• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Lepre's Learning Log

Beginning Teacher Coaching | Strategies for New Teachers

  • Home
    • Privacy Policy
  • About
  • Blog
  • Podcast
  • FB Group
  • Contact me!

Let’s be social!

  • facebook
  • instagram
  • twitter
  • pinterest
  • mail

How to transform your students from online gawkers to bloggers

September 26, 2017 by Kim Lepre 2 Comments

Share10
Tweet
Pin32
Share
42 Shares

Are you currently a blogger? I know that there are many teacher bloggers out there, and I’m proud to say that I subscribe to several for inspiration and ideas. While I haven’t always been a blogger, I’ve been dabbling in it off and for the past 2-3 years. I’m definitely more consistent now, and have been thinking about the possibility of having my students blog as well.

This past weekend I cleaned up most of my blog and went through past posts. I was pleased when I came across a series of posts on student blogging from two years ago.  It was nice to remember when I blogged with my students at my previous school, and I found that all of the information is still relevant and current. So I spruced them up a bit, and grouped them together in a Student Blogging Series.

Why do students need to be bloggers?

Students today are generally adept at maneuvering through social media. However, as adults we understand that they often don’t make the best decisions in terms of what goes out into the digital space. With blogging, we can help them to transform their digital footprint into one that reflects the positive aspects of who they are, rather than just a slew of selfies with their tongues sticking out.

Blogging also gives them a real-world application of their writing that is public. This can be done in a way to protect their identities while still giving them a voice. There’s more on the line if they know that hundreds or thousands of people will read their blog post, so they take more ownership and pride in it. They can also practice interacting in a positive way with people from other cultures, and learn how to be a part of a global community.

But..I don’t teach English Language Arts. What’s the point?

As you’ll see in my past blog posts on student blogging, it’s definitely not necessary to teach ELA and have students blog. In fact, the practice of blogging actually lends itself to multiple disciplines, and allowing you to incorporate more thoughtful and meaningful assessments. Think about it – there are blogs on just about ANY subject you can dream of. The act of writing isn’t isolated to only ELA – it is the cornerstone of all forms of communication.

Edublogs Blogging Challenge

This blogging series comes on the heels of registration for the next Edublogs Student and Class Blogging Challenge. When my classes last participated, it was a great activity. The challenge consists of weekly tasks that encourage bloggers to mix up their posts, and students and classes have the opportunity to connect with other bloggers across the world! There’s nothing quite as satisfying as having students receive comments from a class in France or Africa!

[bctt tweet=”This blogging series comes on the heels of registration for the next Edublogs Blogging Challenge. @edublogs” username=”mrslepre”]

If you have a class or if your students have individual blogs, I encourage you to join! If you’re just thinking about starting the blogging process with your students, here are links to my posts to get you started – from the very beginning with paper blogging, to posting on a regular basis with my interdisciplinary team.

  1. Why I’m diving into student blogging

  2. First steps and considerations with student blogging

  3. Mastering student blogging with Paper blogging

  4. How to publish a blog post in WordPress: a pictorial

  5. What I learned from blogging with my students

You might also like these

Share10
Tweet
Pin32
Share
42 Shares

Filed Under: Curriculum, Student Blogging Series Tagged With: blogging, blogging challenge, digital footprint, student blogging

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Amy says

    January 19, 2018 at 2:21 pm

    Thank you for the great food for thought. You make some really excellent points here!

    Reply
    • Kim Lepre says

      January 19, 2018 at 8:36 pm

      Thanks Amy! Have you tried blogging with your students?

      -Kim

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Hi, I'm Kim! I help new and beginning teachers navigate through their crazy first few years of teaching so that they can THRIVE instead of survive.
Facebook
Facebook
fb-share-icon
Twitter
Visit Us
Follow Me
Tweet
Instagram
Pinterest
Pinterest
Pin Share

Learn more about

  • Assessment and Grading
  • Beyond Teaching
  • Curriculum
  • Digging into Data Series
  • Educational Technology
  • Podcast
  • Student Blogging Series
  • Teaching
  • Teaching Strategies

What are you looking for?

My most popular posts

Footer

Categories

Let’s be social!

Facebook
Facebook
fb-share-icon
Twitter
Visit Us
Follow Me
Tweet
Instagram
Pinterest
Pinterest
Pin Share
Contact Me!
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2018 Lepre's Learning Log - All Rights Reserved | Sitemap

Beginning Teacher Coaching | Strategies for New Teachers