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Want to bring blogging into your classroom? It’s a social, fun and effective way to bridge the gap between students’ digital comfort zones and academic writing. Weave it into your lesson plans, then watch students’ writing skills soar!
By Melissa Campeau
All Together, Now
Looking to ease newbies into the blogging world? Make it a group activity! Capture your class’s thoughts on everything from the latest school scoop to global news.
Planning a class expedition? Relive the excitement of a field trip by blogging students’ reactions, photos and questions. Compare notes, discuss and use what they write as a study reference, too.
Memos lost in piles of papers? Administrators can easily connect with teachers and families by blogging school news, special events and learning-related links— not to mention lighter fare and personal reflections.
Have students record and post that moment when vinegar and baking soda connect, along with all the experiment details. Bonus: Study notes are more interesting when peppered with video clips!
Fire up future novelists! The relaxed blogging format allows creative juices to flow freely. Adjust settings so students can either share their work for classmates’ feedback or keep things private.
Stretch those media literacy muscles. Have students research a company with a distinctive online voice. Then, extend that unique identity with posts that use language and images in line with the brand.
Students step into a historical figure’s shoes and blog from that person’s perspective. What was Canadian comic book artist Joe Shuster doing when he dreamt up Superman?
Was the area around your school once farmland? A busy industrial spot? Ask students to use photos, video, audio and words to craft an online tour of the community and make its history come alive.
Who ate their veggies every day this week? Walked 10,000 steps? Teachers post health-related targets, then students help motivate each other to report on progress, share challenges and celebrate success.
Fraction Fun
Recipes — great for cooking, even better for math! Have students upload their favourites, then repurpose them for quizzes about fractions as you halve, double or triple a recipe.
For best practices in technology, refer to the College’s professional advisory Use of Electronic Communication and Social Media (oct-oeeo.ca/1N3t9iu).
Blogger by Google (blogger.com) and WordPress (wordpress.com) are popular platforms for hosting your classroom posting project. Both are intuitive and free, and have a high capacity for text, images and video.