Best Practices in Educational Blogging

People write better when they know that they have an audience.  This applies to children as well.
When starting to blog with students a discussion about safety is important.  Students should understand the risks and benefits of being online.  There are many great Internet Safety websites like netsmartzkids, AT&T Safety Land, and Privacy Playground.  Students should be told to not include personal information into their blog posts.  For instance, students can sign their post with their student number, or initials and then comment as anonymous.  Students in our district can use their Google Docs logins to comment.  Having the comment moderation feature on is key.  If students do respond with too much information the teacher can simply not publish their comments.   If you have never blogged with your students it may be helpful to educate the parents on blogging.  I have been blogging with students for many years.  Our school district provides parents with information on Acceptable Use policies.  There is an opt out form but there are very few parents that opt out their children from such activities.  It is very important as a teacher to investigate your district's policy on the Internet and specifically blogging.


Education World


Blogging Webquest 

Sample Blog Acceptable Use