My fear of writing publicly goes all the way back to elementary school. For whatever reason the teachers always pushed for perfect, which is impossible.
Look at any magazine, book or online site. Each one has mistakes and they usually have a team of editors!
What took me years to realize is perfect is impossible and the only way to improve is to write.
We started this blog in 2007 and I was super reluctant to add any content at first because I knew my writing wouldn't be perfect, that old heaviness from elementary school. What pushed me was my coworker Angie. She repeatedly told me ideas where too important to keep in our heads, we needed to get them out to share with the world.
I wish someone would have given that advice to me years ago. Ideas are too good to stay in our heads, they need to be shared.
I still make plenty of mistakes. I still misspell things but it does not stop me from writing and sharing.
This idea of sharing ideas with the world is easy to do with the kids.
Here are a few ways to help your kids write and share their ideas.
Two Writing Teachers
This blog has a wealth of knowledge when it comes to all things writing.
My most favorite is the Slice of Life, a month long blogging challenge that happens in March. I highly recommend checking this out. There is a teacher challenge and a student challenge.
I would recommend doing the Slice of Life as a teacher, this helps build a little empathy at how difficult writing is.
I started participating a few years ago when Sarah convinced me to jump right in. It is hard to write for 30 consecutive days but that is what we require of students for roughly 180 days. If they can do it so can I!
To jumps start your thinking, check out the Two Writing Teachers blog.
While there is a ton of help and support starting in March I would recommend doing tiny challenges between now and then to build up the stamina. One easy way to jump start is by checking out the weekly What is going on in this picture? from the New York Times. Using these images you can start the kids blogging.
For a few ideas to jump start, check out the Cult of Pedagogy's blog.
Blogging Platforms
There are a TON of platforms to blog on. Here are two recommendations.
1. Blogger - This is the Google blogging platform. Super easy to use and all you need is your Google login. Check out the how-to by Google. Here are a bunch of how-to blogger videos created this year.
2. Padlet - Padlet is like a website with a bunch of sticky notes on it. You are somewhat limited to three padlets now but it is still super easy to use site for all kids. Check out the how-to videos we found on youtube, these were created in the last year.
While this isn't blogging, we did use Padlet to help empower the classroom. This idea is worth repeating.
A third option could be using something simple like Google Slides. One slide per idea/topic. While it isn't public, it is a way to get kids to quickly produce work.
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