You’ve laid a strong foundation for your blogging journey — now, how do you keep the momentum going?

Here are 12 tips to offer you some inspiration.

1) Do a little bit each day

Imagine what you could accomplish by the end of the year if you did a little bit of work on your blog each day!

This doesn’t mean publishing a post daily but it might mean starting a post, writing a list of post ideas, commenting on other blogs, updating the design of your blog, updating an old post or page, sharing your blog on social media.

This poster also gives you ideas of tasks you could work on to improve your blogging in the months to come.

2) Don’t break the chain

Have you heard of the “don’t break the chain” method for productivity or to get hooked on a habit?

It works like this:

• You set yourself a mini goal (like working on your blog for 10 minutes a day).
• Every day you complete your goal, you mark off that day on a calendar.
• The longer the chain your build, the harder it will feel to break the chain.
• Before you know it, the habit will be in place!

It’s thought that Jerry Seinfeld came up with this method and advised an aspiring comedian to write one joke a day and mark it on a calendar.

Apparently, Jerry has since said that he did not come up with this method. Still, it remains popular and is a key way many social media, game, and app developers get users hooked.

If you want to try creating a chain on your phone, there are a number of apps available like this one.

3) Schedule time for blogging

If blogging is important to you, then don’t put it at the bottom of your list of priorities after you complete all your grading, preparation, and other administrative tasks. We know a teachers’ work is never done so sometimes you need to refocus your priorities.

Many well-known writers have talked about scheduling a daily habit into their calendars. For example, John Grisham is famous for waking up at 5am to write one page of his novel before heading to his day job. Many bloggers enjoy the same sort of approach and find it to be an enlightening way to start the day!

Early morning, lunch break, on the train, late at night — it doesn’t matter. Find the extra hour, go to the same place, shut the door.

No exceptions, no excuses.

~ John Grisham

Not a morning person? No problem! Schedule your blogging session whenever you can but make it happen.

4) Get a blogging buddy

Goals can be so much more enjoyable when tackled with someone else. Why not ask a friend or colleague if they’d like to blog with you, or help keep you accountable by having a weekly check-in?

This could be someone you know in your local community or a member of your global PLN.

You might be able to brainstorm ideas with your buddy, seek advice, or promote each other’s work.

5) Make a public commitment

Publically announcing that you are blogging regularly can be a great motivator to make it happen.

For example, you could send out a monthly email newsletter to readers of your own blog. Explain that this newsletter will share the posts you’ve written during the month. This is motivation to make sure you have content to share each month.

Maybe you’d like to try a similar approach, or simply announce to your X followers or colleagues that they will find a new post on your blog every week/two weeks/month. You pick the time frequency that will work for you.

6) Treat yourself

Well-known author Gretchen Rubin often talks about the strategy of “treats” when trying to form positive habits.

Gretchen explains,

A treat is different from a reward, which must be justified or earned. A treat is a small pleasure or indulgence that we give to ourselves just because we want it.

Treats give us greater vitality, which boosts self-control, which helps us maintain our healthy habits.

Perhaps you can treat yourself after you publish your weekly blog post with a movie, a game, or a catch up with friends. In this post, Gretchen talks about the idea of finding healthy treats that you enjoy.

7) Immerse yourself in the community

Blogging can feel quite lonely at times but it doesn’t have to be that way. There’s a huge community of educational bloggers online. Immersing yourself in the community has many benefits:

• It will keep your goal of “being a blogger” at the front of your mind if you surround yourself with other bloggers.
• You can get new ideas for your blog from others. Just as student bloggers often look to one another in class and ask, “how did you do that?”, you can do the same.
• You’ll begin to develop an authentic audience which can be very motivating as a blogger. Remember the golden rule though, if you want to have an audience, you also need to be an audience.

8) Find inspiration from others

Sometimes it can be hard to think of what to write about. You might be facing a clear case of “blogger’s block” or perhaps you have lots of big ideas that you’re not sure how to transform into posts.

Look to others for blog post ideas. You might read something on someone else’s blog, in a comment, or on X that strikes a chord. Perhaps you feel like you have more to say on the topic. Go for it!

Don’t forget, we have two sets of blog post prompts for educators and students that might also help keep the ideas flowing.

9) Try something new

If you’ve been blogging for a while, you might start to get tired of the same old process. Why not try something new?

Perhaps you could make a video for your post. Meredith Akers has recently shared some great tools here and we also have a guide to using videos in your blog posts.

Alternatively, you might like to make an audio recording with a tool like Spotity for creators. Or, you could explore the range of fun web tools that are out there to edit images, make comics or cartoons, make polls and so on. Check out Step 7 of our Teacher Challenge course for educators to learn more about cool tools to embed.

10) Forget about perfection

During one of our 28 day challenges, a new blogger asked how others go about getting a blog post published. Karen Richardson sent out some great advice in a tweet which she followed up in a post,

I do. I want to be able to think out loud in the midst of community. I draft and edit but give myself permission to publish something unpolished.

— Karen Richardson (@witchyrichy) January 12, 2019

If you get nervous about publishing your work for a public audience, perhaps it’s time to stop hovering over the publish button and just do it. It’s only a blog post, you won’t be getting a grade. And there’s an edit button!

If you allow perfection paralysis to take over, then you won’t end up enjoying all the benefits of blogging. What a powerful message to send to your students to show them that you too put your work out there and no one is perfect.

11) Keep a list going

Are you the sort of person who gets ideas during the night? Or perhaps when you’re doing the dishes or folding the laundry?

Many bloggers find it useful to have an ongoing list where they can jot down ideas for posts and other blogging tasks they’d like to tackle. This can be a simple notebook, a Google Doc, or perhaps an app on your phone. Use whatever suits you best.

Having an ongoing list means you won’t forget great ideas and won’t waste precious time when you sit down at your scheduled time to start work.

12) Don’t lose sight of your why

Why are you blogging?

• To reflect and develop your thinking?
• To be a role model for students as digital citizens and writers?
• To learn through researching and writing authentically for an audience?
• To build a home base for all your work or a digital portfolio to further your career?
• To become comfortable with blogging before introducing it into the classroom?

When you feel like giving blogging a miss, remember why you started in the first place. It’s worth it!

Tips From An Experienced Blogger

As his article was being written, we asked #blogging28 participant, Sheri Edwards for her tips. She began blogging in 2007 and still blogs very regularly.

This will be so helpful for bloggers, Sheri! You obviously have a great routine for blogging so regularly too. I’ve just written a post for The Edublogger with tips on maintaining momentum with blogging. How do you do it? Do you have scheduled time each day?

— Kathleen Morris (@kathleen_morris) January 26, 2019

Instead of replying to the tweet, Sheri blogged about it! And not just with one post, but with a series.

Check out Sheri’s series by using the following links:

• Part One 
• Part Two (topics)
• Part Three (social ideas)
• Part Four (connections)
• Part Five (reflection)
• Part Six (goals calendar)

Conclusion

The challenge is over but the community doesn’t have to unravel. Feel free to keep the conversations going on X with the hashtag #blogging28 and tag @edublogs. You can also subscribe to our X list of participants to keep in touch with what they’re up to.

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in 2019 following our Blogging Challenge of that year.

We know that many Edublogs users have already shared the platform with colleagues during staff meetings, team discussions, or professional development sessions.

Some educators also like to give parents an overview of Edublogs during parent information evenings or school council meetings.

To make it easier for teachers to share the power of Edublogs with others, we’ve put together some resources.

Overview Presentation

This overview of Edublogs can be viewed as a Google Slides presentation or as a PDF. 

It goes through:

• What is Edublogs?
• The benefits of using Edublogs
• How to get started with Edublogs
• Example blogs from different age groups and settings
• How to learn more

>>Download the PDF here

>>Make a copy of the Google Slides presentation here

Printable PDF

This two page document explains Edublogs in a nutshell and goes through some frequently asked questions.

Distribute it to staff or share it with parents.

>> Download the PDF here

You’ll also find these resources on our Blogging 101 page.

Anyone Can Publish Online

When many educators and parents were at school, publishing online was either impossible or reserved for the very tech savvy. It’s now easier than ever to claim your own space on the web!

Edublogs uses a customized version of WordPress which gives you the scope to either stick to the basics, or create a highly personalized site to share with the world.

Edublogs offers you flexibility beyond blogging. You can:

• Set up a blog in a traditional way (i.e. regular posts showing up in reverse chronological order)
• Create a more static website
• Include a mixture of blog and website
• Develop a resource portal
• Work on a digital portfolio
• Develop any other kind of online space that interests you

Whatever stage you’re at or whatever sort of site you’re working on, our support team is just an email away — 24/7. So you’re never alone on your blogging journey!

Questions? Comments?

If you have any questions about Edublogs, please do get in touch.

Any suggestions for other resources that would help you learn more about Edublogs or introduce it to others? Be sure to let us know.

You Might Also Enjoy Reading…

• 10 Examples Of Great Class Blogs
• 10 Great Schools Websites Built With WordPress
• 6 Tools To Create Interactive Learning Content On Your Blog
• Why WordPress Is The Best Choice For Student Blogging

Who used to see the work you created at school?

For many of us, the audience was small — maybe just the teacher, a few classmates, or family members (if the work didn’t end up crumpled at the bottom of a school bag!).

Today, things are very different. Students can share their work with a wide and varied audience through blogs and digital portfolios.

That’s an exciting opportunity — but how do you actually find that audience? Publishing online doesn’t automatically mean people will see it.

In this post, we’ll explore six effective ways to help your students connect with a genuine audience for their blog posts or online creations.

What Are The Benefits Of An Authentic Audience?

An authentic audience is powerful. When students know someone beyond the teacher will see their work, they can be motivated to push themselves and work harder.

This is something Clive Thompson wrote about in Smarter Than You Think: How Technology is Changing Our Minds for the Better.

Alan November is also well-known for suggesting,

“Stop saying hand it in, start saying publish it.” This paradigm shift from an audience of one to an audience of the world will inspire more students to achieve up to their potential, while instilling a life-long passion for genuine learning.

Making schoolwork purposeful can really impact student motivation and engagement.

Furthermore, when students have an audience for their blog posts, readers can provide further information, opinions, suggest resources, seek answers to questions and so on. This can drive a cycle of further learning and development.

The Role Of The Teacher

In the past, the teacher was the audience. Now, the teacher can help their students find their own audiences.

This doesn’t have to be a daunting process. You can start small and over time build up to establishing global audiences that can offer diverse perspectives.

Let’s go through six options for finding an audience for students’ blog posts, starting with the simplest options.

1) Fellow Classmates

If all or some of the students in your class have their own blog, one of the best starting points is to encourage the students to be an audience for each other.

Teach students about the give and take nature of blogging and being part of an online community. This involves producing content, reading content, commenting, reflecting, and perhaps even using insights from others to construct new blog posts.

You might do this informally and just ask your students to choose a classmate’s blog to read and comment on.

Alternatively, you might like to set up a more structured arrangement where students work in small peer groups to mentor one another. For example, some teachers create blog mentor groups where students are assigned to read and comment on each other’s posts regularly.

If you’re using a class management tool like My Class, you can even generate participation reports to track which students are engaging with their peers.

Many teachers also find success with peer editing activities, where students provide feedback on drafts before publishing — helping to build both confidence and writing skills.

2) Family Members

Parents and family members can offer a ready-made audience for student work, however, some education and ongoing encouragement is very important.

In 2017, we published a Guide to Involving Parents with Blogs.

