Blogging? It's Elementary, My Dear Watson!

Although blogging is typically considered a middle school or high school project, elementary school teachers are bringing blogs into their classrooms. Blogging has been known to help improve students’ writing because students tend to write better when they have an audience other than their teacher. So why wouldn’t elementary school teachers not want to use blogging in their classrooms? There are many easy ways a teacher could incorporate blogging in their daily classroom routines. For example, one teacher mentioned in the article had his students create a commentary on the day’s news stories. All a teacher needs to do is download a program for free, such as Blogmeister, or purchase a program, like KidzBlog. Both are easy to use and have the necessary safety features. Neither of the blogs allows the students to post on the blog until the teacher reviews the post and publishes the entry. I think that both of these programs are great to use in an elementary classroom. I know I was a little hesitant to bring blogging in my classroom for fear of my students’ safety, but these programs make it so easy for me to ensure my students are staying safe online.