What if all teachers and students described their classroom experiences like this…

[my students] see themselves as part of a global community–a community that shares… This international audience gives my students a purpose and they are motivated to do their best writing… — Kathy Cassidy

I worried about making my students’ developing language skills available to a wider audience~ but I needn’t have. They are developing their own voice and with it a greater degree of responsibility and confidence. — Paul Harrington

We have an authentic global audience for the events that happen in our school….we have a real purpose for writing to inform, to educate, to connect. — Teacher from New Zealand

These comments from educators using Class Blogmeister, a classroom blogging tool developed by David Warlick referenced in Warlick’s CoLearners Wiki (2007) all show the positive impact that blogs have on student engagement and performance.   So what are blogs and why should I use one? What does a fully-developed blogging project look like and require? Where can I find blogging resources? These are questions educational leaders looking to support 21st Century teachers and students are asking.  Ones we’ll aim to answer in this chapter…

Hokanson, K., & Long, C. (2011). Blogs. In C. Lehmann & S. McLeod (Eds.),  What School Leaders

    Need to Know About Digital Technologies and Social Media (in press). Ames, IA: Jossey-Bass.