Here are some key points:

• Family members won’t be willing or able to get involved in blogging if they don’t know anything about it. Education is key.
• You can try offering information about the blogs and how to comment via a printed navigation guide, pages on your class blog, emails, newsletters, an information evening, a how-to video, Family Blogging Afternoons, or Family Blogging Month.
• Regular encouragement throughout the year will ensure family members don’t forget about their role as an audience member.
• Particularly enthusiastic volunteers could become reps who help get others in the community involved.

Your ready-made audience doesn’t only consist of parents, of course. There may be other family members, including grandparents, who would love to become part of your blogging community but just need guidance or encouragement.

3) Team Blogging

Another great way to help your students build their audience is to form reciprocal relationships with other blogging classes near or far.

How many other classes you connect with is up to you. You might decide to just team up with one other class, although a popular choice is to collaborate with a group of four classes that take turns reading and commenting on one another’s blog posts.

To get the most out of team blogging, you want to make a genuine commitment to read and comment on one another’s blog posts over a set period of time, e.g., a month, a semester, or a school year.

Often, the focus class is rotated each week. So if you have four classes, as demonstrated in the diagram below, each class will receive comments for one week and then write comments for the other three weeks.

Where to find classes to team up with?

Firstly, decide whether you’re looking for a class where every student has their own blog or there is just one class blog.

Next, you’ll want to consider what age range would be suitable to work with.

Twitter (X) is a great place for teachers to connect and find classes with similar blogging projects.

Once you’ve found a class that looks like a good match, reach out to the teacher via Twitter or by commenting on a post on their class blog. They might even know other classes interested in joining in.

4) Projects

There are a number of structured projects you can join to help your students connect with others, build their network, and find an authentic audience for their work.

Here are a couple of great options:

• The Global Read Aloud (A 6 week project held during October/November. Classes connect around shared readings of books)
• ePals (Find ‘pen pals’ in other classes around the world)

5) Your PLN

There are many reasons why it’s great to have your own PLN (Professional Learning Network) as a teacher. The graphic below summarizes just some of the reasons. These are explained in more detail in this post. 

If you’re not familiar with PLNs or how to go about becoming a connected educator, we have a free, self-paced course that can help.

Having your own PLN is a key way to also help your students connect with others and start developing their own networks.

What would this look like in terms of helping your students find an audience for their work? Here are just a few examples:

• Publish a tweet to share your student blog posts and invite comments.
• Reach out to someone who works in a field that your student is interested in to help extend their learning further.
• Set up a Facebook group with members of your global PLN who are interested in sharing students’ work and helping to find authentic audiences.

6) Make Sites Findable On The Web

Outside of education, most people land on a website because Google sent them there.

For older or more advanced students, you might start having a discussion about finding an audience organically. Together you could explore how people who publish online outside of education go about this.

Students might even start creating content that people will be looking for in Google. To aid this process, you could:

• Ensure your blog is indexed in search engines like Google (Dashboard > Settings > Reading > Allow search engines to index this site). Note: this is only available with Edublogs Pro and CampusPress accounts to prevent misuse by spammers.
• Install the Simple SEO plugin and type in a ‘Meta Description’ about the site and posts that will show up in Google results.
• Assign posts to tags and categories to help readers find what they’re interested in reading.
• Use Google Analytics to see who’s visiting your site, where they find your site, and what they’re most interested in. This data could provide inspiration for content that you’d like to update or expand upon. Learn about setting up Google Analytics for your Edublogs Pro or CampusPress account here.

As an active voice on the web, students can become part of rich conversations that are much wider than their classroom. They can learn that their insights and ideas are valuable.  

Conclusion

Helping your students find an authentic audience for their work might take a little time and effort to set up but the rewards will be worth it!

Students can learn to think beyond grades and pleasing the teacher, and start contributing their voice, knowledge, and resources to a global community.

How do you find an audience for your students’ work online? If you have any tips or ideas to share, we’d love to hear from you!

Related Reading

50 New Blog Post Ideas For Students

My Class: Student Blogging Made Easy

10 Ways To Introduce Your Students To Blogging

There are countless fantastic tools available within Google Drive — including Google Docs, Google Slides, Google Forms, and Google Sheets.

All of these tools are free, web-based, and used daily by people across classrooms, homes, and workplaces worldwide.

One tool you may not have explored yet is Google Drawings.

You might have heard of it but wondered what it’s actually useful for.

If you’re a blogger, Google Drawings can be the perfect tool for creating visuals that make your site stand out.

And for teachers or students, it’s a brilliant way to express learning in a creative and engaging way.

This post explains:

What is Google Drawings?

How to create a Google Drawing

How to embed a Google Drawing into a blog post or page

Ideas For Using Google Drawings In The Classroom

What is Google Drawings?

Google Drawings is a very versatile tool that allows you to make all sorts of graphic designs and publications.

Canva is another popular tool for graphic design and we have a guide to using Canva if you’d like to learn more.

Many people also use Google Slides for creating designs but there are differences. Check out our blog post about Google Slides.

In this Venn diagram, Tony Vincent shows us how Google Drawings and Google Slides are the same and different.

Be sure to follow Tony on Twitter or Instagram as he often shares tips for using Google tools and other tech tools.

Tony has also started a new initiative called Shapegrams which is a great way for students to learn design skills, problem solving, and creativity through Google Drawings. You don’t need to have experience as the activities include instructional videos from Tony.

Shapegrams are reproducible pictures with instructional videos, design tips, and extension activities. They’re great for bell work, stations, extra time, and enrichment. #GoogleEdu

There’s a new Shapegram every week! https://t.co/jA6ox3lubm pic.twitter.com/nXwxt67lWX

— Shapegrams (@shapegrams) August 25, 2019

Quick facts about Google Drawings:

• It’s free.
• Your creation starts with a blank canvas of any size.
• You access Google Drawings through the web or via a Chrome app that can be used offline (works best on a computer).
• Multiple users can open and edit drawings simultaneously in real time. They can also engage in chat.
• You can make a Drawing with many components. You can add images to your canvas as well as shapes, arrows, scribbles, text, and more.
• There are many sharing options for your Google Drawing. It can be private, you can share it with select people, or you can share it publicly on the web. You can choose whether people can view or edit your Drawing.
• Your Drawing is automatically saved as you work on it.
• Google Drawings can be embedded in blogs and websites. They can also be downloaded as a JPEG, PNG, PDF etc.
• You can insert a Google Drawing into a Google Doc as explained here by Jake Miller.

Here’s a graphic summary of the above. Feel free to share it with colleagues who want to learn more about Google Drawings.

How To Start A Google Drawing

You’ll need a Google Account to access Google Drawings.

If you use Gmail or other Google products, this will be the same username/password. Teachers might also have a school Google account.

If you haven’t got a Google account yet, you can sign up here:

https://accounts.google.com/signup

Google Drive is the place where your Google Drawings are stored. It’s also one of the ways you can start a new Google Drawing.

You access your Google Drive on the web through this URL:

https://drive.google.com

Click on New in the top left-hand corner. Then click on More and then Google Drawings.

Alternatively, you can type https://docs.google.com/drawings into your browser or access Drawings via the Chrome app. If you use the app you can access Drawings when you’re offline.

How To Make And Save A Google Drawing

You’ll notice when you start a new Google Drawing, using the methods described above, you will be presented with a blank canvas.

Creating a drawing is straightforward. Here are the basics of creating and saving your work.

1) Open Google Drawings

Access drawings via your Google Drive or the Chrome App. Alternatively, just type https://docs.google.com/drawings into your browser.

2) Change your image size (optional)

If you want your image to be a certain size (e.g. the size of your blog header), you can change this in File > Page Setup > Custom. You can enter the dimensions you’re after in inches, centimeters, points, or pixels.

Tip: If you’re making a blog header, you’ll find the required dimensions in Customizer as demonstrated here.

3) Consider your background color

By default, the background of your Google Drawing will be transparent. That means there will be no background when you download your image as PNG or JPEG.

If you want your image to have a different color background (or even solid white), right-click on your canvas and select background.

Then you can play around with solid backgrounds or gradients.

4) Create your design

Add the text, images, shapes, lines, charts and more that you’d like on your design by navigating the options under Insert.

5) Save your design as an image

When you’re ready, go to File > Download as > JPEG image or PNG image. Save your image to your device.

You can also save your image as a PDF if it’s something you’d like to print or distribute.

You’ll then have an image file that you can print or use in your digital creations including your blog.

You add an image to a blog post (or page) by selecting the “Add media” button from the top of the post editor. These instructions walk you through the process.

Here is a simple blog header image I made with Google Drawings.

Learn More About Google Drawings

If you’d like to be walked through the process of adding different elements to your Google Drawings canvas, set aside 8 minutes and check out this tutorial by Mike Harmon (HLModTech).

There are two other lessons in this series if you’d like to learn even more from Mike.

Ideas For Using Google Drawings In The Classroom

Google Drawings is an ideal tool for students and teachers to make images that they can print or use digitally.

Creations can be downloaded as JPEGs and PNGs. Drawings can also be embedded straight into a blog post or page (as demonstrated above).

Examples of images you could create in Google Drawings:

• Blog headers
• Other blog images (e.g. see the example of the promotional graphic at the start of this post. These are great to share on social media).
• Certificates
• Comics
• Photos with captions
• Flowcharts, mindmaps, or other graphic organizers
• How-to tutorials
• Classroom labels

Let’s take a look at some more examples of how teachers and students are using Google Drawings.

Avatars or characters

Sheri Edwards has created a tutorial that explains how to make an avatar using Google Drawings. Sheri has an additional post worth reading with some tips for using Google Drawings.

Classroom Ideas From Eric Curts

Eric has a fabulous website called Control Alt Achieve where he shares really practical tips and resources about Google products. Be sure to check out all his Google Drawings resources. 

They’re all shared under a Creative Commons license that allows you to use the resources freely with attribution.

This presentation is jam packed with tips and ideas.

All About Me By Roxi Thompson

US teacher Roxi, had her students use Google Drawings to create a graphic about themselves during the first week of school.

This could be a useful activity to introduce students to basic Google Drawings functions. It could be ideal to display on an About page and help build classroom community.

Here is an example from Roxi. Her blog post has some student examples that could be handy to show your class.

Tweetable Examples

Twitter is full of excellent examples of the projects that are happening in classrooms around the world.

Here are some noteworthy Google Drawings projects that might work in your own classroom!

@ls_teacher’s 3rd grade math students using Google Drawings to make arrays @BraggSchoolCSD #WeAreChesterNJ pic.twitter.com/XTb6j5pPXa

— Brad Currie (@TheBradCurrie) October 10, 2019

We are getting ready for Canadian School Library Day!! Our Grade 5 Library Leaders are exploring how they can use Google Drawings to create a poster all about our library space. @CdnSchoolLibrar #peelEML pic.twitter.com/2PdhzuHTtn

— LarkspurLLC (@LarkspurLibLC) October 9, 2019

Today we are making physical maps using #googledrawings #polyline feature to make physical maps. We are learning as we go, and having fun along the way. #thisisMEtsd #talawandaempowers @TSDMarshall @TalawandaSTEM pic.twitter.com/wT3AjKw3eK

— Lexie Withrow (@MissWithrow217) October 9, 2019

Third graders @PembertonElementary used Google Drawings to create charts and diagrams (English SOL 3.6c) about rounding (Math SOL 3.1b) and animal adaptations (Science SOL 3.4) https://t.co/ixPXR1oKKa pic.twitter.com/JXUhWNtuAS

— David Clough (@djdaverave) October 9, 2019

So this is why I’m not in advertising. We’ll be using Google Drawings with Yr4 to create Welsh Tourism posters this afternoon @stwinsholywell Check out my cool example.

