Blogging in the Classroom TIE Presentation – October 4, 2012 Laura Pfau English Teacher, Harlem High School

What is a blog, anyway? 0 Blog (noun): 0 website on which a user (or group of users) records opinions, information, etc. on a regular basis 0 Blog (verb): 0 To maintain or add new information to a weblog

Benefits of Blogging? Blogs not only provide outlets for students to write to a broader, more global audience, but they also give students the opportunity to interact through writing as they read and respond to comments that other readers and writers make about their blog posts.

More benefits… 0 Learning continues outside the classroom – students can participate in the learning process outside the four walls of the classroom. 0 Encourages students who are less confident about participating in class to find their voices. Blogging makes it easier to raise questions, to voice disagreement. 0 Engages students in the critical thinking process – students need to communicate their ideas in complete thoughts which helps them develop their thinking and consider concepts more thoroughly.

What skills does blogging help foster?

What do studies say? “By engaging with blogging commenters, [the participating 5 th grade] students found a new audience for their writing. Learning about their audience helped improve the students' writing and increased their sense of confidence. The researchers found that blogging connected classroom experiences with learning opportunities outside of the classroom. This blogging process de-emphasized strict writing conventions; thus, the children developed blog entries that were filled with expression, humor, and playfulness.” Full article published in Journal of Research in Childhood Education, October-December 2011, Volume 25, No. 4, pp

What do the STUDENTS say?

What do STUDENTS say?

My Blogs:

Blogging in Elementary School 0 ature=related ature=related

So many sites out there! 0 Weebly.com 0 Blogger.com Wordpress.com

Some Potential Concerns… 0 Who can access the information? 0 How to keep my students safe on a public site? 0 What if a comment / post is inappropriate? 0 Parent permission

Explore Blogs Out There: Links on my website to some neat classroom blogs:

Creating a Blog I’ll walk you through the steps of creating a blog through wordpress, so you can see how the basics work!