Ideas for Blogging in a Classroom Setting

This is my first blogging experience, so I am only beginning to grasp the possibilities that blogging may offer students and teachers.  My 11 year old son, Alexander, developed a blog which he wrote in Spanish when he was in the fourth grade. Here is a link to his blog. Our family was lucky enough to be able to spend four months in Galway, Ireland, and with this blog he shared his experience in Ireland with his classmates.  At the time he was attending Harritt Elementary's Dual Language Program, and that is why his blog is in Spanish.  We all enjoyed his classmates' comments.  It really helped him to feel connected to his class.  When he came back to the United States in May, he seemed to have an easier time of it adjusting to school again.

I can also imagine having students write stories or create their own fairy tales and comment on each others' stories or ask each other questions that may help the writer to further develop their stories.

With elementary students I think it might be neat to have students upload a picture of a pet and write about it.  This type of assignment would allow students to share their pets with each other in a kind of virtual "show and tell", while honing their writing skills.

Fionnuala and my daughter, Isabelle

A blog seems like a type of journal or reflection that allows students to have a conversation or dialogue with other people.   This would enable students to carry conversations and discussions beyond the walls of the classroom.

I can also imagine that a Blog Book Club in which students are responsible for introducing the books they are reading to the class would be a wonderful way to promote reading and encourage the development of analytical skills.  I think students might benefit from commenting on each others' postings and posing questions to each other.

These are all just my own musings on the possibilities.  I think now that I will investigate what other teachers have been doing in order to develop my own portfolio of ideas.

Ideas gleaned from other blogs and bloggers


I was very impressed by Mrs. D's Fourth Grade Blog.  She started out in a relatively simple way by first posting a picture of a piece of art.  She then invited all of her fourth graders to add a positive comment about the picture.  Then she developed a collection of links to fun and interesting math games.  She also designed a rating system and asked her students to test the games and rate them.  This, of course, motivated her students to play the games, analyze them and formulate their own opinions.  Mrs. D's third posting highlighted an interesting current event, namely the landing of a space craft on Mars.  She also included several links to websites, such as NASA, and relevant, age-appropriate articles.  This encourages students to seek more information and helps to turn them into life-long learners.  At the same time, her careful selection of links assured that the students had access to safe websites and quality information.  This classroom blog culminated in a final posting which showcased a class powerpoint presentation on National Parks all across the United States.  This portfolio is a collection of individual students' work, presented as a whole.  At an assembly for their parents, each student read their slide.  Each student contributed to a worthwhile group endeavor that resulted in a visible, lasting product.  Mrs. D's Blog offers a great way to create a keepsake for the students and to allow parents and relatives to be involved in the classroom community.