Think Blogging

I have continued to research blogging and in my quest I have stumbled across several great blog hosting sites that would be appropriate for middle and high school student blogs. I have not however, been able to find any site that is more suited to younger student blogging than Think.com. My 4th grade students as well as a class of 4th grade students at another local school have been blogging at Think.com since early October. It has been a great experience. Part of the positive experience is directly credited to the ease of use and safety measures provided by the site. My students can easily add posts, message boards, votes, and other interactive tools to their sites. They can even link a word document. They can post virtual post it note messages on each other's blogs or participate in votes and discussion boards.

They can even create secondary pages. Some of my students, for example, added a writer's workshop page in addition to their assigned reader response page. I can also create multiple sub-pages. I have an information and directions page, a reading page, and a science page. I can use these pages to post discussions and votes pertaining to read aloud or information that we have covered in science or social studies.

The best part is the safety measures. In order to set up a blog administrators account you need a letter from your district office. Which thankfully my very supportive Assistant Superintendent willingly provided. Think.com then provides parent permission slips and other support materials that can be distributed. A blog administrator can set up classes and create accounts and passwords for all involved parties. Blog administrators can also choose to open student's blogs to other students or maintain a private community. I chose the latter. My students' blogs can only be viewed by invited guests. The site maintains several filters which send messages to the administrators of any attempt of bad language. All members can flag any posted information that is inappropriate or makes them feel uncomfortable. This information is forwarded to the administrator's mailbox.
Blogging has been a great experience for my class. No matter where you choose to blog. I recommend that you involve some school celebrities to post messages on students' blogs. Those that teach in elementary schools will understand who the students look to as celebrities. In my school, this includes the guidance counselor, consultant teacher, principal, librarian, challenge teacher and the reading recovery teacher. This truly makes it a celebration of reading and writing.