Blogs

Blogs - this is a term for Web Log. Basically this is a place for you to post your thoughts. You could also set one up that allows students to either post their thoughts or comment on your thoughts.
 * Definition:**

Here is a good starting point. Blogger
 * Link:**

You can get up and running pretty quickly, posting a collection of thoughts or even questions for your students. You will have to set up an account, but it's pretty easy. It was great in that I got to hear from kids who didn't typically speak up in class (KK)
 * Pros:**

In order for your kids to post comments, they have to set up an account. You could set up a universal account, but it gets harder to know who posted comments. It was a little hard to manage in some ways. It didn't feel intuitive in terms of how you could respond to a comment or question-- it got a little cumbersome that way, although it could be just the Nicenet platform I used. Students also reported feeling a lot of competitive pressure for the responses. (KK)
 * Cons:**

It only takes a few minutes to set up an account and post a question. If you want each of your kids to have an account, that could take some time in class with the ibook cart, etc.
 * Time to get up and running:**

Katy Kenney-- I used it while presentations were going on in class to allow for discussion of a novel we were reading outside of class. I developed a rubric for students' use of the blog.
 * Who's using it now:**