Operate the “gate house” in accordance with the rules.

You are the “gatekeeper.” Think carefully about how often you want to approve postings, whether you wish to receive email notifications, and when visits to the blog will fit into your schedule. Some teachers set up RSS feeds to a Google Reader account to monitor all posts and comments from one location. Teachers with a student hall can check on blogs while monitoring a room, because it does not take 100% attention to skim for appropriateness of content from any online computer.

You will settle into a routine after the initial flurryand come to know which students require the closest supervision, as in every class. Many teachers decide to substitute blogging assignments for assignments they used to do on paper (and you don’t have to lug papers around!). You have to decide where it fits into your day/week. TELL your students what to expect. No one expects you to monitor the blog hourly!

Conduct periodic re-evaluation on whether any rules need to be updated, with input from the community.

At the end of several blogging assignments or a couple of marking periods, invite blog members and parents to respond to a question (on the blog, of course) about things they like and do not like or make suggestions for changes. Be sure you reflect on the successes and challenges yourself, as well, and feel free to make changes. Have you seen any change in learning as a result of this teaching strategy? Are there barriers that make it a pain to you or to students? Are there more things you would like to try? Come back to TeachersFirst for more blogging ideas when you run dry. Remember, blogs are a work-in-progress, just as your students are!

OK, I get it---Take me to the tools to get started

or continue, one step at a time...

Find ways students can access the blog from school if they do not have Internet access from home.

If this is a problem for many students, you may want to make all blog entries during class time. Find out when/if students can access the blog from the library/IMC, after school, or in the computer lab during recess. You may have to communicate the fact that this is an assignment, not “play,” to the powers that be. Ask your administrator for suggestions, if appropriate. Maybe you want to offer after-school time once a week and rotate with other teachers to supervise it. If you have just one or two students with access difficulties, try to find a time when they can write in your classroom.

Watch your community grow and thrive!

Congratulate yourself for making technology another of your teaching tools. Now tell a friend and pass it on. Don't forget to share the success with your principal or supervisor and thank him/her for being a supporter.

Need to see more ideas for ways to use blogs in your classroom?

See some ideas and more ideas

TeachersFirst Class Blogs (examples of active classroom blogs where students are obviously writing to learn)