Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Teacher Experience Exchange - 5 awesome alternatives to a traditional classroom blog

Teacher Experience Exchange - 5 awesome alternatives to a traditional classroom blog
Blogging is still an excellent educational activity for your students. It provides opportunities for them to develop writing skills as well as an outlet for creative thinking. However, if the "traditional blog" is losing its appeal but you still want your students to focus on writing, we've got a few alternatives to the classroom blog for you.

Let's start with the most "blog-like" site and explore the similarities and differences. Tumblr is becoming a very important social media tool and is gaining popularity in the educational setting. It's not nearly as big as Facebook or Twitter but it is growing fast and teachers are jumping on board.

So, what is Tumblr? Basically, it's a blogging platform for posts larger than Twitter and smaller than a traditional blog. Posts are usually rich with a combination of text and multimedia. A unique feature is the ability to "tumble" blog posts. This takes a post of a friend and posts it on your page. If you use Twitter, this is similar to retweeting.

Tumblr is a nice tool for teachers and older students but everyone will need accounts. Create an account for your class and have your students create accounts as well. Then, follow your students' accounts and vice-versa. Now you are all connected and can interact in numerous ways. Your students have an excellent vehicle for all manner of writing and multimedia projects.




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