Sustained Blogging in the Classroom

The podcast “Sustained Blogging in the Classroom” by Jeff Utecht gives one much food for thought. Being only in the infant stage of creating a classroom and professional blog for myself, it is beneficial to hear suggestions from others that have been blogging for a period of time.

The point in this podcast that I felt will be the most important for me is to prioritize blogging with the students and make it part of the daily schedule. If I am serious about having the students learn to blog and use this as part of their learning, I will need to make blogging not an add-on but part of the curriculum.

As suggested in the podcast, part of my time with classes with each class is spent with readalouds, checking out books and silent reading. I could make a change in the schedule and rather than time for silent reading each period, have students read and comment on the blogs. I also liked the suggestion of the students making their own personal learning network and each student could elect what they will be reading during this time. This network could be selected including suggestions by students.

Step to prepare the students for blogging was also suggested. The sequence suggested starting out by only having the students read other students blogs and comments first. The next step would be to have the students give comments to other student blogs. And then if comfortable, create their own. Many great tips were shared for sustaining blogging with students. Taking blogs from journals to conversations and sharing will be one big step forward.