Lessons Learned: Implementing a blog in a classroom

Blogs are easy and fun to create and use. That's the good news. Why, then, are blogs not-so-easily implemented? The answer will sound familiar: a new technology, however exciting or useful, will only start living and breathing, if people use it. Technology is as useful as people make it. In other words, if no one is using a blog it has no function or purpose. That may seem simple, but failing technology is a recurring theme in Education. I just finished an internship in an urban K-5 school, where I watched computers collect dust in every classroom.
One lunch-time I heard a teacher voice frustration about the lack of response she was getting from her students. She posted each Monday a "Question of the Week" that students were to research and answer. Only 3 out of 27 kids were turning in an answer. I thought a blog might be an inspiring tool; the kids could read the weekly post and submit answers online. If the teacher moderated the submissions, she could published them on Sunday or Monday morning. Students could view and submit to the site from anywhere they had an internet connection and, with edublogs.org I could password protect student work. The teacher was very receptive to the concept and the tool, so I created it. And a few students got excited - you guessed it - the same students who were already submitting paper responses. The blog never took off.
Here are some insights into my recent experience and notes to myself on what I would do differently next time. Again, this won't sound new to those of you who have tried to introduce new technology in a classroom or any other setting, but there's nothing like experience to hit these concepts home!
Do a short "How to Blog" workshop for all staff
Be sure to have coffee, tea and cookies (as always) and invite staff to watch blogging in action. After a short presentation on the basics, give them a chance to try it. I wish I'd made time at the start of the year to do a Blogging workshop for all staff. After the busy start of school and parent-teacher conferences, the holidays were upon us. I plan on returning to the school to do a workshop in January, but it would have been much more effective to introduce Blogging to staff, and let projects grow organically, stemming from their interest. Doing a workshop for everyone gives staff a common base knowledge. Then they can learn from each other's blogging experiences. This is a way to get you, the librarian, out of the drivers seat and into the role of consultant.
Have the Teacher Create the Blog
I created the blog and then presented it to the teacher. If we had created it together (it only takes 5 minutes tops) sitting side-by-side, then we would have been equal partners from the beginning. As it turned out, I seemed to be the one driving the project, and, as the librarian, that didn't make sense. She's the classroom teacher, and if the tool is to be used by her students, she should be using it from the start. Plus, when she saw the new (and beautiful) blog I created, she was automatically intimidated. After that, I couldn't get her to sit down with me so I could show her how easy it was to edit and use the blog.
Involve Parents
After you've helped a teacher create a blog, it's paramount to send a letter home to parents introducing the blog: it's purpose, role in the classroom community, and expectations for student involvement (see Safety First for more details). This extends the community and creates a school-home connection. If you introduce it well, parents will just love seeing their child's work published!
Help the Kids - a lot
Introduce blogging in stages. First, just show them the site and put information on it for them to view only. Bookmark the blog in the classroom and the library for easy access. Then, show them how "comment" and and submit their work. In a K-5 environment (and perhaps Middle School-ers too at first), be sure to have students first write down what they will eventually type. It's also a good idea to make the blog optional at first (students can submit by paper or by publishing a blog comment). If students seem motivated by seeing their work published online for all in their community to see, then their interest will be more authentic. That intrinsic motivation is what will keep the blog going, and the online community has a chance to flourish. As the librarian, it's important to support the kids blogging efforts when you can - during recess or before/after school. Just be sure to make yourself known as a resource to both the teacher and the students.

I look forward to a time when I can blog again with kids. I got a taste, and I'm hooked :)
The effort is well worth it, so keep blogging!

Look, We're blogging, again!

Here we are at WLMA!!!

WLMA oct 13

look we're blogging!!!!

Classroom Blogs: Ideas

If you haven't caught on yet, Will Richardson's book, Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms (Corwin Press, 2006) is the best (and only?) in-print guide to using the read-write web in the classroom. I've been carrying it around in preparation for this presentation, and enjoyed reading it just about everywhere. If you're considering using blogs in the classroom, get Will's book, start reading his blog, Weblogg-ed, and you're on your way!
The following is a quick summary of chapter two, "Weblogs: Pedagogy and Practice", where Will Richardson establishes six functions of educational blogs.

• Class Portal
  The "class portal" serves as a main communication tool with students, and, by extension, parents. Post the curriculum, assignments and all class-related handouts and rules. This is also a way towards classroom transparency and an excellent communication tool with other teachers and school administration. Everyone knows what you and your students are up to!
  
• Online Filing Cabinet
  Add student weblogs to your Class Portal and you've got a complete record of class activities - and you're paperless! Students post and therefore archive their work. This opens the door for peer-to-peer interaction online.
  
• E-Portfolio
  Students select the best work and write a post reflecting on each work they choose to share. This can span classrooms, and even years of study. Almost any file type (images, text documents, slides, movies, audio files) can be uploaded to a blog.
  