Hoping the children will learn advantages of PNG, rotate, crop masks, order, image import, resize & gradients pic.twitter.com/Qr300wEWL3

— Rough Cuts (@roughcuts1) October 9, 2019

Trying to come up with some engaging ways to practice our phonics and spelling using Google Drawings! #centers #benchmark @FairviewPanther @teachmeLori pic.twitter.com/xz840UsIRm

— Laura Obando (@ABCClassroom) October 8, 2019

Mosaic Lighthouses made using #GoogleDrawing #GoogleDrawings #ccsd1deskpub https://t.co/HZdiyzvqEo pic.twitter.com/Mn6HmcwAs1

— DawnTechTeacher (@DawnTechTeacher) October 3, 2019

A sampling of the ecosystem food web projects Ss have created. @TSDMarshall #thisismetsd #TalawandaEmpowers pic.twitter.com/aVR5Qx0PX7

— Kari Croucher (@KariCroucher) October 10, 2019

Learning about the design process in computer class, inventing technologies to help others, designing in Google Drawings, & writing about the specs. Delran Ss prove the future is bright!@maryjohutch @Delran_Super @DelranSTEM @DeSimoneChristy @DemicheleErica pic.twitter.com/xS7hrBeLb2

— Dan the Computer Man (@DantheComputer1) October 3, 2019

Conclusion

Google Drawings is a versatile tool that has so much potential for bloggers and students of all ages.

Whether you need a graphic for a blog post, page, widget or blog header, Google Drawings is a handy solution that’s free and intuitive to use.

Many teachers and students enjoy embedding their Google Drawings into their blog posts. Sharing work with an authentic audience yields many benefits!

How are you using Google Drawings?

Do you have any tips or examples to share?

Do you have any questions about Google Drawings?

Leave a comment below. We’d love to hear from you.

Further Reading

You might also be interested in reading:

A Beginner’s Guide To Google Slides In The Classroom

A Beginner’s Guide To Google Photos

Canva In The Classroom: Getting Started, Example Designs, And Tips!

Six Tools To Create Interactive Learning Content On Your Blog

Do you have a professional educator blog?

Many teachers start blogs with good intentions but keeping them active long term can be a struggle.

Sometimes the hardest part of maintaining momentum with your blog is knowing what to write about.

We’re here to help!

Throughout the year, we’ve been including blogging prompts for teachers and students in our email newsletter.

Not signed up to our email newsletter? You can add your details here and make sure you add news@edublogs.org to your contacts to prevent the emails from going to your spam folder!

We’ve compiled these prompts into a resource for you. With 50 new blogging prompts, you should be set for many months to come!

Scroll down to find a printable PDF.

We also published over 100 prompts for students on The Edublogger.

Wait! I Don’t Have A Blog!

If creating your own blog is something that’s been on your to-do list for too long, we can help.

Earlier in the year, we updated our free, self-paced course for educators looking to get started with blogging.

There are ten steps which you can work through in a sequential order. Or you can pick and choose as you wish.

Read more about the Personal Blogging Teacher Challenge here or go straight to the course. 

The 50 Prompts For Educators

1. Write a book review — it could be a book you’ve read for fun or learning.
2. Make a list of 10/50/100 things you’re grateful for. Maybe you could even create a sketchnote or graphic like Dani Dipirro.
3. Compare your first year of teaching to today. How have things changed?
4. Share some of your favorite ways to relax and recharge outside of school hours.
5. Embed an inspiring TED Talk and write your reflections.
6. Share 5 myths about teaching or a topic you’re passionate about.
7. Write about an app or web tool you use regularly or find useful.
8. Publish a photo of when you were a student and describe this time of your life.
9. Try Hubspot’s Blog Ideas Generator. Just enter three words and you’ll be given five ideas that you can tweak.
10. Blog roundup. Create a list of 5 or 10 of your favorite blogs and share the reasons why you recommend them.
11. Interview someone for a blog post. This could be a colleague, a former student, or someone from your professional learning network. Or, you could invite someone to prepare a guest post for your blog.
12. Create an A-Z of yourself, your career, or one of your passions.
13. Where do you connect with other teachers online? Twitter? Facebook groups? Instagram? Share your favorite ways to learn from others in the education community.
14. Explore the website Will Robots Take My Job? Share your findings in a post.
15. Write about the old technology you used to use at work or home that’s now obsolete. Perhaps it’s the VCR, floppy disk, or typewriter.
16. Make a new anchor chart for your classroom and photograph it for your blog. Check out this We Are Teachers post for inspiration.
17. When was the last time you wrote a poem? Why not give it a try in a blog post? For inspiration, Kevin Hodgson has written 3 poems about writing.
18. Consider the popular quote doing the rounds on social media: “Do more things that make you forget to check your phone”. What does this mean to you?
19. What do you do when you have a few minutes left at the end of a class? Share your ideas with other teachers.
20. Flexible seating is a hot topic! Share your thoughts in a blog post or weigh up the pros and cons. Pernille Ripp’s post might provide some inspiration.
21. Suggest some ideas for worthwhile activities at the start or end of the school year. Ten Creative Alternatives to Showing Movies Before the Break by John Spencer might provide some inspiration.
22. Try making a meme that you could share with readers, colleagues, or perhaps your students. Check out ISTE’s post about using memes with students.
23. There has been some online debate about having a “Pinterest perfect” classroom. What are your thoughts on this topic? Maybe you could add a touch of humor to your post like this post on Bored Teachers. 
24. Offer some tips for new teachers. This might be general advice or specific to a certain subject or age group.
25. Write about how you keep your passion for teaching alive. This post on Edutopia might provide some inspiration.
26. Share a tweet, Facebook post, or Instagram post that made you reflect, laugh, or change your way of thinking.
27. Check out the self-care calendar from Action for Happiness. Use one or more of these challenges as inspiration for a blog post.
28. Richard Byrne has explained how to find old newspapers through Google’s Newspaper Archive. Reflect on an interesting article in a blog post.
29. Lumen5 is a cool tool to make a video out of an article or blog post. Give it a try and share your video in a post.
30. If you could choose any book as mandatory reading for all high school students, what would it be and why?
31. What role do you think technology should play in the classroom?
32. What makes you happy at work? Your colleagues? Your leaders? The students? Write a post about happiness in the workplace.
33. Larry Ferlazzo has written about the impact of making positive phone calls home. Blog about your favorite approach to parent communication.
34. Publish a post sharing your own favorite tips to get more out of your day.
35. Read Kevin Hodgson’s post, “How Can We Tell If We Are Biased If We Already Are Biased?” Write your own reflections on this topic.
36. Sue Waters has shared her top 100+ crime and mystery novels of all time. Choose a category of books that you enjoy and share your own top reads.
37. How do you build relationships with students? Reflect on your approaches in a blog post.
38. Rich at 4 O’Clock Faculty has blogged about “do it yourself professional development“. Read the post and write about your own favorite forms of PD.
39. Tell your readers something about your colleagues. “We All Need To Be/Have Kind Colleagues” from The Idealistic Teacher might provide some inspiration.
40. Teachers are also students and students are also teachers. Education isn’t just one way. Write about lessons you have learned from students.
41. Larry Ferlazzo has shared an article about using “cash” as a behavior management strategy. Share your own approaches to behavior management.
42. David Geurin asks 5 Questions For Deeper Reflection. Use one or more of these as inspiration for a blog post.
43. Write about your morning routine at home, work, or in the classroom.
44. How do you find balance in your life? “Rethinking Balance” by George Couros might provide some inspiration for your own post.
45. Write your own reflections about grouping students by age.
46. Have you tried sketchnoting? Why not give Sylvia Duckworth’s #SketchnoteFever mini lessons a try and blog about it?
47. Explain why you blog. What do you get out of it? Does it help refine your thinking or do you just enjoy helping others?
48. Write about your life before teaching. What other jobs did you have? How did these experiences shape you?
49. Try Impact Impact’s Blog Title Generator to spark ideas for blog post titles.
50. Check out last year’s publication with 50 more blogging prompts for teachers and see what you’ve missed!

Get Your PDF

For your convenience, we’ve assembled these prompts into a PDF that you can save to your computer, print, or share with colleagues.

If your students have their own blog, digital portfolio, or website, you may have found that their enthusiasm for writing starts off strong. Students typically can’t wait to express themselves and publish on their own online space, often for an authentic audience.

Sometimes when the initial excitement fades, students start facing “bloggers’ block” or get in a rut of writing the same style of post repeatedly.

Our engaging collection of writing prompts is designed to help students keep the momentum going with their blogs, websites, or digital portfolios. These prompts encourage exploration across different genres, tools, and mediums. Whether you’re working with reluctant writers or simply looking for fresh, authentic ideas to inspire your students to publish, you’ve come to the right place.

Scroll down to dive straight into the prompts, or read on to find out more about the types of posts you could see on a blog, personal website, or digital portfolio.

We have created a PDF eBook of the prompts that you can save, print, or share. You don’t need to ask permission to use the eBook as it has a BY-NC-ND Creative Commons license. You just can’t make derivatives or use the eBook commercially. And you should give attribution. Note that this eBook was created in 2021 may contain outdated links.

10 Types Of Blog Posts

Blogging isn’t like traditional writing — it’s a unique genre and it’s worth exploring what’s possible.

Here are 10 types of blog posts you commonly see on the web. This might give you inspiration to mix up the posts on your students’ blogs, websites, or portfolios.

1. Reflection: Deep thoughts and self-reflection on what you’ve learned, experienced, or what you’re thinking about. Putting it all out there can really help organize thoughts and ideas.

2. How-to/Helpful: Everyone loves using the web to find out how to do something. This classic style of post can be enhanced with pictures, videos, and other media.

3. Journal/Diary/Recount: This is a versatile style of post that’s great for reading logs, field trips, science labs, special events, study abroad, and so on.

4. News/Announcement: These posts aim to keep readers up-to-date with important information. In this example, educator George Couros announces a book study.

5. Marketing/Sales: Typically these are commercial style posts. Students could use blogs to advertise things like school events and fundraisers. For example, the students at Auroa School made a video to promote their school.

6. Controversial/Debate/Editorial: This involves taking a stance on an issue while backing up thoughts with facts and proof. Sidd’s debate on cell phones in schools is a good example.

7. Reviews: Many people love to take to the web to share their reviews (sites like Amazon and TripAdvisor may offer inspiration!). Here’s an example of a book review from teacher Kevin Hodgson.

8. Listicle: This is another name for a list post. We know how popular articles are that start with something like “10 ways to…”. These sorts of posts often offer the reader quick wins. In this example, Mrs. Yollis and her students list their top 12 quarantine essentials.

9. Curation Posts: Sometimes a blog post or page is used to curate a list of resources on a particular topic. This page of live events and virtual field trips is an example of a curated list from Mrs. Hamman.

10. Ongoing Series: Choose any of the above, but split it up into several shorter posts that get published over a set period of time. The posts could connect sequentially, or just fall under the same umbrella topic. For example, Sheri Edwards did a series of posts using the Slice of Life writing prompts.

Ideas And Prompts For Student Writers

We’ve divided the prompts up into 8 broad topics to make navigation easier. Of course, some prompts could fit into more than one category.

Getting Started

Online Prompts

Interdisciplinary and Fun

Art, Images, and Music

Reading and Writing

History and Geography

Math and Science

Web Tools

Getting Started

These topics are ideal for getting students used to publishing online.

