Resources

How to teach blogging to grade 5/6/7/8s

1. Choose a platform – Decide how much, if any, of the blog should be private. There are a many different platforms that would work for this grade level (like Blogger, Weebly, kidblog).  Any platform that is simple enough, but still provides some customization would be appropriate for this level of student.  We would suggest that the whole class use the same platform, mainly so that lessons can be given by the teacher on how to use the media.  At this level, blogs may need to be private, depending on policies.  
2. Set guidelines for students - Topics used? Do they need approval to write/comment? Is grammar/spelling important?  Teachers would continue to set topics for the students.  We would be more actively encouraging proper grammar and spelling by teaching students that everytime they post something they are actually publishing it online.  
3. Teach your kids – Explain what blogging is and how it works, show them other student blogs, explicitly teach how to contribute quality comments to other blogs. Remind students that this is an educational blog for school work and it is not like facebook. There comments should be creative and about the topic not about the newest movie.  More emphasis can now be on quality comments.  Students could be asked to comment on their peers blogs and to actively follow each others posts online.  
4. Define a purpose for each blog – Create a focus for the student. 
5. Emphasize content over form – Blog must be readable, but should be an informal writing process. For this age, we would recommend that teachers encourage many different types of writing.  Students could be asked to use multiple forms of writing, depending on the task.  Some forms that could be used are; journal writing, list writing, collages (pictures instead of words)
6. Don’t forget multimedia – Teach how to embed photos, videos, add links. Students should all know how to embed and link.  Teachers should start to focus more on copyright issues.  
7. Put safety first – Teach the difference between criticism and commentary. Students are responsible for everything that they write.  
8. Look for inspiration – Read other blogs for inspiration.  

Things to consider when setting up blogs for grade 5/6/7/8

1. When will they use the blogs?  There should be a mix of class time and home time to get the most out of this project.  
2. Students may or may not know what is appropriate to post online. Explicit teaching of this may be necessary.
3. They will need a lot of time to personalize their blog (do not allow posting of personal information or pictures).

Link to a working blog for a grade 5/6/7/8 student

http://edudemic.com/2012/02/blog-with-students/

http://dawsosblog.edublogs.org/

http://georgie11.edublogs.org/

http://alexandrav110gs.edublogs.org/