Student+Blogging+and+Discussions

__**Student Blogs**__

www.kidblog.org Kid blog is a site designed for education. It allows teachers to create a classroom and then individual blogs for each student in the class. There are no sign-ups or email addresses required for students. Teachers have options that dictate who can view a blog and who can post. Student blogs can be viewable to the class or just the teacher. All student blogs are monitored from one intuitive interface. Kid Blog is easy to use and can be a powerful addition to any grade 3-12 classroom.
 * Kid Blog**
 * Grade 3-12**

Please read this blog Posting from a Middle School Educator that uses Kid Blog with her students. - @http://tweenteacher.com/2010/09/08/blogging-with-middle-schoolers-frontloading-and-first-steps/


 * **Student Blog Integration Ideas**
 * Create a class scribe or scribes. Each week they blog about topics covered in class (Social Studies Scribe, Science Scribe.. )
 * Individual reflective journals
 * Book reviews, movie reviews
 * Students may guest blog on your current wordpress teacher blog. You can sign them up as a contributor. You can moderate their posts before tehy go live.

www.teentribune.com Grade 9-12 www.tweentribune.com - Grade 5 - 8
 * Tween Tribune or Teen Tribune**
 * TT Junior -** Grades 2 -4

Tween Tribune, Teen Tribune and TTJunior are bringing the worlds news and events to the classroom. Every day they post the most compelling, relevant and interesting news for teens and tweens. The Stories are selected by teens and tweens working closely with professional journalists. Students are provided with the opportunity to comment on these stories. They can also submit their own stories and photos. Teachers have the ability to create a class account. Once the class account is created the students can register with the site and join the class.

Teachers who create a class page that provides the teacher with the following access:
 * The stories your class has commented upon
 * Individual comments by each student, on his or her own page
 * All comments by your students, in one report that can be sorted by students’ names, comments, or dates
 * You can moderate, edit, or delete your students’ comments before they’re published.

__**Classroom Integration – Ideas**__
 * Activities on Tween/Teen tribune meet class requirements for Reading, Writing and Computer Technology.
 * Students may be asked to pick a controversial story and post a comment that expresses their views on the topic. They may also be asked to select a comment that offers a view they disagree with. They can then be charged with writing a comment that refutes the comment with specific facts.
 * Assign topics based on the subject you teach. If you teach art have students read articles pertaining to art. If you teach science have them select science articles. The articles and responses can be conversation starters in the classroom. They may also be used to activate prior knowledge before a new lesson is introduced.
 * Students may publish their own stories, book reviews, newscasts, opinions or class news for the world to view and comment on. Remember, all comments are moderated by the teacher before going live.

www.edmodo.com @http://jefftwp.edmodo.com (our private district domain) Bring a safe and private version of Facebook to your classroom. Edmodo offers many of the features of a social network with the safety and security features educators demand. With Edmodo teachers can created threaded discussions, post homework, share files and give online quizzes. The environment is very similar to facebook. The educational domain does not require student email addresses. Once a teacher creates a class they are provided with a class code that students use to register. Teachers can create classes and smaller groups within each class.
 * Edmodo**

www.moodle.com @http://blogs.jefftwp.org/moodle - Jefferson Township Public Schools Moodle @http://moodletutorials.org - Moodle Tutorials Moodle is a full featured course management software package. Everything you would require to host an online course is available. There are various types of discussion boards, quiz options and other activities. This is an excellent tool for any teacher looking to add an online component to their classes.
 * Moodle**