Students can use the information on female leaders from this month’s S-press issues page to create blogs featuring biographical information. For a productive introduction, teachers could present blogs as interesting ways for students to display their work and voice opinions.

Copies of the August S-press can then be distributed to spark their interest in the topic of female leadership, prompted by the recent change of Australian Prime Minister to Julia Gillard. Some of the leaders featured in S-press include Margaret Thatcher, Indira Gandhi and Angela Merkel.

After reading the article, students could get into groups to produce their own timeline of female leaders in one classroom blog. Each of the groups can choose their own leaders and decide on separate topics. For example, their individual research could be about education, their rise to prominence and major achievements.

Once the students have research directions, it is easy to get the blog writing started with a plethora of free sites available (Wordpress and Blogspot are two of the most popular). It’s just a simple case of remembering usernames and passwords to keep updating the online content.

The blogging itself is as easy as adding titles and information into the boxes provided. They do not even need to know html codes. Photos can also be added for an overall professional presentation and the information can be in bite-sized chunks, making it a good activity for students with different levels of ability.

The real fun begins after the uploading the information and photos, because students can analyse the female leaders in the comment boxes. This allows them to put historical learning techniques into practise.

The best part about using blogs is that students can always return to their work and add new information that they come across in future lessons.