Getting Students Blogging! Students CAN do it!

Thinking about next year and how to make my classroom blog more of a view from students perspective.  I want students to have the opportunity to write, reflect, and share our classroom happenings rather than me posting “We did this today…”   Blogging is a way to open up the hatch in your brain, pour the thoughts out, and somehow make sense of them.  What better way for students to engage, think about, and process what is happening in the classroom?   So this coming school year, I plan to turn the control over to my students.   If each one has an assigned week to be the “Blogger” they can get the job done!  I am going to provide some ideas for them, just in case they get ready to blog, and then say “What should I write about?” I don’t want to write the post for them though, but some questions or post-starters might help.

I have thought of making it look like a Campbells Soup can, calling it “Blog Soup:  Feed your brain!”  and in the can, I could put lots of questions like:

• What is your favorite area of the classroom?  Write a post that features the area and explains what you love about it.
• What is something that you learned today?  Write about it and share it with others!
• Interview a classmate and ask them questions about our school.  Write an article about the interview. Include a photo if they have permission!
• What is something that YOU wonder about?  Do a little research and write a post that answers the question.  Chances are, if you wonder about it, others do to!
• What does it mean to you to be “gifted”?
• Take a photo of something outside.  Write about how it represents the area we live in.
• Read any good books lately?  Write a book review.  Try to include a link to the author website if you can!
• Teamwork rocks!  Today, secretly observe our class and make note of examples of teamwork you see. Write a blog post and share some of your favorite examples!
• Brain Games rock!  Choose your favorite brain game (board, online, card, etc.) and write a review.  Be sure to tell others what is fun about the game, what skills it works on, and what you like about it.
• Current Events:  Choose a current topic in the news, read an article about it.  Reflect on the event.  Try to include a photo or link to the article you read.
• Interview the school principal and write an article about the interview.  Be sure to include a photo!
• Write about your dream day at school.  What would you learn about, read about, or explore?

I am hoping throughout the summer I can collect more “ingredients” for our Blog Soup!  I just want to encourage my students to get writing, get sharing, and get thinking!    Do you have any ideas for questions that could be in our “Blog Soup Can”?

Here is a label so you CAN make your own Blog Soup for your classroom!