online for the world to see may motivate them to do their best.
Students have a real goal in sight when using the writing process. Not everything needs to be revised, edited, and published, but because this work will be on public display, there’s greater incentive to polish the work.
It allows your students to share their work with family members around the world. (And if the student work is translated into their first language, it allows dear old grandma who lives overseas and doesn’t speak English the opportunity to celebrate in your students’ success.)
It provides a way to create and explore media texts as a natural extension of the writing process. Instead of just publishing your good copies on your school bulletin board, why not publish your good copies online. Your students may even get feedback and comments from people in cyberspace.
It introduces your students to a new genre and form. Blog posts typically use short sentences and short paragraphs to pre-digest the content in this channel-changing world.
It may inspire some of your student to blog themselves and encourage them to see themselves as writers.
There are, of course, security, privacy, and copyright issues to consider, but done correctly, blogging in the classroom can provide a modern way to engage your students. Education blogs can be an effective way to create authentic learning opportunities for your students.
If you’re ready to start blogging in the class