• Collaborative Space
  Students can work together to become experts on a topic, and then share their knowledge with others. They can also learn from other students, teachers, professionals, or experts, without being restricted by physical location. Blogs can build an educational community beyond the classroom. For example, Will Richardson's class became the expert on The Secret Life of Bees and collaborated with Sue Monk to create reader guide to the book.
  
• Knowledge Management and Articulation
  Teachers can use blogs to communicate with colleagues. This is a great tool to use internally in an organization - for committees or continued dialogues.
  
• School Website
  This solves the problem of the never-updated web site. Blogs can be updated in a flash, and then used to communicate school announcements, reflections on school events, parent-driven newsletters, etc. For example, Principal Tim Lauer provides an excellent example in Lewis Elementary web site.
  

Teacher Resources for Blogging in the Classroom

• Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms
  Buy this book for your library! Will Richardson is the author of Weblogg-ed and now he's brought us this how-to-guide for educational blogging. It's a must-have for a K-12 educator who want to explore blogging in-and-out of the classroom. Get it now!
• TeachersFirst
  This online tutorial on blogging is one-stop-shopping for a classroom teacher. It's chock full of practical ideas for blogs in the classroom, and has a safety overview.
• SupportBlogging! is a wiki designed by Steve Hargadon to encourage educators to talk about how they are using blogs in the classroom. Check out what educational blogging can be and add to the conversation! Find the wiki at http://supportblogging.wikispaces.com. Particularly helpful is the page titled “Student & Teacher Blogs” because it links to lots of great examples of educational blogging. Add your blog to the list!
• Anne Davis comes the rescue with a fabulous how-to wiki on educational blogging - Improving Instruction Through the Use of Weblogs. It's very visual and provides lots of examples.
  
• Blogical Minds is an excellent example for teachers to follow on how to guide students through the blogging process. Anne Davis (again!) is leading this project, and her blog is a good place to read reflections from an educator using blogs in the classroom. Also, be sure to visit the web quest that teaches elementary students the basics of writing a blog entry: Blogging: It's Elementary!
  
  

Blogging for Authentic Communication

Blogs can be a motivator for students, and a challenge for teachers. Blogging pulls on students intrinsic motivation by giving them a place for authentic written communication with their peers. For teachers, blogging with students can be a challenge because it requires establishing a community in a new medium, and can increase the frequency and level of written communication between teacher and student. Teachers must model how to use blogs appropriately and effectively by becoming an active blogger with his or her students. This requires reading, thinking and writing thoughtful feedback on their work.
Konrad Glogowski voices his thoughts on this topic as he plows through pages and pages of student blog entries while working on his PhD thesis on how blogging communities are used in education. Check out his Blog of Proximal Development, which is an all around good read. Of particular interest to me is his reflection on the Teacher as Blogger and how blogs force teachers to take on a new voice in a blogging community; moving away from 'grader' and towards 'co-creator'. A teacher’s voice may change and develop from one of authority to one of reflective co-learner. This pushes the teacher to be a facilitator of community in an online environment. Students will come away with the abilities to read, write, and respond thoughtfully, but only because the teacher is modeling this for them.

Classroom Blogs: Examples

I'll start with a quote from a 5th grader.
"I think my writing has got way better then when I started. Even my readers have noticed.I hated writing so much, but now that I know how to wright better I am liking it."
The essence of blogging is engaging kids in critical reading and thinking and then asking them to clearly communicate their thoughts. I encourage you to browse the blogs created by these 5th grade students, who were guided by educator Anne Davis. The student blog entries are reflections on their learning about writing. This is an example of students thinking and writing about blogs; both how to use them and how to better communicate through writing.

Here are some more examples of classroom blogs:

• The Secret Life of Bees is an online reader's guide to the book, created by high school students, and guided by educator Will Richardson. This is a stellar example of a blog being used as a collaborative space.
• Blogical Minds is a forum for 5th grade students to write about what they learned in class. Another spectacular example, from Anne Davis, that illustrates how blogging can capture teacher and student reflection on the process of learning. Check out this web quest teaching elementary students how to blog: Blogging: It's Elementary!
• AP Calculus AB is brought to us by Mr. Kuropatwa and his AP Caluculus high school students (and parents!). They document their learning by explaining concepts to peers or reflecting on personal struggles with mastering concepts. This is peer-to-peer help at its best!
  
• Mrs. Cassidy's Classroom Blog gives parents curriculum updates and highlights her first and second graders' work.
• Mrs. Britton has introduced her class to the basics of writing a blog entry and commenting by having each student write a riddle describing a literary character.
  
• ResearchFun! is a blog I set up in support of a 3rd grade class doing a research question-of-the-week.
• These are just a few examples. Please send us yours!
  

