Goal: Blogging for elementary students

As part of my technology plans for the 2009-2010 s.y., I would like to start BLOGGING for the elementary students. Starting small is always a good idea. Starting perhaps with just one elementary teacher/class would make it simpler.

I would like to get ideas from teachers/tech coord./tech curriculum coord., etc. as to what would be the best way to go. I do have a few questions:

1. Which blogging platform would you recommend? Blogger? WordPress? EduBlogs?

2. Do you provide the students with their own email? Which email service?

3. How do the school administrator's feel about teacher blogging for the class? Need approval for postings from school administrator? Should there be a "disclaimer" on the teacher's blog site? Example "Opinions reflect the views of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of school."
But what if the school website's is link to the teacher's blog?

These are just random thoughts that I have about blogging for elementary students. As part of my job, I need to conduct workshops about BLOGGING but to make it simpler, I believe I will start with one willing teacher and hoping it will create a ripple effect.

Tags: blog, blogging, elementary

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Permalink Reply by Lauriene Tschang on August 18, 2009 at 7:47pm

It seems that our school is going to use Edublogs to introduce blogging this year - hoping for at least one or two volunteers and wishing it would have a ripple effect. I've created my own blog with Edublogs and played around with it. It is easy to use (in my opinion) and loved the idea that you could create pages. I am thrilled and can't wait to show this to the teachers at our first Tech In-House Workshop. Hoping they would be thrilled too now that they can update and be in control of their own "class webpage". Of course, it would be a miracle if all of them would embrace this idea. I am just hoping for at least 1 or 2 willing volunteers to tackle blogging this year.

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Permalink Reply by Fran Riley on August 18, 2009 at 8:00pm

Hi Lauriene,

I teach first grade. I am new to all of this, but look forward to all the possibilities. I am interested in doing a classroom blog. I signed up on Edublog. How are you using your blog? Is your blog for the teachers or for your students? Will your students have their own blogs? Can you give me any helpful hints or suggestions that will make it easier for me?
Thanks!
Fran

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Permalink Reply by Lauriene Tschang on August 18, 2009 at 8:32pm

I am the school's tech coordinator so I normally post new tech ideas, tools that I came across with. The intended audience can be teachers or school admin or any educators who might benefit from these tech tools.

For this year, the teachers will be introduced to blogging through the in-house workshop that I will facilitate. Blogging will replace the static class webpages that we put on the school's website. Static since it is only updated once a month. Through blogging, we are hoping that at least one or two teachers will embrace this idea. Through blogging, class pages will be more dynamic and parents will be updated more frequently rather than waiting for another month to find out what is happening in their child's classroom.

Though I've presented to my school administrator the idea of student blogging, we want to start simple at this time. Soon after the teachers have gotten accustomed to blogging, we will go forward with student blogging.

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Permalink Reply by Nancy Bosch on August 19, 2009 at 6:37am

Lauriene, You can see our class blog, starting its 4th year, here. We use it to spark conversation and practice writing. I teach in a gifted class and 4-6th graders each have a blog. Let me know if you need more info, my blog is on the front page.

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Permalink Reply by Aaron Maurer on August 19, 2009 at 7:57am

What do you use for your blogging? I currently use Blogger, but not quite sure how to have all my students have a page like you have arranged.

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Permalink Reply by Nancy Bosch on August 19, 2009 at 8:52am

Aaron, If you are asking me, Nancy, we did our blog with Drupal (like Wordpress) an open source application. Blogger cannot give you all kid's blogs in one place. Each kid would have their own blogger then you would have them referenced as links in your menu---certainly not as easy or safe. If you want to pursue Drupal I know my tech (former student's dad) would help you get started.

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Permalink Reply by Aaron Maurer on August 19, 2009 at 8:59am

I would be very interested in giving Drupal a try.

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Permalink Reply by Nancy Bosch on August 19, 2009 at 9:16am

Aaron, Download the software, mess around and if you have questions contact Levi at tamarin2087@gmail.com. Tell him you met me at CR 2.0.You will have to have a server but you can get blog hosting for @ 5.00 a month. N.

Permalink Reply by Jacqui Murray on August 18, 2009 at 8:26pm

My school uses Falcon.net for school websites and blogs. Not the most user-friendly apps out there. They've well and truly discouraged teachers from getting UTD.

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Permalink Reply by Dave Gabor on August 19, 2009 at 6:00am

I teach third grade. Last year I used the blog component in Moodle. The kids liked it, but I didn't.
This year I installed the open source Eportfolio software Mahara on my server. I LOVE it. Pretty easy to use, very customized and you have complete control over who can and cannot see the sites. I highly recommend it.

I don't give my kids email accounts for security reasons. I may try a "closed" system where you set up and control what emails get through.

If I sign up for a new service where the kids need addresses to register, I use the gmail trick. Create a gmail address. Ex: Dave@gmail. com. You can sign up for any service using a name "+" that address. Ex. Joey+Dave@gmail.com. the new service thinks it is a new unique email address, but all the emails still come back to the original Dave@gmail.com. Great trick so you don't need to register a ton of new email addresses.