• Introductions: Who are you? Share your hobbies, interests, family background, and anything else you want others to know while remembering to protect your personal information if your site is public. This information might be best on a static About page so it’s easy for new visitors to refer to.
• Personal A to Z: Create an A-Z of yourself or one of your interests (e.g. an A-Z of basketball or gardening).
• Avatar: Create an avatar (online character) to use on your blog and write a post to explain how it represents you. This post on the Student Blogging Challenge demonstrates some different ways you can make an avatar using online tools.
• Commenting Guidelines: Write a post to explain what you expect when someone leaves a comment on your blog. There is some information and examples on the Student Blogging Challenge site on how to write commenting guidelines.
• Goals: Share some goals that you have set for yourself. For example, you could publish one goal for this week, one goal for this month, and one goal for this school year. Describe how you plan to accomplish your goals.
• Holiday: Share what you did on a recent holiday or vacation. Include photos or videos if you have permission. Alternatively, you could write about your dream vacation. Where would you go and what would you do?
• Hero/Mentor: Write about someone who inspires you. It could be someone you know in real life or someone famous from the past or present. What is it about this person that makes them so special?
• My Country or Culture: Publish facts about your country or a culture that you’re interested in. You could write a post focusing on food, festivals, songs, stories, clothing, geography, or anything else.
• School History: Write some information about your school’s history. You could focus on the buildings, write about someone who used to go to the school, or reflect on how the curriculum or rules have changed.
• Classrooms: Explain what the classrooms and buildings are like in your school or describe what your perfect classroom would look like. Use your imagination; your dream classroom could be indoors, outdoors, in a school, or somewhere else!
• Favorite…anything: Publish a post that discusses topics you’re passionate about. You could write about your favorite animal, TV show, movie, holiday, sports, or hobbies.
• Reader Quiz: Your quiz could be about anything — Disney movies, chemistry, capital cities, football… you choose! Readers could answer in a comment or in Google Forms. This could be a great way to get to know your audience. You might like to do a follow-up post that goes over the results, including graphs, charts, and analysis. BEAM is a simple tool for making basic charts.
• Guest Post: Ask a friend or family member if they’d like to write a guest post on your blog. Make sure you approve it before publishing.
• Top 10: Make a top 10 list of anything. For example, you could rank your favorite songs, actors, sports, or foods.
• Interview: Interview someone in your family or community. There might be interesting people at your school you could interview too like your principal, cleaner, librarian, or crossing supervisor.
• Three Wishes: If you had three wishes, what would they be? Invite your readers to share their own wishes in a comment.

Online Prompts

• Video Prompts: John Spencer has made some fabulous short video writing prompts that could really get your imagination going. Check out the YouTube playlists of prompts here.
• Pobble 365: Every day there is a new photo prompt and literacy starters posted on the Pobble 365 website. These are ideal to respond to when you’re stuck for ideas.
• New York Times Writing Prompts: Multiple times a week, The New York Times publishes writing prompts for students. There are Picture Prompts (images with questions), What’s Going on in this Picture? (images stripped of captions) and Student Opinions (daily questions inspired by Times’ content). There’s lots of inspiration for you to choose from!
• What’s Going on in this Graph? Another initiative from The New York Times, a graph, map, or chart is published regularly as an invitation for students to discuss. Find a graph that fascinates you and share your interpretation.
• 1,000 Writing Prompts: The New York Times has also compiled 1,000 Writing Prompts For Students. There’s sure to be something that interests you amongst that collection!
• Language is a Virus: This excellent site has a multitude of prompts, exercises, and gadgets to inspire your writing. One example is Visual Poetry where you can display your writing in artistic and whimsical ways. Screenshot your creation for a blog post.
• Practice Your English: MMG’s English blog has been created by a teacher with prompts for students to practice their English. You will find jokes, quotes, recipes, videos, and more. Find one that interests you and share a response on your blog.
• Visual Writing Prompts: Teach Starter has created a collection of visual writing prompts. The images are Creative Commons Zero which means you’re free to upload them to your blog.
• Creative Writing Prompts: Writer’s Digest offers regular written prompts that are ideal for older students. Have a browse and see if there is a prompt to inspire a new post.
• Scholastic Story Starters: If you’re in K-2, you might enjoy this a fun interactive site where you can create your own prompts for a variety of writing genres.
• Wonderopolis: This popular multi-disciplinary site posted a “wonder of the day” with lots of kid-friendly information, definitions, and a quiz. You could choose the daily wonder or a past wonder and reflect or summarize it in a blog post. You could even add a Wonderopolis widget to your blog. The site was unfortunately closed in July 2025.
• Writer Igniter: Get inspiration from Writer Igniter which provides you with a character, situation, prop, and setting. This is best for middle school or high school students.
• Printable Comic Prompts: MakeBeliefsComix has a huge collection of writing prompts divided into categories. There’s something for everyone!
• Random Emoji Generator: Create a story based on emoji prompts. Go to the byrdseed site to generate your prompts. You can then copy the emojis into a post and write a story based on them.
• The Student Blogging Challenge: Every March and October we run a free 8 week supported blogging challenge where students aged 8-16 are given weekly prompts. Student and class posts are visited by a global audience. Maybe you can join us for the next challenge?

Interdisciplinary and Fun

• Expert FAQs: Are you an expert on something? LEGO? Minecraft? Pokemon? Ballet? Write “Frequently Asked Questions” and answers about your topic.
• Test Review “Cheat Sheet”: Use images, videos, and text to create a post that your classmates can use as a study guide to prepare for an upcoming assessment.
• Exit Ticket: Write a short summary of what you learned in class before leaving. Include any questions you still have and a list of any assignments or tasks you still need to complete.
• Quotes: Choose a quote that inspires you or is relevant to what you’re learning. Explain why you chose the quote and what it means to you. We have a post all about using quotes that will give you some tips.
• Video Comparison: Embed two or more videos on a topic from YouTube, Vimeo, or TED and then compare and contrast the videos. If you’re unsure how to embed videos, we have a help guide to walk you through it.
• Would You Rather? Create some “would you rather..?” questions for your audience such as, “Would you rather live 100 years in the past or future?” or “Would you rather be able to fly or swim underwater without breathing?” Share your own thoughts too!
• Future Me: Write an email to yourself when you are one, five, or ten years older. This could be a blog post in itself, or for 13+ students, the FutureMe website could be used to actually send the email.
• Jokes: Who doesn’t like jokes? Find some online or share your own favorite jokes to give your readers a laugh. The TLC Tutoring Updates blog used images and scrolling space to format their joke post. Alternatively, you could reveal the answers in the comments section.
• Gratitude Journal: Use your blog or portfolio to reflect on what you’re grateful for. Perhaps this could become a weekly practice.
• Special Days of the Year: Use a website like Days of the Year to find out what fun or lighthearted days are being celebrated. For a more serious approach, select an International Day from the United Nations International Day list. Write a post to explain the special day and what it means to you. (Teacher tip: You may want to choose the days for younger students, rather than allowing them to browse these sites).
• Principal for the Day: What would you do if you were principal for the day? Don’t hold back in sharing your ideas!
• Video Game Review: Write a review for an online game. Share the pros, cons, and a star rating. Don’t forget to include the link to the game so others can try it.
• Kindness: List some random acts of kindness that you’d like to see other students try. You might get some ideas from the Random Acts of Kindness Foundation.
• Recipes: Pretend you’re a food blogger! Share a recipe that you enjoy eating or making. Spice up your post with a photo of the end result.
• World Records: Browse the kids’ Guinness World Records website and write about an impressive record. Or tell your readers what sort of world record you’d like to attempt.
• Secret Code: Come up with a secret code and share a message on your blog or portfolio. Perhaps a number could represent each letter of the alphabet or you could write each word backwards. Ask readers to guess what the post says in a comment.
• Curious Minds: Publish a list of questions you have about the world or about a certain topic. You don’t have to answer the questions. It can sometimes just be good to explore the things you’re curious about.
• Memes: These are fun messages that are spread widely online. Maybe you could make a meme that relates to a topic you’re studying at school. Meredith Akers has shared a Google Drawings meme generator that’s safe for students.
• Sports Report: Provide an overview of a sports competition your school, community, or professional team has been involved in. If you choose a local sport, perhaps you could interview some participants or coaches.
• Life in the Future: Make some predictions about what life will be like in 5, 10, 50, or even 100 years from now. You could even interview others to find out their thoughts on the future.
• Trends: Discuss the latest trends in the schoolyard. Games, fashion, toys … what’s hot and what’s not? Maybe you could ask someone older than you what the trends were when they were at school.
• Playground Fun: Offer activity suggestions that other students could try out at recess and lunchtime if they’re bored. You could even sort your suggestions into age groups.
• Productivity Tips: Help your fellow students learn to manage their time better with some useful tips and tricks. Maybe you have tips for managing homework or chores at home, using a diary or calendar, or making lists.
• Copyright, Creative Commons, and Fair Use: These are important topics for any publisher to know about. Check out our Guide to Copyright, Creative Commons, and Fair Use on The Edublogger. Write a post, create a video, or design a poster to teach others about these topics.
• Digital Citizenship: What tips do you have to stay safe online? Share these with others in a post, a video, comics, memes, or posters. Check out these internet safety tips for students for ideas.
• Blogging Tips: Be your school’s “problogger” and share some bite-sized tips for fellow bloggers. Maybe you could make tutorials on things like adding images to your post, making a custom header, or adding links to your site. You could even make a screencast using a tool like Loom or Screencastify.

Art, Images, and Music

• Photo Blog: Have you heard of 365 photography or “a photo a day” type blogs? This is something Linda Yollis has been doing since 2010 with her Yollis’ 365 Project. Students and the community are invited to send in photos and captions. You could create a similar style blog or post series.
• Picture Prompt: Add a copyright-free image from Photos For Class to a post and write about it. Create a poem, story, information report, or any other style of writing based on your image.
• Image or Artwork: There are many free web tools where you can create digital artwork. Some examples are Google Drawings, emoji.ink, Toy Theatre Art Tools, Bomomo abstract art, Tate Kids street art, Draw Island, and Auto Draw.  If you want to be blown away with what’s possible, check out the Fugle Blog where K-5 teacher, Tricia Fuglestad, combines art and technology in truly creative ways.
• Infographic: Use a tool like Canva, Piktochart, Venngage, or Infogram to create an infographic and then write a post describing your graphic. Alternatively, create infographics using several of these different tools then write a review of the tools you used. Which one was best and why?
• Get Crafty: Try a craft activity with paper or other materials you have on hand and write a tutorial. You could include written instructions, photos, or videos. Not sure what craft to try? There’s lots of inspiration online. Education.com has a comprehensive collection of ideas.
• Make a Song: Create your own original song in Chrome Music Lab. Click on “Save” to get the link or embed code to publish your song in a post.
• Favorite Instrument: Do you have a favorite instrument or is there an instrument that fascinates you? Do some research and write a post about it. Add an image or video to your post if you can too.
• Make a Playlist: Write a post that includes a playlist of your favorite songs. Don’t forget to explain why you like each song and why it’s part of your playlist. Your playlist might even be for a specific occasion like a birthday party, wedding, or school graduation. You could even make a soundtrack of your life!
• Guess the Artist, Song, or Instrument: Give your readers some clues as they scroll down the page and have them guess the artist, song, or instrument. Invite your readers to put their guesses in a comment.
• Share Your Talents: Can you sing or play an instrument? Film yourself and add your video to a post. If you don’t have musical talents yourself, find someone else you can record and interview them.
• Guess That Sound: Embed some sounds from the free collection on the BBC website. Have your readers guess the sounds in a comment. Don’t forget to reply to your comments to tell your readers if they were correct. (Tip: To use the BBC sound effects, you need to link back to their site and include the word “copyright” and the year).

