4 Easy E’s: Creating a Student Managed Classroom Blog

This is a guest blog from Kristin McFatridge, a 4th grade teacher at Central York School District. We would love to hear about your newest technology discoveries and how you apply them to your classroom.
Creating a blog doesn’t have to be a hair pulling experience. It’s supposed to be a fun way to engage students on the road to becoming lifelong 21st century learners. By following the 4 Easy E’s you, and your students, will become certified bloggers in no time. PS. If you’re reading this you, you’ve managed to find and identify what a blog looks like and you are already a step ahead!

1) Explore The teacher’s job is to explore and read all types of blogs (during all that free time we have ). Check out educational blogs, fun blogs, anything that may interest you! Pinterest.com has a lot of great starter ideas. One of the most popular, FREE blogging sites that I highly suggest is blogspot.com. Sign up and create your own classroom blog; navigate throughout the site and play around with all the buttons. Ask yourself questions, “What is that little icon for”? TRY IT OUT! You don’t have to publish anything yet. Trial and error is the key. Attempt to post at least one blog for the students to view when you introduce them to the concept of becoming 21st century Bloggers.

2) Engage “Attention all 4th grade Bloggers!” Don’t be scared by the blank stares, most of them will have no idea what you are talking about. Introduce them to the concept of blogging (if anything, they’ll get a kick out of the word “blog”). Show them how to access your classroom blog and read them your very first post. For 100% student engagement, include a picture of the class and throw some of their names into the first post. Kiddos love seeing themselves advertised on a computer screen and they won’t be able to keep their eyes off of the blog. Here comes the kicker, explain THEY will be taking over and be in complete control of the content of the classroom blog. They will become official Bloggers.

3) Experiment Give students time to play around; a little guided discovery never hurt anyone. The best way for students to learn how to blog is to have them teach themselves and learn from each other in “kid language”. Gather a small group of students and show them different aspects of blogspot.com (how to change the font, upload a picture, etc.) and those students will become the experts, the go-to students when a problem may arise. Give students time to post their own blogs and read and evaluate each other’s progress.

4) Enjoy Sit back and relax. Trust your students. Give them a rubric or check list as a guideline, but don’t take away their voice. You’ll be amazed how quickly your “net-generation” students grasp technology. Add the link somewhere easily accessible, like a classroom website, and advertise your blog to parents and other teachers. Become the facilitator, but leave the blogging for the students.

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