Blogging

The world of blogging in my classroom has begun! We finally got the problems ironed out and the children posted their first blog post about the field trip to Old Salem. As I have talked about before, I often struggle with making sure technology doesn't interfere with the traditional teaching of the classroom. I made the children write a rough draft, get it edited, and then they were allowed to publish it to a blog. I feel this is a good compromise. They still had to go through the process of writing. I think I will make this a common practice. So my next question is about 4th graders typing their first drafts. Do you feel they should still be handwriting their work or is it okay to allow them to type their work? Some children prefer to type (as I do), but it is too early? Should they still be practicing their cursive? They do write in other areas such as spelling, homework, and math. Not sure what the answer is. I would be curious of your thoughts. We plan to post a couple more blogs in the coming weeks and then I'll send out a plea for comments. That will motivate the children!