Reading and Writing

• Book Review: You can include a summary of the plot without spoilers, your favorite quotes, a star rating, and a photo of the book. Or maybe you could create some BookSnaps (annotated photos of text from a book).
• Book Recommendations: Create a recommended reading list for others to enjoy. Check out this list from the OJCS Library blog for inspiration.
• Poetry: There are many styles of poetry you could experiment with. Ken Nesbitt’s Poetry 4 Kids is a great site to get help with writing poems. You might also like to try a ReadWriteThink poetry interactive that guides you through the writing process then publish your poem on your blog. Tip: you need Flash enabled to use the ReadWriteThink interactives so they won’t work on an iPad.
• Expand Your Vocabulary: Improve your writing by trying Describing Words. This free web tool helps you find new words to describe nouns. Try out the tool and reflect on your discoveries in a post. There’s also a version that helps you find related words as well as a reverse dictionary.
• Change a Story Ending: Choose a well-known story (perhaps a fairytale or another classic) and publish a different ending. You can ask for feedback from readers in the comments.
• Interactive Endings: Write the beginning of a short story and invite your readers to finish it in a comment. Alternatively, you could write two different endings and have readers vote for their favorite.
• Words From Your Birth Year: Write a post about some of the words that were introduced in the year you were born according to Merriam-Webster dictionary. Include your thoughts or research on why these words were introduced in that year.
• News Report: Read information on children’s news sites like Time for Kids or DOGO News. Then summarize a news story for your readers with your own reflections or opinions included. Tip: There is even a DOGO News plugin.
• Wordless videos: Speech pathologist Sarah has compiled a list of wordless videos. You could embed one in a blog post and write a script, recount, or reflection on the meaning behind the video.
• Interactive Stories: Google Slides can be used to create interactive or “choose your own adventure” type stories. Jake Miller has made a useful GIF to explain how to do this. If you want to know how to embed your Google Slides presentation into a post, these instructions walk you through it.
• Spelling/Vocabulary: Share your spelling words or a set of interesting words you have recently come across. Define the words or create interesting sentences to share with readers. You could even use a site like Spelling City and screenshot some of your activities.
• Grammar and Punctuation: Share your understanding of a concept you’re learning to help others understand an aspect of grammar or punctuation. You could make a comic, a poster, a video, a quiz, a song, or anything else!
• Newspaper: Create your own online newspaper to share on your blog. For example, MHMS Daring School students worked collaboratively on their newspaper.
• Storyline Online Review: Watch a book being read by a professional actor on Storyline Online and prepare a book review or summary (you can embed the story in a post).
• Persuasive Writing: Make your case for an argument, for example, why dogs are better than cats, why the school cafeteria should offer a different menu, or why school uniforms are a good idea. You could write a persuasive piece about any light-hearted or serious topic you’re interested in.
• Emoji Rebus Story: Have you heard of a rebus story? It’s where some words are replaced with an image. There’s a tool called Emoji Translate that will automatically replace some of your words with emojis (you can copy your translated text/emojis back into your post).
• Language Learning: Do you speak or learn another language? Share some basic words and phrases with your audience. You could even add a voice recording or video. If you don’t have a second language, do some research and pass on what you learned. Or, write about the language you’d like to learn if you had the chance and why.

History and Geography

• Virtual Field Trips: It’s now possible to visit faraway places without even leaving the classroom. The We Are Teachers website lists 25 of the best virtual field trips to explore. Once you’ve been on your “field trip”, it’s time to review the experience.
• Global Issue: Select a global issue that you’re passionate about or interested in and write a post to share your concerns. You might want to base your issue on The Sustainable Development Goals. The 17 goals focus on things like poverty, hunger, health, education, and climate action.
• Did You Know? Use information from a website like National Geographic Kids, Simple English Wikipedia, or Fact Monster to publish your own “Did you know?” snippets around a particular topic.
• List of Items: Create a list of items that would be used in a certain time in history, by a historical figure, or in a particular location around the world.
• A to Z: Create an A to Z list of something you’re studying, for example, a certain historical event or geographical location.
• Travel Brochure: Design and publish a travel brochure for a particular geographical location. You could use a tool like Canva or Google Drawings to create the brochure and then add it to your blog as a PDF or image file.
• Venn Diagram: Choose two different people, places, or events to compare such as two historical figures, two different countries, or two historical events. Make a Venn diagram to compare and contrast. You could use an online tool like Visual Paradigm or something like Canva or Google Drawings to make the Venn diagram. Or you could draw the diagram on paper and take a photo to add to your post.
• Who Am I? Share some clues about a historical figure, for example — where and when they were born, their education, their personal life, and what they’re famous for. See if your readers can make an accurate guess in a comment.
• Guess This Place: Share some clues about a geographical location for example — the continent it’s on, the climate, famous citizens, landmarks, well-known events, the latitude and longitude. Ask your readers to share their guess in a comment.
• Historical Artifacts: Share an image of a historical object or artifact. For example, you might want to look at the public domain collection from The Metropolitan Museum of Art. It includes more than 400,000 images from The Met collection that are free to use. Share some images in a post and write your own description. Or ask your readers to guess what they think the images are.
• Color History: #ColorOurCollections is a website where various institutions add historical images that can be printed and colored in. Find a page that interests you to print and color. Then add a photo of your completed work to your blog and write a description.
• Make A Timeline: Timelines can be about people’s lives, places, or historical events. Traditionally, you could make a timeline on paper but there are now lots of online tools that help you make your timeline with multimedia. Richard Byrne compares the best tools to use in this playlist. Try out one of the tools and add your timeline to a post.
• SMS Generator: Using a free tool called SMS Generator you can make fake text message conversations between two historical figures. When you’re done you can screenshot or embed your conversation.
• Old Newspaper Articles: Did you know Google has a collection of archived newspaper articles? Find an interesting article from a time or place you’re studying. Link to the article in your post and write an analysis.
• Flags: Do some research into a flag of the world or another important flags and summarise the key information. Alternatively, you might like to design your own flag. Include the image in a post with a description of your flag.
• Historical Report or Guest Author: Write a traditional report profiling a historical figure, or pretend you are a famous historical figure that is blogging about a significant event.
• Historical Stories: Authors often use a historical event as the basis of a fictional story. Create a story based on a certain time and location in history. You would keep the main historical information accurate while coming up with fictional characters and perhaps storylines.
• Personal History: Interview someone to share a little about their own personal history. Or you could even share some of your own history. Everyone has a story!
• Maps Comparison: Find two maps from different time periods that show the same location. What are the similarities and differences in the maps? Maybe some things have been added, removed, replaced, or extended. A useful website to find old maps might be Old Maps Online or The US Library of Congress.
• Time Travel: If you could live in any other place and/or time, what would you choose and why?

Math and Science

• Vocabulary: Choose a vocabulary word that you’re learning about and write a post that describes this word in different ways such as: a definition, in a sentence, in an example/image, in a table/graph, in symbols/equations. Check out this vocabulary slide deck template by Meagan Kelly which you could fill out and embed in your blog.
• Image Hunt: Look around you for examples of concepts you’re studying in class. Take photos and add them to a post. Maybe you could look for mathematical arrays, 3 digit numbers, fractions, or patterns.
• Riddles: Research some math riddles. There are some on Riddles.com and Mashup Math. After trying some out yourself, share your favorites on your blog or make up your own. Invite your readers to solve your riddles in a comment.
• Math Movies: Explaining math concepts through videos can be very effective. The students in Mr. Avery’s class share some great examples on the Math Movie Network (many years on these examples are still inspiring). Check out The Educator’s Guide to Using Video in Teaching and Learning to find out more about tools students can use for video creation.
• NRICH: The NRICH project by the University of Cambridge publishes weekly maths problem-solving tasks for students. Students can submit answers on the website, but you can also publish your response on your blog or portfolio. Problems are broken up into age groups.
• Estimations: Make some mathematical estimations such as the length of your hallway, the weight of your lunchbox, or the number of shirts hanging in your closet. Share your estimations on your blog and then measure or count to find out the actual answer. How far off were you? How did you make your estimates and how did you find out the actual answers?
• Math Journals: Use your blog or portfolio as a journal to reflect on your math learning. Here is some math journal prompts from ReadWriteThink that you could base your reflections on.
• Problem Solve: Publish a problem-solving task in a post and invite readers to provide the solution in the comments. You might get ideas for problems from a site like NRICH. Tip: choose a problem where there are multiple solutions, or hold off on moderating comments until a few readers have had the chance to respond. Maybe you could explain the answer in a follow-up post.
• Same but Different: Browse the sites Same But Different Math or Same Or Different to see lots of photos of how mathematical concepts are the same but different. Set up some photos of your own to add to a blog post and share your thoughts on how the images are similar and different.
• Solvemoji: There’s a popular site called Solvemoji.com where emojis are used in maths puzzles. Have a browse, then make your own puzzles for your readers using a tool like Google Drawings, Google Slides, PowerPoint, or Canva. Just save your creation as a PNG or JPEG and upload it to your blog like any other image. Here’s a Google Doc tutorial for this activity from Mrs. Yollis.
• Money: Learn about the currency in another part of the world and share what you learned with your readers. Don’t forget to include some images. You might be able to find some images using the Creative Commons search engine.
• Math Game Review: There are lots of interactive math games available on the web or on mobile devices. Try out a game and then share a review. Include details like how to access the game, what it helps you learn, pros and cons, and an age recommendation.
• Science Experiment: Find a science experiment in a book, online, or in a video. For example, Try This! is a series of science experiments from National Geographic Kids. With permission from an adult, replicate the experiment and then blog about it. Alternatively, you might want to make up your own experiment to learn more about something you’re curious about.
• Science Video: There are lots of great science videos online. Two examples are TED-Ed and SciShow Kids YouTube Channel. Find a video that interests you, then write a post about it. You might write a summary of the video and include your own thoughts or questions. Alternatively, you can make a quiz for your readers about the video. Invite them to answer the quiz in a comment.
• Two Truths and One Lie: Challenge your readers with a simple “two truths and one lie” quiz. Your task is to write a post that includes two correct statements and one incorrect statement. Ask your readers to guess the lie! Your statements could be about a certain math or science topic or a mix of topics.
• NASA Space Place: Check out NASA Space Place to learn more about Earth and Space. There are games, activities, articles, videos, and more. Write a post about something you learned from the website.
• Science News: There is interesting science news being reported all the time. Check out Science News Explores and find an article you’re interested in. Share a summary in your own words on your blog. You might include some follow up questions you’d like to research.
• Coding: Learning to code can be fun. There are lots of sites and apps you can use to learn to code. Code.org is a good starting place. Try out one of the activities and then write a post about it. Explain what you learned and what challenges you had to overcome to complete the activity.
• Gardening: Try growing something at home or school like a vegetable, plant, or flower. Blog about the changes in a series of posts and describe how you’re tending to your garden. The Kids Gardening website has some ideas to help you get started including the fun grass seed “chia” pet.
• Science Careers: Research a science related career and tell your readers about it. Perhaps you could even interview someone in the profession. Is this a career you’d be interested in? Alternatively, you could choose two careers and compare them in a post.
• Looking After the Environment: Share tips on how to reduce, reuse, recycle, or look after our planet. Maybe you can share some changes you’re making in your own life to be more environmentally conscious.
• Diagrams: A scientist often makes diagrams to record and communicate information. Make a diagram with labels to illustrate a scientific concept (e.g. parts of an insect, the layers of the Earth, or the water cycle). Check out Science A-Z for some examples of science diagrams. Make your diagram on paper (and upload a photo) or use an online tool like Canva or Google Drawings.

