Here’s yet another “The Best…” list — this time focusing the Best Sources For Advice On Student Blogging. As with all my lists it is regularly updated to keep it current.
STUDENT BLOGGING IS NOW 100% FREE ON EDUBLOGS is from…Edublogs
Please note:
- Some articles included are older articles (published prior to 2010) and have been included because concepts in the articles apply to the current approach to student blogging.
- This list has been sorted by blogger.
Sue Waters
Sue Waters is Support Manager of Edublogs | CampusPress and has been helping educators blog with students since 2008.
Here’s a list of Sue’s ‘must read’ posts on student blogging:
- Step 1: Set up Class Blog
- Step 2: Setting up pages
- Step 3: Writing your first posts
- Step 4: Teach quality commenting skills
- Step 5: Adding Widgets
- Step 6: Helping parents and students connect
- Step 7: Images, copyright, and creative commons
- Step 8: Cool tools to embed
- Step 9: All about video
- Step 10: Connecting with other classes
- Step 11: Setting up your student blogs
Below are Sue’s other important student blogging resources:
- The Top 10 Ways Blogs and WordPress Are Used in Schools
- Class blog list – list of class blogs based on Grade and subject area which you can use to see how class blogs are used. Also indicates which class blogs have individual student blogs.
- State of Educational blogging 2014
- State of Educational blogging 2013
- State of Educational blogging 2012
- Getting more out of Student blogging
- Blogging With Students In 5 Simple Steps
Other resources from the Edublogger, Edublogs or Edublogs Community:
- 50 Ideas For Student Blogging And Writing Online (Ronnie Burt)
- Guide To Copyright And Creative Commons (Ronnie Burt)
- Edublogs YouTube Channel
- Student blogging Challenge
Here’s a quick intro video to explain what is a blog.
Silvia Tolisano
Silvia Tolisano is well known for her work with blogging with students.
Here’s a list of Silvia’s ‘must read’ posts on student blogging:
- Blogging as a Pedagogy: Facilitate Learning
- Blogging for Learning
- Blogging as a curation platform
- Blogging in Maths
- Blogs through the lens of SAMR
- Blogging is NOT analog Writing in Digital Spaces
- Making Blogging Visible
- Implementing Blogging in the Classroom
- Blogging Rubric in Spanish
Below are Silvia’s Blogging lesson plan series. The series was developed in 2008. While some of the links are old but concepts are good:
Make sure you watch The Possibility of Student Blogging by Andrea Hernandez and Slivia Tolisano.
This video provides an excellent explanation of the blogging and commenting process, impact of quality blogging on student literacy and the importance of writing as part of a global audience.
Bill Ferriter
Bill Ferriter has been blogging with students for almost 10 years and here is his advice:
- Lessons learned from a group of amazing student bloggers.
- Three tips for classroom blogging projects.
- Part One: Teacher Tips for blogging projects.
- Part Two: Teacher Tips for blogging projects.
- Part Three: Teacher Tips for blogging projects.
- Two Critical Tips for Classroom blog projects.
- Commenting and assessment.
Gail Desler
Gail Desler supports teachers using blogs with students in her school district. Here are her tips:
- Five Tips for Helping Students Become Better Bloggers
- Five Borrowed Tips for Helping Students Become Better Bloggers
- Five Tips for Teachers New to Blogging
Kim Confino
Kim Confino has extensive experience blogging with students and supporting teachers use blogs with students. You can check out her posts here:
- Blogging is elementary
- How to connect your students globally
- Beginning with Blogging
- Student blogging guidelines
Pernille Ripp
- Why Students should blog – My Top 10
- What Does Student blogging exactly do?
- Ideas for Integrating a student blog into your curriculum
- Common Concerns with student blogging answered.
- 14 Steps to meaningful student blogging.
- Paper blogs; A Lesson in Commenting on student blogs.
- Weekly blog challenges.
Other Resources
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- Commenting guidelines for students – simple and good commenting guide on a class blog.
- George Couros’s 5 Reasons Your Students Should blog and Resources on blogs as digital portfolios
- Linda Yollis – Educational blogging wiki packed full of resources and tips for blogging with elementary students.
- Kathleen Morris’s Student blogging resources and tips
- Pamela Hunnisett’s Blogging Expectations
- Richard Byrne’s 15 Topics for your School / Classroom blog, 3 Things students can blog about to start the school year and What is hotlinking? – Why you and your students should avoid it
(also 7 Blogging Tools for Teachers Compared and Ranked – Updated for 2017)
- The Courage To Blog With Students is an article by my Teacher Leaders Network colleague Marsha Ratzel that is a “must-read” for any teacher using blogs with their students, or considering the idea. It appears in Education Week: Teacher Magazine.
- Three Teachers’ Answers to Questions on Classroom Microblogging is from The New York Times Learning Network.
