Preparing to Blog

"Too often in blogging," says Bud Hunt, instructional technologist in Longmont, CO, "attention to pedagogy and the process of writing are ignored. Blogs should be a part of a program" (Ramaswami 5). The mere presence of technology is not a benefit in and of itself. Teachers must integrate blogging into the curriculum and adequately prepare students to be successful, responsible bloggers in order for the benefits to be enjoyed.

 

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How to prepare to blog in the classroom:

1. Perform a technology survey. Surveying students (confidentially) regarding where and when they have access to computers and an internet connection helps teachers decide whether blogging will be done in the classroom, in a computer lab, or at home (in Kajder and Bull 33).
2. Get permission, for example a signed permission form from parents. Parents must be informed that their children will be posting their work to a public forum. (in Kajder and Bull 33, Cassidy 2, Pascopella and Richardson 49)
3. Talk to students about the pros and cons, the ins and outs of writing online. As mentioned on the Student Privacy page, young people are likely to want to put personal information online. Teachers must prepare students for the shift to "a more transparent life online" (Pascopella and Richardson 49). Make students aware of the dangers of posting online and appropriate online conduct, and make sure they are fully understand classroom rules for blogging.
4. Teach students about blogs. Anne P. Davis and Ewa McGrail began their weekly blogging class with a webquest "through which [students] explored the writing process and read student blogs, wikis on blogging, and a 'blook' (a book created on a blog)" (Davis and McGrail 75). Providing a webquest or a presentation with images and examples, as well as taking the time to thoroughly answer any questions, shows students what a blog is and what is expected from the format. The familiarity with blogging students gain from a thorough introduction will reduce apprehension and start-up time and allow students to focus on writing.
5. Help students get started writing. Kathy Cassidy's early elementary students begin by simply copying words they gather from their "print-rich" classroom environment (Cassidy 3). Davis and McGrail provided writing promps (Davis and McGrail 75). They also used tradition in-class freewriting to get students thinking and refine the writing that students would eventually do on the blog (Davis and McGrail 76). The Littleton Public Schools take care to model good blog writing and show students examples in their Inspired Writing Program (Warschauer, Arada, and Zheng 222).

See Handfield, Dean, and Cielocha for a great list of questions to ask when choosing a blogging platform.