Other Web Tools

Teacher Tip: There are countless free online tools that can be used to create, publish, collaborate, and present. If you’re working with younger students, it’s important to check the terms and conditions on the site as some tools are only suitable for students over the age of 13.

• GIFs: These can be fun additions to your posts that bring your images and descriptions to life. Try an online tool like Brush Ninja or ABC Animate to make a GIF to demonstrate your learning or feelings.
• Prezi: Prezi is an online presentation and storytelling tool that uses a single canvas instead of traditional series of slides. The images, text, videos, and other objects are placed on the canvas and users can zoom in and out. Create a Prezi about something you’re interested in and add it to a post.
• Google Slides: Slides presentations are great to add to posts. The simplest way to use Google Slides is to create a slide deck. That is, a collection of slides put together to form a presentation. Learn more about how to use and embed Google Slides in this beginner’s guide.
• Animation: Produce a video with a tool like Biteable or Powtoon. Share your animation and write about the decisions you made when making the video.
• Talking Avatars: Create a speaking character using Voki to read your post or to interact with your blog’s visitors. Voki characters can be customized to look like historical figures, cartoons, animals, or yourself! Voki characters can be embedded on your site on a post, page, or sidebar.
• Word Cloud: Make a word cloud using one of these online tools or iPad apps. Add your word cloud to your blog. You could even invite readers to guess the topic.
• Jigsaw Puzzle: Instead of adding a normal photo to your post, make a jigsaw out of one of your photos on Jigsaw Planet or Jigsaw Explorer and embed it. Ask your readers to leave a comment to tell you how they went with the puzzle.
• Wakelet: Wakelet allows you to save, organize, and tell stories with content from around the web. You can sign up for free or create a quick collection without signing up. Make a Wakelet about a topic you’re studying or something you’re interested in. Embed your Wakelet in a post. Read more about getting started with Wakelet.
• AnswerGarden: This is a free online tool to get feedback on a question. You make an AnswerGarden with a question and then embed or link to it on your site. When people respond to your question, their answers form a word cloud. Learn more about AnswerGarden here.
• Comics: Create a comic using Make Beliefs Comix and share it on your blog. Your comic could be designed to educate, inform, or entertain.
• Podcasts: These are simply audio files that are published online. You might like to make a series of podcasts to coincide with a subject you’re studying or a project you’re working on. Spotify for Creators is a popular free service for recording, hosting, and distributing podcasts. Check out The Edublogger’s Guide To Podcasting to learn more.
• Digital Bulletin Board: Padlet is an online bulletin board that you can embed in a blog post to share notes, voice recordings, videos, documents, links, and more. You can only create three Padlet walls with the free account.
• Animoto: This free tool lets you make videos that combine photos and/or video footage with music and interesting transitions. You can make an Animoto about an event or something you’re learning and embed it on your site.
• Mindmap: Create a mindmap for brainstorming, collating notes, demonstrating your learning, or presenting your findings. You might like to try a free online tool like Bubbl.us which doesn’t require an account.

How To Apply These Writing Prompts To The Classroom

As you think about using these prompts in the classroom, try to vary it up. Helping students to get out of their comfort zones and try something new might spark a new talent or passion.

It’s always worth considering how you can give some students choice in the type of posts they create. Choice can lead to ownership and higher levels of motivation. You never know what your students might produce!

One tip to keep in mind is that when you’re creating work or images using online tools, you can sometimes save your work as an image (e.g. JPEG or PNG), or embed your work, but at other times you’ll need to take a screenshot. This article by PC Mag explains how to take a screenshot on almost any device.

From a safety perspective, if you have public blogs or websites, ensure students are aware of what information should be kept private before they begin blogging. Edublogs and CampusPress users can use My Class to easily moderate students’ posts and comments before they’re live on the web.

The acronym YAPPY might help your students develop their understandings about privacy. Learn more about digital footprints in this post.

When using writing prompts, it can also be helpful to keep the SAMR model in mind.

Sometimes, you might simply be substituting traditional pen and paper tasks for an online task. As you and your students become more comfortable with publishing online, consider ways you can redefine tasks to achieve something that would not be possible without a blog, website, or online tools.

Don’t Stop Here

Hopefully this list will ensure you or your students are never scrambling for blogging ideas again, however, it is far from exhaustive.

Another idea is to recycle posts. This is what we’re doing right here! This post of prompts was first published many years ago and we’ve updated it a couple of times. You might have an old post that you enjoyed or that struck a chord with readers. Why not do an update or follow up post in a similar style? Reflect on your best content and re-purpose or repeat it.

If you have a class blog, you could create a page with writing ideas for your student bloggers.

Happy blogging!

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In fact, our services in accessibility, security, hosting, support, along with an extensive suite of other tools, power millions of education websites, blog networks and portfolios. Learn more about our school website services or request info today!

There are two types of bloggers.

One has a never-ending list of blog post ideas but just can’t find the time to write them all. The other wants to write more blog posts but is stuck for ideas.

Which type of blogger are you?

If you’re the latter, you’re in luck. This post offers you 7 ideas to help you find inspiration for your future blog posts.

These ideas apply to both student and teacher bloggers.

Scroll down for a printable worksheet where you can jot down your ideas as you read through the post.

(Tip: If you have the ideas but not the time, check out our Plan For Writing A Weekly Blog Post In 10 Minutes A Day).

1) What are your most popular posts?

Blogging isn’t only about writing for an audience—it’s also a powerful tool for reflection and documenting your own ideas.

That said, many bloggers find real value in connecting with an authentic audience. A smart first step is to look back and see which of your posts have resonated most with readers in the past.

If you use Edublogs Pro or CampusPress, the ideal way to do this is via Google Analytics. 

These instructions explain how to set up Google Analytics and you’ll be able to access your data via the Google Analytics website, or app.

You’ll also be able to check out a snapshot of your most popular posts by going to Dashboard > Statistics.

Once you know what your most popular posts are, ask yourself:

• What else could I write on that same topic?
• Could I break down the topic further? For example, if you wrote an overview of teaching geometry to 8th graders, could you break it down and share a sequence of detailed lesson plans, assessments, or resources?
• Is there a style of post that’s been popular with readers? Have you written some “top 10” posts or “how-to” posts or “comparison” posts that have done well? Could you write more posts in a similar style?
• Could you re-purpose some of your old content into a different format? For example, could you turn one of your popular posts into a video, slideshow, checklist, graphic, etc?

2) Poll your audience

If you’ve been blogging for a while and have built an audience for your blog, consider asking your readers what they’d like you to write about.

Google Forms is a great way to make a simple survey but there are other tools available such as Crowdsignal (formerly called Polldaddy).

Keep the survey as simple as possible so busy readers don’t feel reluctant to submit a response.

Example: Google Forms

A few years ago, one of our authors polled her own readers on her blog to find out what topics they’re most interested in. She included an option to write any other feedback (38% of readers added additional information while 62% of readers just used the checklist).

The responses and trends were insightful.

This is what the poll looked like (the poll is no longer live so this is just an image).

3) Build on someone else’s blog post

If you’re a blogger, you probably read other people’s blog posts as well. This is an important part of the blogging process. Reading other blogs not only helps you develop your thinking but helps you become part of an online community.

Have you ever read a blog post that really got you thinking? You might be left with a lot of unanswered questions or you might simply feel like you have more to add to the conversation.

You could leave a blog comment or you could expand on the topic even further by writing a blog post.

Examples

• A teacher might read a blog post about flexible seating. This teacher might be trying out some flexible seating options in their own classroom. They could write a post to share their approach along with some images.
• A student might read another student’s post about their trick for learning times tables. The student might have their own tricks they use which they could share in their own blog post.

Remember to link back to the inspiration for your blog post and when it’s published reach out and tell the blogger about it. The blogger might like to continue the conversation with you further or share your post with their own network.

4) Write a how-to

As Derek Sivers says,

What’s obvious to you is amazing to others.

It’s true! There’s a lot you know about or have had experience with. It might not seem like anything overly special but it could really help your readers.

How-to posts are often popular as they help your readers overcome their problems. Your helpful post is likely to stick in a reader’s mind and they may become a loyal and regular visitor to your blog.

How can you make a how-to post? 

• Write out the steps and include images.
• Make a video tutorial or a screencast using a tool like Loom or Screencastify.
• Make a checklist.
• Create a diagram or other type of graphic (Canva is a great tool for this).

5) Share something from your life

What’s been happening in your life lately? You don’t have to have been doing anything extraordinary to create an interesting blog post.

Have you read a book? Write a review or share some takeaways.

Have you come across an interesting quote? Share the quote with your readers and explain what it means to you.

Have you watched a thought-provoking movie, tv show, or video? Or perhaps you have listened to an interesting podcast? Tell your audience about it. How did it change your thinking? What has it left you curious about?

Have you had an interesting conversation with someone? Whether or not your conversation was on the web or in real life, is there anything you could share with your audience?

You might even reflect back on a book, quote, video, podcast, or conversation that you engaged with long ago. Why has it stuck in your mind?

6) Interview someone

Interviews with others can make interesting blog posts. You and your audience might learn a lot and gain new insights!

You can interview someone via video or an audio recording, but the simplest way to do it is by writing out the questions and answers.

Tip: Make sure the questions and answers stand out in the body of the text; use bold, dark colors, or headings.

If you’re interested in interviewing someone on your blog, here are a few steps to follow:

1. Research. Consider why you want to interview the person. Decide what sort of questions you’d like to ask them.
2. Request. Ask the person face-to-face or via a polite email and explain what you’d like to interview them about.
3. Conduct the interview. If you can meet with the person face-to-face, you might like to type their responses out as you talk to them. If not, send the questions via email and give the person a guide on how much information you’re after for each question and when you need it by.
4. Add an introduction and conclusion. Your blog post will need context so write an introduction that tells your reader about the interviewee. Don’t forget to link to the interviewee’s site if they have one. Your conclusion might include your own takeaways on what you learned or a call to action (suggesting readers visit the interviewee’s blog or follow them on social media).
5. Revise. After you’ve drafted the interview post, share it with the interviewee and ask them if there is anything they’d like to change. Tip: Public Post Preview plugin can be handy here.
6. Publish the post. Share the post with your network and invite the interviewee to do the same.

7) Use blogging prompts

Many bloggers enjoy coming up with lists of blogging prompts and these can be a great way to get ideas!

We’ve published a number of these lists on The Edublogger. Here are some for teachers and students:

• 50 Blog Post Ideas For Educators (2018)
• 50 Blog Topics And Prompts For Teachers (2017)
• 100+ Ideas And Prompts For Student Blogging (2021)

Students might also be interested in checking out the work of John Spencer. He has recently released a fantastic PowerPoint full of creative writing prompts to his community.

Check out the preview below and access the full collection of prompts here. 

John also has some excellent creative writing prompts on YouTube. Students could embed a video prompt in a post and then write their response.

Here’s an example,

Take Action — Start Brainstorming

Are you now full of ideas for future blog posts? I hope so.

Don’t let those ideas go!