- #comments4kids – As most teachers who have students writing blogs know, kids get very excited when people leave comments on their posts. Of course, we all appreciate it when people respond to our writing, and nothing beats having an authentic audience. I recently learned through Paula Naugle, a teacher in New Orleans, about the ability to solicit comments on student blogs through Twitter by using the hashtag #comments4kids. She relates in her blog post that her students received over 1,500 comments this year. And she told me separately that 70% of them were generated through use of that hashtag. I think that’s amazing. The hashtag idea is brilliant, and I’d love to give credit to whomever came up with the idea. Let me know if you know who did. (Paula writes that “The creator of the #comment4kids hashtag is William Chamberlain. There are teachers and student bloggers all over the world who are so thankful to Will for this innovative idea.”)
- QuadBlogging Connects Student Writers with Global Audiences is by Suzi Boss at Edutopia.
Here is a list of our class blogs.
If you are a blogger, are considering starting a blog, or just want to learn more about blogging, that’s the post where you should start.
My latest blog for @edutopia “Blogging for English Language Learners” image by @rebezuniga http://t.co/YTN5x1ZLDJ pic.twitter.com/aWgBIGsoJQ
— Rusul رسل (@RusulAlrubail) March 16, 2015
As always, feedback and additional suggestions are welcome.
I absolutely love your blog comment anchor chart Mrs. Higgins! Way to go! @baileykhiggins @Kambrose8 #isdstrong pic.twitter.com/EvJ2OhA5zn
— Laurie Pitcher (@LauriePitcher) January 8, 2016
How To Comment In Social Media – An Infographic Of Tips For High Quality Feedback is from The ASIDE Blog.
KEEPING YOUR BLOGGING STUDENTS SAFE ONLINE has some very useful info.
Edublogger’s Guide To Involving Parents With Blogs is from the Edublogger.
100+ Ideas And Prompts For Student Blogging is from The Edublogger.
SHOULD YOUR CLASS OR STUDENT BLOGS BE PUBLIC OR PRIVATE? is from The Edublogger.
BLOGGING FOR COMPLETE BEGINNERS: GETTING STARTED WITH EDUBLOGS is from Edublogs.
TIPS TO ENSURE QUALITY BLOGGING BY LINDA YOLLIS AND STUDENTS is from The Edublogger.
BLOGGING WITH HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS: ROSLYN GREEN’S STORY is from The Edublogger.
MY CLASS: STUDENT BLOGGING MADE EASY! is from The Edublogger.
Poster: How To Write A Quality Blog Comment is from Kathleen Morris.
HOW TO DEAL WITH STUDENT AND CLASS BLOGS AT THE END OF THE YEAR is from The Edublogger.
10 ELEMENTS OF A QUALITY BLOG POST: TIPS FOR TEACHING STUDENTS is from The Edublogger.
13 EXAMPLES OF GREAT CLASS BLOGS is from The Edublogger.
A Mostly Complete Guide to Classroom Blogging is from Richard Byrne.
10 Classroom Blogging Mistakes (And How To Avoid Them) is from The Edublogger.
Obtaining Permission To Blog With Students (With Example Forms And Guidelines) is from The Edublogger.
If you found this post useful, you might want to look at previous “The Best…” lists and also consider subscribing to this blog for free.
Thanks, Larry, for pointing me this way. I absolutely second your “comment” post preference because it really successfully tackles the important issue of politeness 2.0 – an attitude (and also a skill) vital to our students’ presents and futures (and – again – Langwitches does an excellent job by making the complex and necessary sound so easy and manageable…-)
Larry,
This is true collaboration!
I am getting ready to blog with our 5th graders…start writing how-to posts about it….you get a resource list together for me.
THANK YOU!
Hey Larry,
First, I hope you’re well! I haven’t had a chance to stop by in a while and miss learning from you—and from all of your friends over at In Practice.
Second, glad that you found my Commenting on a Voicethread post worthwhile. It’s nice to know that I can help you out a bit, considering how much I’ve learned from you over the past year.
Finally, I also post all of my digital PD resources—on blogging, wikis, Voicethread etc here:
http://digitallyspeaking.pbwiki.com
You might find something helpful there for your blogging projects.
Rock right on,
Bill
Thanks for the great information! I want to have my students blog, and this collection of articles gave me some great ideas for implementing it.
Thanks for this Larry, and Bill for your link as well 🙂
I have been blogging with my classes for 3 years now, each year building it up by adding an extra class – in 2009, almost all of my classes will be supported by a class blog. I use RSS subscriptions to keep track of the posts and comments. Mostly I just use a class blog, but this year my years 8 students will all make their own reflection/homework blog as well.
I love your amazing links. I don’t know when you find time to do your other work.
I don’t know whether it’s my age, but I’m finding the underlined links difficult to see. Any chance of going to something a little clearer?
Leigh,
You’re not the first person to mention that problem. It’s a function in the design them on my blog. Sue Waters at Edublogs is helping me figure out a redesign for my blog, and having one that allows links to stand-out a lot more will certainly be an element of it.
Larry
Thanks a lot for this! I have been blogging with students for a while, but it is great to think more formally about how I am introducing the various aspects you address. I know I need to be more consistent between classes as well. TIme to get more organized!
Just finding this in 2011-great list! Don’t forget Darren Kuropatwa’s “scribe post” method for class blogs: http://adifference.blogspot.com/2009/02/my-class-blogs-part-1.html
He got me started and I’ve been at it 3 years now with my environmental science classes. The kids and I develop a rubric to grade quality posts each year.