School Library Blogs: Examples

One of the things that really drew me to this field is the fact that so many librarians are finding innovative ways of using new forms of technology to access and distribute information and as tools to aid the learning process. I think blogs illustrate this nicely. Sara and I were discussing the specific functions of blogs in the school library or media center, so I searched out some existing school library blogs to see how they’re currently being used. While many blogs serve more than one purpose, here is a list of some blog functions as I see it:

• Library Instruction/ Techniques
  The Mabry Media Center blog includes a series of techniques and instructional posts on topics such as research planning, accessing library resources from home, and internet searching tips just to name a few.
• Book Reviews: School Librarian Picks
  Olson Middle School – Media Specialist Mrs. Kochel provides a series of book reviews for students.
• School Library Web Site
  Ms. Voelker of Huntingtown High School Library Media Center uses her blog as the main web site, which links to electronic resources, guides to print resources, summer reading suggestions, an about the library page, new-book reviews, and a page for each teacher in the school.
• Student Contributions
  Hawley Library Media Center has an impressive array of contributors and book reviews allowing students to use their writing skills to share what they’ve learned and read with others.
• Creating a Community
  Similarly, the Northfield Mount Hermon school library has a blog with a “Bookmark of the Month” concept. These posts include contributions from teachers and students at the school - building a sense of community by involving the adults in the blog. Also the “Lounge Lizard Archives” highlights photos of students in the library along with quotes from those students. Whether they’re doing homework or just hanging out, you get the feeling the library is an often-visited and well-used place.
• Announcements/Latest Happenings
  The Neil Armstrong Elementary Library blog is a good example of a blog that posts announcements primarily about happenings in the library and school.
• Establishing an Online “Personality” or “Presence” for the Librarian
  The Uni High Library has a blog that’s fun and informative for even non-students to read and often covers topics broadly related to libraries, information technology, and books without focusing solely on the Uni High Library. The primary contributor is Frances Jacobson Harris, the librarian at Uni High.

This raises some questions for me:
Are some purposes better suited to a blog than others? For example, if the school library already has a website, is it easier just to update the school library website with announcements than to try to maintain a separate blog for that purpose? If the library website already has a listing or toolbar of resources available for use by students, does using a blog to write posts that highlight some of those resources add any value? Or are students less likely to read these posts preferring instead to read posts about book reviews or some other subject matter.

tags: school library blog

More Ideas for Blogging in the Classroom

Here are some ideas for how teachers can use a blog with students in the classroom. This particular list comes from First Class Blogs, an introduction to blogs for teachers, which is put out by TeachersFirst.

• Make a suggestion box for the class or a particular unit and invite students to contribute ideas
• Students take turns writing a "Week in Review" blog entry
• High school students doing lab research can collaborate by sharing their data and findings
• Hot topics on campus, such as the uniforms-or-not debate, can be discussed in a blog
• Critique a web site to practice evaluation criteria
• Write a newspaper sports story covering one of their own sports events
• Report on a vacation or holiday
• Role-play a point of view by having them write a blog entry from a different perspective, like a rock when your doing a geology unit or a person from a different time period.
• Find another class to blog with!
• Comment on Current Events by posting a story and asking for responses
• Report on a field trip
• Write a community tour with pictures

Share your ideas with us by posting a comment!

Safety First

Safety considerations are a must when children are publishing to the Internet. Here's a list of things to consider when creating a blog for classroom use.
The following is paraphrased from Will Richardson's "Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms", which I highly recommend as a resource if you're just getting started with educational blogging. It's one-stop-shopping!

• The basics

Students should never publish personal information that might identify them to predators: phone number, instant message identifier, home address, e-mail address.

• What's in a name?

The level of security you choose as the administrator of the blog is up to you and the comfort level of your parents, school and community. Students need to feel they're represented as the owner of their published work. Ideally, a blog can be password-protected so that students can blog under their real name. How you set up your blog should be balanced with security concerns. If you don't password protect your blog so as to increase access, the highest level of anonymity can be achieved by assigning each student-blogger a number, or having each student choose an alias. It is also acceptable to have your students use first name only, which I recommend primary grades for primary grades. Middle and High schoolers can use their first names for sure, and you can consider using full names. When doing so, be sure to engage in an ongoing conversation about Internet safety while searching, reading and publishing.

• Blogging letter

Send home a letter to parents that states your plans blog use in your curriculum and clearly outlines how students will be using the blog and the security procedures you've put in place. Most importantly, introduce them to the blog by posting the same letter on your blog and giving them the web address. It's best if you show them, rather than tell them, and perhaps some of your enthusiasm will rub off! Here's a link to a wiki on blogging put out by Bud the Teacher, which provides several sample blogging letters for parents.

• Blogging agreement

For the middle and high school students it is a good idea to write up a 'blogging agreement' with your students. This document outlines blogging etiquette and your expectations for the class as you enter an online community. You can even write them as a class! For primary grades, I suggest you always have your students write down their blog entry on a piece of paper before going to the computer to type it in. Again, Bud comes to the rescue and has an entry on Blogging Rules his class developed.