Why not print off our brainstorming sheet now and jot down your thoughts?

>>Download the PDF

When you’re done, you could keep your brainstorming sheet by your desk and use your blog post ideas throughout the coming months. Or you might like to transfer your ideas to a Google Doc, diary, or editorial calendar.

Related Reading

A Plan For Writing A Weekly Blog Post In 10 Minutes A Day

5 Ways To Share And Market Your Teacher Blog

12 Tips For Maintaining Momentum With Blogging

Not too long ago, when educators needed ideas, support, or simply a place to debrief, their choices were pretty limited.

Even if you managed to catch up with colleagues in the teachers’ lounge, it was easy to still feel uninspired or isolated. Maybe you were the only art teacher, librarian, or tech coach in your school, and connecting with like-minded peers in other schools or districts often felt like a daunting task.

And for many, the teachers’ lounge wasn’t a hub of professional dialogue at all—it was more likely a spot to wrestle with the photocopier while finishing a cold cup of coffee.

Today, Facebook groups have stepped in to change this. These online communities allow educators to feel more connected, supported, and inspired than ever, with access to professional conversations and resources around the clock.

In this post, we’ll explore what Facebook groups are, how educators and schools are using them, highlight five popular examples, and introduce our latest pop-up Facebook group.

What Is A Facebook Group?

Facebook groups are simply online spaces to communicate with others about shared interests.

There are all sorts of Facebook groups. Some might involve only people you know like your extended family, sports team, colleagues, or school community.

Other Facebook groups are for strangers who are interested in uniting on a common topic. Basically think of any topic, interest, or need and there is probably a Facebook group up and running — parenting, fitness, business, politics, local news, television shows, buy and sell, sports, celebrity fan clubs and so much more.

Of course, Facebook groups are very popular with educators as well.

Facebook Group Quick Facts

Here is an overview of how Facebook Groups work:

• You can only join or create a Facebook group if you have a Facebook account (but don’t worry, if you don’t want to post on your Facebook profile and add friends, you don’t have to).
• Any Facebook user can create a group.
• Some Facebook groups are public but many are private (only members can see who’s in the group and what they post).
• You often need to request permission to join a Facebook group.
• Some Facebook groups are visible so any user can search for them, others are hidden and you need an invitation to join.
• You can join up to 6000 Facebook groups! We have a feeling that would just be a little hard to keep track of.
• Facebook groups have administrators and moderators that are nominated by the group creator. These individuals might post discussion threads, approve membership requests, and ensure everyone is adhering to the group rules.
• Groups can be ongoing or more of a “pop-up” short term group for a certain event or course.

Facebook Pages Vs Groups

Confused about Facebook pages Vs groups?

Pages are like public profiles for brands, businesses, and publishers. Anyone can see the page and like or follow it if they wish. Facebook users can also comment on posts they see on pages and/or share page posts with their friends.

Groups are more engaged communities and they’re often private. They’re a popular way to generate conversations, connections, and support.

This is a simplified version of how you might distinguish between Facebook pages and groups.

Facebook creator, Mark Zuckerberg, has been prioritizing Facebook groups over recent years and they’re growing in popularity.

Be sure to like our Edublogs Facebook page if you’re not already!

How Do Facebook Groups Work?

Like any community, it can take work to keep a Facebook group active and engaged.

The administrators and moderators might work behind the scenes to keep the group alive. They might pose interesting open-ended questions for the group to respond to, or encourage the people who are posting with responses.

If you’re considering joining a Facebook group, you’ll be able to see how many posts there have been recently. This will give you an idea of whether the group is active and whether it’s worth your while joining.

There are pros and cons to smaller more tightly connected groups, and larger busier groups. Joining a smaller group might mean you get to know members and form closer connections. Larger groups might offer more anonymity but there will probably always be someone around to interact with.

When you go to the Facebook group, you’ll see this information under “Activity”. It will be visible even if you’re not a group member.

So what might you see in a Facebook group? Well, groups house all sorts of content — discussion threads, images, videos, and files. Some groups allow sales posts.

Once you’re a member of a Facebook group you can read other people’s posts and replies. Some people tend to lurk and simply consume the content in groups, while others are more involved and regularly post questions, updates, and replies.

Many people find the more they put in to Facebook groups, the more they get out!

How Can Schools Use Facebook Groups?

There are many ways that school communities around the world are embracing Facebook groups.

Some approaches are led by the school (perhaps linked to the official school Facebook page), and others are more grassroots groups set up by parents or students.

Some schools and communities set up separate Facebook groups for:

• General school news
• Specific grade levels or classes (e.g. “Year 2” or “Class 2B”)
• Sporting teams
• Extra-curricular groups, e.g. musical production, cheerleading etc.
• Event organisation, e.g. school fair, or graduation ceremony
• Uniform or textbook buy and sell
• Homework help
• Alumni

Managing school Facebook groups is an important topic of discussion amongst communities. Many schools are now realizing they can’t prevent the creation of groups so need to put guidelines in place to ensure groups are used positively.

Some schools include Facebook groups in their social media policy to ensure all group administrators understand the importance of online safety and follow the school guidelines. Often schools might make it clear via their official channels of communication (e.g. newsletter), that Facebook groups are not used for official school communication.

It’s a balancing act for schools. If they can’t control the group content, they might be wary. On the other hand, any avenue that is connecting the community can’t be ignored.

If this is an issue that your school has juggled, we’d love to hear from you in a comment.

5 Popular Facebook Groups For Educators

Like the idea of joining some Facebook groups but unsure where to start? Here are a few groups that educators in our community enjoy. We’d love you to leave a comment with your own suggestions.

Tip: As you join and interact with groups, you may find Facebook suggests other groups you might enjoy on the right side of your screen. For example,

1) Teach With Tech

Type of Group: Private (visible)

URL: https://www.facebook.com/groups/TeachWithTechGroup

Creator: Danielle Weinberg Knight

Members: 61,000+

This is a group to post questions related to edtech, devices, sites, apps, extensions, and technology in the classroom. Members are encouraged to post successful lessons, activities, takeaways, and so on.

2) Technology Teacher Tribe With Brittany Washburn

Type of Group: Private (visible)

URL: https://www.facebook.com/groups/techteachertribe/

Creator: Brittany Washburn

Members: 33,000+

This is closed group for teachers who teach technology or love using it in their classroom. It allows for teachers to connect with others around the world, ask questions and share their own experiences.

3) STEM Teachers Group

Type of Group: Private (visible)

URL: https://www.facebook.com/groups/STEMteachertribe

Creator: Meredith Anderson

Members: 45,000+

STEM Teachers Group is for educators, homeschooling parents, and makerspace staff. It’s a place to share STEM ideas and connect.

4) Fitness for Teachers

Type of Group: Private (visible)

URL: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1687288924866712/

Creator: Jennifer Gibbons

Members: 72,000+

Groups for educators don’t have to be solely about curriculum and learning. This group is a place for teachers looking to incorporate fitness into their busy lifestyle.

5) Teacher Memes

Type of Group: Private (visible)

URL: https://www.facebook.com/groups/716962268473473/

Creators: Amy Margaret and Krista Cromer

Members: 368,000+

Educators sure need a sense of humor to deal with their job! Online or offline, teachers have always relied on each other for a laugh and boost of positivity. This group is a place to share funny memes that other teachers will relate to.

There is a language warning so don’t join this group if you’re easily offended.

Over To You

Any questions about Facebook groups? Leave a comment and we’ll get back to you.

Do you use Facebook groups? Can you recommend any other groups for educators? We’d love to hear from you.

If you’re like me, you’re always on the lookout for the quickest way to track down information or solve everyday problems.

Google Lens is my go-to tool for recognizing objects, plants, and animals — but it can do so much more. From instantly translating text while you’re traveling to copying text from textbooks, PDFs, or printed pages, it offers quick solutions at your fingertips.

It’s simple to use, completely free, and surprisingly, many people still don’t realize how powerful this tool can be. That’s where we come in!

In this beginner’s guide to Google Lens, we’ll show you how it works, how to get started, and share plenty of tips and tricks to make the most of it.

Google Lens also connects with Google Photos. If you’d like to dive deeper into Google Photos, don’t miss our ultimate guide. 

The Basics – What is Google Lens?

Google Lens is image recognition software released in 2017 by Google. It was originally designed to provide relevant information about an object using visual analysis.

It’s a fast free solution for reading and understanding information within images. The latest version of Google Lens has five modes:

• Auto: Lens automatically provides relevant search results based on the image it sees.
• Translate:  Point at text and Lens provides a translation on top of the original words.
• Text: Point Lens at the text you want to copy.
• Shopping:  Point Lens at an item that you would like to find in a store or scan the barcode.
• Dining:  Scan a menu and Lens can highlight which dishes are popular, provide reviews, or tell you more about a particular dish if you tap on the text.  You can also scan your receipt to get Lens to calculate the tip and split the bill.

How To Get Started With Google Lens

On Android phones, you can install the Google Lens app from the Play Store, use it inside Google Photos or use the Google Lens icon in your Google Assistant.

On iOS phones, you can access using the Google Lens icon inside Google Photos and the Google app.

Identifying objects, plants, and animals

Google Lens is the fastest way of identifying plants, flowers, animals (or their breed), identifying an object and how it might be used!  It can also be used for exploring popular landmarks and places to learn about them and their historical facts when traveling.

Lens options vary depending on your device so I’ve decided to demonstrate how to identify objects using Google Lens inside the Google Photo app since you can use this option on both an Android and iOS.

Here’s a quick video to show how it’s done:

You identify an object, plant, or animal by analyzing a photo you’ve taken inside Google Photos as follows:

1. Open Google Photos.

2. Tap on photo of the object and then tap on Google Lens icon.

3. This launches Google Lens which is their image recognition software designed to bring up relevant information using visual analysis.

4. Results are displayed below the photo.

5. Tap on an image in the related results to find out more.

This search was to find out what the item my husband received in a gift basket was used for.  It had us all stumped!

The answer was:

It’s a ‘Click on leaf-shaped colander’ that you use as follows:

Copy-Paste Text From Textbooks and Documents

Google Lens’ ability to copy-paste text means you now have a fast way to copy study notes from a textbook, or from a document, into your own document.  Its OCR (Optical Character Recognition) allows you to read any character from an image and turn it into editable text.

The easiest way to copy-paste text is by using the Google Lens app if you have an Android phone. The alternative option is to use the Google Lens icon inside Google Photos if you are using an iOS phone.

Here’s a quick video to show how it is done:

Here’s how to copy-paste text using the Google Lens app:

1. Open the Google Lens app (Android only).

2. Point your phone’s camera over all the text you want to scan (so it is all highlighted).

3. Tap on the Text icon.

4. Tap on Select All (or you can tap on sections of text you want to select).

5. Tap on Copy text.

6. Open up the app or document you wish to copy the text into (I use Google Docs on my phone).

7. Long press the cursor in your document to summon the selection menu.

8. Tap Paste.

9. Save the document and open up on the desktop to make edits to the text (if needed). My example needed editing as I was scanning an old document that has faded text.

Tap on the Photo icon on the top right of the Google Lens app if you want to copy-paste text from a photo you’ve taken. 

Here’s how to copy-paste text using the Google Lens icon inside the Google Photos app:

1. Open Google Photos.
2. Open the photo you want to copy-paste text from.
3. Tap in the Google Lens icon.

4. Tap on the Search Icon to launch the Google Lens mode options.

5. Tap on the Text icon.

6. Tap on Select All (or you can tap on sections of text you want to select).

7. Tap on Copy Text.

8. Open up the app or document you wish to copy the text into (I use Google Docs on my phone).
9. Long press the cursor in your document to summon the selection menu.

