Class blogs can be motivators--their own unique online community for any age of students. They can be where your students feel the most safe and comfortable when participating, but also the place where the most efficient collaboration takes place.
The trick to using them as motivators with students is similar to how you design your classroom space. Below are some of the ways teachers can adapt their blogs to attract and welcome their students.
"Bulletin Boards" - Similar to how teachers decorate bulletin boards and door frames in classrooms, blog designs are readily available and easily creatable. On Blogger, changing your template gives your blog color and personality. Changing this can help re-attract your students' attention in the most basic way if you feel they have gotten off task.
"Shiny Gadgets" - Every child (and adult) is attracted to shiny new toys. In classrooms, that might be a new computer or iPod, or a new student! The "shiny gadgets" for blogs or other websites are called "widgets." A widget is basically a piece of code that you embed into your website that shows up as a new part. For example, you might add in a population map that shows where people are viewing from, or a "Brainpop" video bank. Adding these gives an even more personal feel to the blog, and can also help show students that they have an audience to work hard for!
Here are some great widgets for websites:
"Rearranging Desks" - Every teacher experiments many (MANY!!) different ways to arrange desks, furniture, and other equipment in a classroom to best fit student needs at the time. On a blog, this can be done by changing the layout. In other words, change where parts of your blog are placed. For Blogger, this can be done in the layout section.
THE BOTTOM LINE: Be willing to play around with how you set up your blog. Take in student suggestions, and don't be afraid you will ruin it. Blogs are meant to be customizable...which is perfect for the "individualized" education world.
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