Last week at elive I was talking about blogging in the classroom as an extension of normal classroom practice and showing examples of things we have done with blogging over the last few years. A few questions there and an email asking for blogging advice today has started me thinking about how to get started with blogging in the classroom. There seems to be plenty of technical howtos available (I’ve written a couple myself) and plenty of the ‘this is what we do’ sort of stuff I was talking about at eLive but there is a wee bit in the middle that is lacking. At eLive I briefly covered some of the classroom organisation I’ve found successful and there are many more ideas over at the classroom blogging wiki‘s Classroom organisation pages.

The thing I think is missing is some sort of progression and timetable.

The lack of guidance (as far as I know) might be why there are so many blogs that are started and then fade away. People get false expectations, run into technical problems or do not get the results they expect from children.

So here is a step by step approach to blogging that might be of use to teachers:

1. Start Reading some blogs.
   Often people are introduced to blogging on an inservice, are helped to set up a blog and go off back to the classroom. They might not really have come across blogs before are filled with enthusiasm but do not really know much about the subject.
   If you are in Scotland I’d start by looking at ScotEdublogs.org.uk, reading the front page every couple of days to see what is going on. Follow up interesting posts by visiting the blogs they are posted on and reading other posts there.
   Try to read a mixture of pupil and professional/teacher blogs.
   Post some comments to articles you have something to say about or as encouragement/distance marking on pupil blogs.
2. Test out some blogging software.
   Different blog setups work differently, depending on what you want to do different ones may work better for your needs.
   You can set up blogs at no expense at blogger, wordpress.com, learnerblogs.org and many other sites, Scran Scribble should be of interest to Scots and eduBuzz to teachers in East Lothian.
   Look at the blogs you like from step one and see what they are using. If you have a website already you maybe able to add a blog to the site which means you can have the same domain. a lot of blogging software (eg wordpress.org ) are opensource and don’t cost any money.
   So set up a blog or two and play around with the features (nobody need know). This will take a bit of time, but it will be time saved in the long run.

   you might want to set up a blog about a subject dear to your heart or one for your cpd (that might be close to your heart).
   Learn how to upload images and add them to posts.
   Play with whatever image editing software your children may have in school and make sure you can resize photos without thinking about it. If you have an interest try to upload audio and video to your blogs.
   If you are stuck on how to do something google it, someone somewhere will be using the same blog and have written a guide! Or go back to the blogs you were reading on ScotEdublogs.org.uk and ask someone there.

3. Set up a blog for your class
   Using your favourite blog software set up a blog for your class.
4. Start whole class blogging
   Work with a projector and the whole class using the blog as a place for shared writing, thus will be familiar to yourself and the class coming to an agreement about the text. It also means you can resize and edit any photos, first before the class are there later with the children. The children will learn the technology, but much more importantly will allow you and the children to set the tone for the blog. I’ve seen a few posts on children’s blogs where they understand the technology but do not realise they are in a public arena, these posts are often poorly thought out, in ‘chat speak’, teachers will have their own ways of suggesting tone, I go for the ‘blog as school excursion’ approach; ‘you are representing your school‘ and explaining the consequences of a world wide audience. Hopefully this audience will become apparent after a few posts.
5. Networking
   At this point you might want to start networking and publicising the blog.
   Again as a whole class activity view other blogs, compose comments and remember to use your blogs url. Add your blog to ScotEdublogs.org.uk, you could even drop an email to other Educational bloggers (I’ve not tried that but I’ve often been mailed which is nice).
6. Set Rules
   I’ve never done this, relaying on the last bit and taking things slowly ensuring that the children know the limits, but some folk like to have a set of blogging rules. Google will throw up quite a few sets to think about: classroom blogging rules – Google Search.
   You probably want to talk about what makes a good comment too. The more time spent on whole class discussion the better. I’ve noticed that I really need to talk about this stuff again when new children join a class.
7. Start pairs or individuals posting to the blog
   Ask a pair of children to report on something, maybe while the class are all writing about an event or trip. Get the children to take the photos that go with the post. You could start a rota of bloggers, a pair being responsible for finding something to blog about and doing so.
8. Repeat Setps 4- 7
   You should be beginning to get an idea of both what you want to use blogs for and what you can use blogs for, watching other blogs will give you good ideas, seeing something on another blog, say a poetry lesson or science experiment, commenting, carrying it out in your own class and blogging that can be pretty nice.
9. Set up other blogs
   Try a short term blog where a group of children have responsibility to record and report on a project. A blog for particular activities, book reports or poetry. A trip blog for parents.
   You might like to set up individual blogs for your class, I am just trying that for the first time this year: Primary Six SJ – Sandaig Primary School, it has a different set of challenges and rewards from a class blog.
10. Keep going
    That is the hard part, finding the time and organisation the children and kit.
    By this time you will know if blogging is going to be useful in your classroom, if so you will begin to see lots of possibilities opening up, podcasting, video, games, art and animation.

This is quite a time consuming process, the more time spent in the early stages the easier the later ones will become.

Caveat: this information is based on the path I’ve taken over the last four years with some mistakes removed. I didn’t have a plan and I am in no way finished.

I make no guarantees and holds no responsibility for any addiction to the internet or loss of leisure time that may result following these instructions.
!BLOG AT YOUR OWN RISK!

So take these instruction with a pinch of salt, I’ve seldom been quoted but this is my favourite, thanks to Peter Ford from Communicate06.

I hope to be able to direct people to this post when they ask me how to start blogging as part of the answer. Please augment, criticise and improve in the comments.

Picture Credit: pair with laptop from Be Very Afraid – Be Very Afraid 3 – Photo Gallery 5 used with permission.

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