It's All About Audience

During our last coffee talk, several of the parents had questions about blogs. So, for this month's coffee talk, I thought it would be appropriate for us to talk about blogging. If you're not sure what a blog is, watch this quick video:


Many of our teachers here at Chets Creek have embraced blogging as a communication tool for the families of their students. The great thing about blogging is that it is a conversation. After a blog post is made, readers can make comments about the post or in response to other comments.

A few of our classrooms have the students doing the blogging themselves here at school. This can be a powerful tool, because there is a direct relation to the quality of work based on audience. Would you work harder on something many others are going to see or something only one person will see? Watch this video on why students should blog:


So when parents ask me, "Should I let my child start their own blog?" I have many more reasons why they should than why they shouldn't BUT, if they do, the most important thing is for the parent to take ownership of their child's online presence. Especially at the elementary level.
Do you know what is safe to talk about in a blog post?
Are photos safe, are videos safe?
When you live your life online, what are you opening yourself up to?
We'll be talking about these things in this morning's coffee talk.

Here are some great examples of kids blogging:
Little Brother
It's All About Me
Martha's Stories
Sarah's Super Blog

At school, we have strict guidelines because we are protecting your children. When it is your choice, you have to decide what you're willing to do online....but whatever you may decide: monitor, monitor, monitor.