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Based on work with several teachers who very much want to join the blogosphere, but are a bit overwhelmed by the learning curve, here are five tips for teachers just beginning to weave blogging into their classroom toolkit:
Tip #1: Start the process of reading, writing, and responding to blog posts as a whole class activity. Begin the day or class period by sharing a blog post or comment that you will respond to as a class. With you doing the typing, this activity will probably not take more than five minutes and is great way to introduce your students to the genre of interactive reading and writing, while modeling the safe and ethical use of social networking.
Tip #2: If you are using a program that has a plugin (a software program that allows additional capabilities) for threaded comment, download the plugin! Be sure to explain to your students the difference between responding to the post and replying to a specific comment.
See the rest at The BlogWalker, where there are other great resources…
Tip #3: Add other class blogs to your blogroll. You might need to add the Links widget to your sidebar first. Adding links to other blogs in your blogroll allows your students to quickly access what’s likely to become a growing community of classroom blogs.
Besides the practical aspects, dividing student time between reading and writing is also a good way to model that blogging is actually more about reading than it is about writing.
Tip #4: Remind your student commenters to add your classroom URL in the website box. This extra step will turn their names into a hyperlink back to your blog. A great way to invite more readers and potential commenters to your site!
