Class Blogmeister

Class Blogmeister Links to an external site. is not among the more stylish options for teachers, but there's no denying that it's been custom built for just one purpose - classroom blogging. Blogmeister is very popular, with over a quarter of a million blogs created, and it continues to grow due to the demand for student centric blogging tools. Perhaps its biggest selling point is the teacher moderation tools. Student blog posts are not live until the teacher approves them, and the same goes for comments that are posted to a student blog. This alone makes it worthy of consideration, but the simple setup and easy user interface makes it a popular choice for educators.

ClassBlogmeister Links to an external site. is a free tool created by David Warlick for classroom blogging. Some reasons to consider using it instead of other tools are:

Supports the writing process, teachers can leave comments/feedback behind the scenes for students before articles are published.
Easy and straightforward, doesn't require lots of technical tweaking.
Students have their own blogs: Gives more ownership to students.
Permits full teacher moderation of posts and comments.
Is in use by a lot of teachers, a good support network exists to get help
Is supported by an active and growing discussion list of users at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/classblogmeister/ Links to an external site.
Because of 5 and 6, above, there is very much a sense of community with teachers and students who use classblogmeister.
Consistency of the interface is very helpful for students who are reading and commenting on the blogs of other students.

How to Set Up Your Class Blogmeister Account

Watch this video and for instructions on how to set up your blog. To get to Class Blogmeister, go to this link Links to an external site.. (Make sure you open it in a new tab or window.)

From David Warlick's Co-Learner Wiki Links to an external site.:

Here are some examples of Blogging Contracts to give out to your students. You can modify these to suit your needs.

Blogging_20Directions_20blogger_20contract_20r.pdf Links to an external site. - This is a contract that I have used. It also contains directions for students on how to log-in to their blogs.
Here is another parent permission letter that I have used: blogwiki permissionform-2.pdf Links to an external site.
Here is another blogging contract which does not ask parents to sign: Blogger's Contract Links to an external site.
From Adam Dugger: Blogging Directions for Students Links to an external site.
Blogger's Contract Links to an external site.

This is the text from it:

Blogger’s Contract
Understanding that blogging is a real and important form of writing and self-expression, student and teacher bloggers must agree to be honest, truthful, and kind. Exchanging and publishing ideas can help people in new and important ways. But in this writing, there are risks and important responsibilities.
To be a responsible online writer, I promise that when I write, I will:

honestly express truthful thoughts and ideas. If someone asks, I will be able to prove that what I write is true,
always treat all people with respect. I will never write to cause harm or to hurt the feelings of others,
never do anything to cause harm to the computers I am writing on. I will set a good example for others,
do my absolute best to write truthful and useful information. If I make a mistake, I will fix it.
always write in a way that protects the identity of my classmates, my family, and myself,
always write in a way that brings respect and honor to my school, my family, and myself.

Via the blogs of Kathleen Morris, Kim Cofino and Clarence Fisher comes a perfect baseline of a blogging rubric, you can use to help you assess student blogs. Here is the link Links to an external site. to the original rubric, so you can make your edits to fit your own needs.

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Professional Development
Instructional Technology Department, School District of Indian River County