Blogging with students has been on my mind lately, as 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th & 8th graders at my school are embarking on blogging adventures with their teachers. A few weeks ago, I blogged about Taking Student Blogging to the Next Level. I also prepared a 3 hour workshop on the same subject for the teacher2teacher conference in Alberta, Canada.

You can find the slideshare presentation of the conference below as well as resource links and suggested classroom blogs.

I tried to emphasize the recurring theme of “It is not about the tools, it’s about the skills” in this presentation as well. It is not about blogging for blogging sake. It is not about being able to say “I have a class blog”. It is not about jumping on the “blogs-wikis-podcast bandwagon”.

Blogging is about going deeper than posting a few questions and expecting your students to answer them in the comment section. Continue blogging with your students to get deeper…

It is about the learning community you are building with your students. It is about the content you and your students are producing.  It is about the writing and commenting. It is about giving quiet students a platform to express themselves. It is about an authentic audience. It is about the worldwide connections you are making.