Wednesday Writing: KidBlogs

Last year, I discovered the wonderful educational blogging site KidBlog. It is a completely free, user-friendly, and secure site that students can use for writing.

Blogging with students can be an exciting, yet challenging experience because it involves writing for an online audience. In the past, when students have published their writing in Writer's Workshop, they've had moments to sit in the author's chair and read aloud their published pieces. They could inject meaning through the way that they read their work or fill in random missing words as they were reading aloud. Blogs are really different, however, because you're putting your work "out there" for others to read, and your written words have to speak for themselves. It really increases the demand on student writers, and it shows in the quality. 

This year, I've had my students use KidBlog to write four book reviews. I also have them comment on the blogs by other students in our class. I moderate both the posts and the comments so I'm able to see exactly what the kids are saying. I also participate in the conversations through my own comments. Currently, all of the settings are protected so that only my students and I can see the blog posts, but I'll be sharing some of the content and routines we use with you in future posts. In the meantime, if you are interested in getting started with having your students blog, or if you just want to improve the process, I would very highly recommend checking out Langwitches Blog. Silvia has an amazing collection of resources for integrating technology in the classroom, and she has an entire unit developed on student blogging. 

Do you blog with students in your classroom? If so, how do you use blogs? If not, what are the biggest obstacles or challenges that you anticipate with using student blogs? Feel free to sound off in the comments.