How to “Fake” Blogging in the Classroom (FREE
Sometimes I create things because I get a wild hair. Other times, because a teacher is in need of something and they can’t seem to find it online. In this case, a teacher at the high school had reached out to me. She wanted to set up a faux blog for a student and was looking for a template that wasn’t public but mimics the blogging format. She also wanted the student to be able to share ideas freely (e.g. personally identifiable or confidential information) to support generalizing writing skills.
Related: 6 FREE Google Templates for Creative Productivity
I did a little googling and didn’t find much. It is possible that I was using the wrong search terms. After twenty minutes or so, I just decided to create something myself. I decided to use Google Slides for a variety of reasons:
- Familiarity: Most students have experience with this tool.
- Login and Longevity: We didn’t want anything “public” and we didn’t want anything that wouldn’t be easy to take with the student if they leave us.
- Google Slides: Each slide acts as its own blog post and can be commented on.
- Design: I suppose I could have created this in Google Docs but I don’t know that it would have functioned the same way and really I love the whole digital binder idea with tabs/buttons that can be linked to other slides.
- Simple: I didn’t want to create anything that was too overwhelming for the student. After all, the main point was to get them writing.