Five Lessons about Blogging in School

     Writing is something that I enjoy and I guess I am a bit old-fashioned in that I enjoy writing letters.  In fact, I would rather write a letter than make a phone call.   So blogging is just an extension of letter writing and I find that I rather enjoy it.   Kind of therapeutic actually…..

     Richard Byrne recently presented a workshop on blogs for teachers and school leaders and posted his presentation on FreeTech4Teachers blog.   He has a 90-page Complete Guide to Using Blogger in School that he has posted online for teachers to download and includes a slide show of 40+ classroom and school blog examples.   Here is a list of five important lessons Richard Byrne has learned about using blogs in school:

1. Don’t spend a lot of time worrying about how the blogs looks because you can always fix it later.  Just choose any template and get started.
2. Send out a blogging mission and permission notice to parents.  Always let parents know why their children are blogging and how privacy will be protected.
3. Review Internet safety and etiquette protocols with your students.
4. Create guidelines for how the class blog is to be used by students.  Talk about tone and online discussion norms.  Discuss how to offer constructive feedback.
5. Expect that something will go wrong – whether it be an inappropriate comment or grammar faux pas – use it as another opportunity to review Internet safety and etiquette.

    So am I ready to start a class blog?  Almost…..I just sent home the permission notices to parents.  Next step: Internet safety and etiquette.