10. Tap Paste.
11. Save document and open up on desktop to make edits to the text (if needed). My example needed editing as I was scanning an old document that has faded text.

Translate Text in Textbooks and on Signs

Google Lens is able to quickly translate foreign words in any image into your own language. Handy for when you are traveling or need to translate text from a textbook.

Here’s a quick video to show how it is done:

Here’s how to translate text using the Google Lens app:

1. Open the Google Lens app (Android only).
2. Point your phone’s camera over all the text you want to translate.

3. Tap on the Translate icon and the translated words will appear over the original words.  Tap on Copy All if you want to copy-paste the translated text into a document.

Here’s how to translate text using the Google Lens icon inside Google Photos app:

1. Open Google Photos.
2. Open the photo you want to translate text from.
3. Tap in the Google Lens icon.

4. Tap on Search icon to access Google Lens modes.

5. Tap on Translate icon.

6. The translated words will appear over the original words.

Scan QR Codes

Google Lens is able to read QR codes so there is no need to install a QR Code Reader.  Thanks to Frank Cademartori for sharing this tip!

In Google Photos you tap on the QR code you want to read once you’ve tapped on the Google Lens icon and the URL from the QR code is displayed below the image.

Inside the Google lens app on an android phone you tap on the QR code to reveal the link and then tap on the link to visit the website.

Any Tips or Questions?

I hope this information helps you get the most out of Google Lens.  I haven’t included instructions for how to use Shopping or Dining mode – refer to the following video to see how these two modes work.

Remember, if you’d like to learn more about Google Photos, check out our complete guide.

Please leave a comment below to provide tips on using Google Lens or let me know if you have any questions.

Have you ever walked away from a visit to another school feeling energized and full of fresh inspiration? Sometimes stepping beyond the walls of your own environment is exactly what it takes to spark new ideas and uncover fresh perspectives.

How often do you get to actually visit other schools? Perhaps not nearly as often as you’d like.

Fortunately, you can take a virtual peek at class blogs and savor the benefits of school visits.

Many educators enjoy using a blog to have an online space that complements their physical space. Class blogs are very popular and yield many benefits for students, teachers, and the school community.

Because we know many of our readers love seeing examples, we’ve put together an updated showcase of 13 great class blogs powered by Edublogs, CampusPress, or WordPress.

If you’re wondering why WordPress, scroll to the end of the post to find out what WordPress is all about and why it’s the perfect platform for class blogs.

Some Great Class Blogs

These class blogs are just a tiny fraction of the high-quality spaces out there. We strongly encourage you to leave a comment on this post with your contributions!

You can also see more examples on our list of class blogs which has been updated twice a year since 2008.

This post showcases blogs from a range of different age groups, subject areas, and locations to demonstrate what’s possible. It’s roughly ordered by age.

1) Learning Stories

Year level: PreK-K1 (age 3-5 multi-age setting)

Location: Nanjing International School, China

Teacher: Shemo Gani

Blogging platform: Edublogs

Shemo Gani started this wonderful blog in September 2015 when she had a kindergarten class of 5-6 year olds. She was kind enough to share some of her insights,

After sending out class newsletters for years, I wanted to find a better way to showcase the learning stories of the children. I also wanted to collect the stories in a way that I can access them more freely, even after a few years.

The blog has helped me strengthen my own practice in many ways. I have learned the value of listening, documenting and following student interests and learning.

My parents are my biggest advocates. They always share how valuable the blog is to them, how it helps them connect with their children on a different level. They enjoy following our stories and often encourage and share action as a result.

One of the fantastic things about this regularly updated blog is that it’s rich with a whole range of content: photos, quotes, videos, curriculum outcomes, and more.

The blog also links in with the class Twitter account.

2) Join the Adventure (French Immersion)

Year level: Grade 3

Location: New Brunswick, Canada

Teachers: Mme Harrison and Mlle Nicholson

Blogging platform: Edublogs

One subject area that has been totally transformed by technology is language learning. What a joy to be able to hear, see, and connect with other language learners or speakers.

Grade Three French Immersion Teachers, Mme Harrison and Mlle Nicholson use their class blog to introduce the students to French resources, as well as sharing student learning.

One particularly interesting idea they use is a ‘Thought Box’ page where students and parents are invited to share thoughts that won’t be published.

3) Mrs. Rupp’s Class

Year level: Grade 4

Location: The American School of Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Teacher: Leslee Rupp

Blogging platform: Edublogs

This is a fantastic class blog that Leslee Rupp updates regularly. Leslee told us a bit more about how her blog works,

I use it as my primary home-school communication tool, posting weekly homework and announcements.

In addition, because I encourage my students, as Scholars, to “consider different points of view” and “use multiple sources,” I try to provide enriching extensions for them to explore further or tools to help scaffold learning. I’ve also tried to make the blog a bit interactive by embedding videos and related Google Forms or Padlets to highlight student responses and reflections.

The blog is intentionally photo-rich, as well. Students love to see themselves on the blog, which I hope helps them share learning experiences with their families.

As an International Baccalaureate Primary Years Program (IB PYP) candidate school, we seek to develop a learner profile, which, among other things, includes students who are inquirers, thinkers, knowledgeable, risk-takers, principled, and reflective. My hope is that the blog will nurture those traits in my students.

Looking ahead to next year, I would like to include more student work samples and reflections and assessment tools to encourage self-assessment and growth. I would also like to update some of the resources under the drop-down menus to more-accurately reflect our developing inquiry program.

This class blog is well worth a look!

4) Mrs. Moore’s Class

Year level: Grade 5

Location: Arizona, USA

Teacher: Amber Moore

Blogging platform: Edublogs

Amber Moore teaches 5th grade math and science at a STEAM school.

The blog has a great mix of images and recounts to keep their community up to date with all their wonderful learning.

This class also enjoys global collaboration and has participated in the Student Blogging Challenge. 

Mrs. Moore’s class also uses Instagram to share their daily activities (@mooreclass).

5) ePencil

Year level: Grade 6

Location: Massachusetts, USA

Teacher: Kevin Hodgson

Blogging platform: Edublogs

Kevin Hodgson (aka Dogtrax) is a long time blogger who maintains both a professional blog and a class blog for his sixth grade writing workshop students.

The Electronic Pencil class blog is a place where Kevin provides guidelines and examples for student assignments. Student creations are also showcased on the blog

On his professional blog, Kevin often publishes more detailed posts about lessons, while exploring various other topics.

Kevin shares many creative ideas and his blogs are well worth a look.

6) Early History of the United States

Year level: Grade 8

Location: California, USA

Teacher: Barry Hayes

Blogging platform: Edublogs

Barry Hayes has been using Edublogs for the last four years exclusively for classroom assignments.

He told us about the purpose of his blog,

Blogging allows my students to venture beyond the textbook, to explore the richness and vast expanse of the world through the window of their computers, using Edublogs to showcase all they have and hope to learn in the future. We travel time together as adventurers of the digital medium.

The students have their own blogs to share their thoughts, discoveries, research, and experience within the subject of American history. You can find the links to the student blogs at the bottom of the class blog.

7) WooTube

Year level: High school

Location: Sydney, Australia

Teacher: Eddie Woo

Blogging platform: WordPress

Have you ever thought about recording your lessons and publishing them, not just for your own class, but for anyone who wants to watch and learn? Eddie Woo is a Sydney maths teacher who has done just that.

Eddie’s award winning work has earned him a huge following with students from across the world. Eddie uses a WordPress site as an online hub for a blog, his YouTube channel, learning resources, and more.

This is a great example of how blogs have evolved to be dynamic homes for any online creations.

8) Jurupa Hills High School Photography

Year level: High school

Location: California, USA

Teacher: Rebecca Cauchon

Blogging platform: Edublogs

A blog is the perfect complement to a photography class. After all, what’s the point of working on all those images if no one sees them?

Teacher, Rebecca Cauchon showcases her students’ truly amazing creations on the Jurupa Hills High School Photography blog. This is done through posts on the class blog and individual student blogs (see the links on the sidebar on the right-hand side).

This blog really is a visual delight!

9) NCH Chemistry

Year level: High School

Location: Mississippi, USA

Teacher: Tammy Skinner

Blogging platform: Edublogs

Tammy Skinner teaches chemistry and physics at Northpoint Christian School.

She has a very active and popular class blog that houses class notes, videos, test reviews, links, and more.

Tammy Skinner shared the following insights about her blog:

My students and I have been using our Edublogs class website since 2008. It all begin with a huge challenge my students were facing – students gone on mission trips, students out with the flu, students in tournaments, or students who missed the concepts in class and just needed to hear the lesson again.

Our Edublogs class website is a virtual classroom of sorts, with tons of resources for my students. I use it for posting videos of daily lectures, reviews, and help sessions. It’s also a place where my students can access the weekly syllabus, assignments, rubrics, project information, interactive websites, tutorials, etc. So many wonderful teachers and organizations have put incredible resources for learning chemistry and physics online, and my students are able to easily access them though our class website.

Another very important way I use our class website is to keep in touch with my students, and also for them to keep in touch with each other, outside of class. They share lab results, collaborate on projects, etc., through comments. They also use the comments to ask me (or their classmates) questions they forgot or might have been hesitant to ask in class.

These resources are useful not just for her own class but for other teachers and students at schools around the country and around the world.

10) Connected Teaching And Learning

Year level: Senior High School (age 16-19)

Location: Oslo, Norway

Teacher: Ann Michaelsen

Blogging platform: Edublogs

Norway educator, Ann Michaelsen operates this blog in a very unique style. Connected Teaching And Learning is Ann’s professional blog where she publishes regular reflections on what she is reading and learning. Beyond that, it is also a classroom hub for lesson plans and materials, as well as a home for many student blogs (links are on the right sidebar).

Ann shares a great overview of the benefits of blogging for her high school students in this post from 2016.

Ann’s approach makes us wonder if it would be beneficial for more educators to set up one blogging hub for the many aspects of their professional lives. What are the pros and cons of this approach? Leave a comment and tell us what you think.

About Edublogs, CampusPress, and WordPress

Confused about the platforms these blogs are built with? Let’s break it down.

You’ve probably heard of WordPress? It’s the most popular content management system out there. In fact, around a third of websites worldwide are built with WordPress.

Some educators build their blogs straight from WordPress.com or WordPress.org.

Edublogs is a popular option for those who are interested in using a WordPress platform but want the technical side of things taken care of including hosting and backups. Edublogs also offers a blogging platform that’s purely for education with the added elements of support and safety.

CampusPress is a WordPress platform for a whole school, university, district, or other educational institution. It offers the same great features that come with Edublogs, plus more, including individual branding.

So why is a WordPress platform like Edublogs the way to go?

• The fact that it’s export-friendly is a big reason. You want to be able to take your work, or your students’ work, with you.
• Of course, safety is a huge decider for many schools too and we have that covered.
• Many teachers really appreciate being able to have personalized support to help them through their blogging journey.
• Students and educators love being able to customize their online space. Themes, plugins, and other extensions allow you to do just that.
• It’s a great idea to consider the future of your blogging platform too. With WordPress powering so much of the web now, who knows where your students’ blogging skills could take them in the future!

Read more about the benefits of WordPress for student blogging in this post. 

Want To Start Blogging But Not Sure How?

Check out our Blogging 101 page. It includes a 15-minute tutorial video and all the help guides you’ll need to get going!