BLANCHESTER, Ohio - In a teacher's life, there are moments when everything seems to gel and even struggling students become motivated to learn. For Pam Pritchard, a reading intervention specialist for elementary students in rural Ohio, the technology of weblogs is helping to create teachable moments that offer lasting benefits.

At Butlerville Elementary, a school of about 200 students in grades K-4, Pritchard has pioneered the use of weblogs, a form of Web publishing that is still in its infancy in education. She has set up student weblogs so that children as young as second-graders can publish their work on an interactive Web site. Students can post not only samples of their writing, but also recordings of themselves reading. Called "audio blogs," these recordings allow parents, grandparents, or classmates to listen in—from any location—and hear students reading aloud.

Weblogs motivate young readers to do their best.

How does this publishing format affect student learning? Pritchard sees a spike in motivation "when you're publishing on a space of your own, a space you get to manage." Because weblogs can be read by anyone with access to the Internet, she says, "you know that other kids might see your work. Parents can read it. Your grandma in Florida can hear it. Having that audience makes you want to do your best work."

Pritchard describes one boy's experience: "We've been working on summarizing poems by stanzas. For his audio blog, he first recorded himself reading a poem. Then he listened to himself reading, while following along with the text of the poem in front of him. He could hear that he had added words that aren't in the text. He wanted to record it again. This time, without my prompting, he applied the rules we've been working on together. Then he saw the value! He read again, and that time it was better. And he made that connection by himself."

As an instructor, Pritchard appreciates the immediate assessment that weblogs offer her. "This allows the teacher to find out information she needs to help each child. I can check out the weblog of one girl who's been working on mastering the silent 'e' and long vowels. I can tell you from her blog what she knows now, what she doesn't know yet, and what my next steps are in terms of the instruction she needs."

Pritchard has taken time to learn how to use weblogs because she sees the value they offer to teachers, students, parents, and everyone else in a learning community. At first, she thought weblogs "would be cool for lesson plans. You can change, update, and edit in a way that never quite fits in a planning book. From a content management aspect, this is like having your blackboard, file cabinet, and portfolio all in one place. It's never full. And it's always available. This can make a teacher's life easier."

In addition to increasing efficiency, weblogs offer a way to bring parents into their child's learning experience. Ohio, like many states, emphasizes proficiency testing. Pritchard uses a weblog to provide parents with information to help their students prepare for testing. It's information parents have been wanting, but didn't know how to access. She explains, "Parents want to help their child, but they often don't know how. This is a way to include parents in education. It lets them into my world so we can work together to educate the child."

Working in a small district with older computers, Pritchard has had to be persistent to overcome the technical challenges of setting up weblogs. It's been worth the effort, she says, "because this technology offers massive potential for students, parents, administrators, intervention teams, and anyone else involved with a child's education. This can make your life easier and open new ways of communication."

Next fall, with her principal's support, Pritchard will be helping her entire building set up weblogs and design instructional units to make effective use of them. She's excited to see this technology being used at the elementary level. "If we wait until high school to integrate technology, our kids will miss the benefits. Technology integration needs to begin early, and it needs to be transparent," insists the 20-year teaching veteran.

For herself, Pritchard has found support in an online community of educators who are advocates of using weblogs in the classroom. She shares her own perspective and more classroom insights on her personal weblog site, (www.edublognews.com*).