Student Blogs

I am a high school teacher in Ohio. I teach 9th grade world studies and am working on developing a global project with a computer teacher in my building. We want our students to use a variety of web 2.0 tools to enhance their learning and understanding. They will learn how to appropriately use the web and then the goal is to utilize the web to learn. We want them to blog. Are you aware of any blog sites for high school students that would be beneficial for this type of collaborative project? Are there other sites or tools that you have found helpful for such an endeavor? Would love your input!

Tags: blog, collaboration, highschool, web2.0

0 members like this

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Bob Mathews on January 5, 2011 at 9:03am

Are you aware of any blog sites for high school students that would be beneficial for this type of collaborative project?

Not really clear what you're asking here. If you're asking about where to get a free blog for students, then I'd recommend WordPress.com, hands-down. This is a free blog-hosting service, without ads, and is easy to use. You're not teaching math or science, but I know some who read this are, and WordPress is the best for math & science. There are other blog-hosting sites that are just fine for non-technical disciplines such as 9th grade world studies, but I wouldn't recommend these for math or science. Blog sites in this category are Blogger (free) and Typepad (not free).

If you want students to get into wikis as well, I'd recommend Zoho wiki (also free).

If that wasn't what you meant, can you clarify?

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Amy Jambor on January 5, 2011 at 9:11am

Thank you for your response. To clarify - I want my students to blog with other students potentially around the world about topics that are relevant to an academic setting.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Bob Mathews on January 5, 2011 at 9:23am

I like that idea. I've seen others do it, some successfully and some unsuccessfully, but most don't try.

Here's a handout I put together for a session I presented a few times last year at math teacher conferences. Some of the sites listed pertain to math & science, but most can be applied to any subject.

Attachments:

web2sites.doc, 3.6 MB

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Lonny Harper on January 5, 2011 at 1:26pm

You could always trying connecting with other classrooms to establish the project through epals.com or flatclassrooms.ning.com.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Bob Mathews on January 5, 2011 at 1:38pm

Thanks Lonny. I wasn't aware of ePals; looks great! You should have given your ePals user name; I would have listed you as referring me to them. It said you would get free stuff.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Kelly Walsh on January 5, 2011 at 2:51pm

Hi Amy -

Perhaps a couple of these posts might be helpful:

http://www.emergingedtech.com/2010/09/two-easy-ways-for-educators-a...

http://www.emergingedtech.com/2010/08/blogging-in-education-today-p...

Hope they're some help. Good luck with this effort!

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Cheska Robinson on January 5, 2011 at 3:45pm

Hey Amy,

I would recommend checking out Tumblr, KidBlog, and Edmodo. These three sound like they might best meet your objective for collaborative and global blogging. Tumblr has an option for readers to sign in, leave a post and comment. KidBlog and Edmodo can host multiple bloggers in one central area and also has the option for readers to jump in on posts.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Robin Phares on January 5, 2011 at 5:54pm

What a great project this sounds like. I have been blogging with my eighth grade students. (I am also from Ohio.) My first semester I tried blogging and went with blogger. My thought was that by using blogger students could design their blogs to fit their personalities. I really thought that would be good for them and keep their interest in blogging. WRONG! The ability to design their sites was a real distraction. They were constantly in their dashboards changing things.
The next semester I went to Kidblog. A very basic, very generic choice. It was so much better and the students did keep their interest in blogging.

However, now I feel as if I have fallen into a dream. I have discovered Edmodo. It is amazing. It's facebook like presentation really holds the interest of my kids. It is not really a "blog", however, students are writing more then they did on their blogs.

Now, the best part is that there are thousands of teachers who are on edmodo and I am sure someone will collaborate with you. I suggest you go and look at it. I really love it. OH.......It's FREE!