Monday, July 14, 2008

What About Blogs - July 15th Class

What About Blogs?
Welcome to the Eighth Floor class about blogging in education. As a collaborative and constructive tool, blogs have found their place in education. As educators, we are using them as learning tools not only for our students, but also for ourselves.


Blogs in Plain English




Lee LeFever of the Common Craft Show

So What’s a Blog?
Let the
6 & 7 year olds from Room 9 at Nelson Central School educate you about what they think a blog is and why they love using them!



Let’s Talk About Blogs
How is a blog different from a website?
What does it mean to blog, be a blogger?

Why do you think you or your students might be attracted to this as a form of expression?
The first step to being a good blogger is to be a good blog ____________?


Top 10 Reasons to Use a Blog in the Classroom



Education Professional Development Blogs
Weblogg-ed - A blog by Will Richardson
Moving at the Speed of Creativity - A blog by Wesley Fryer
Blog of Proximal Development - a blog by Konrad Glogowski
Blogs about Educational Blogging - a wiki by Support Blogging.com


Classroom/Student Blogs
Arthus - NewlyAncient (high school student blog)
AP Calculus AB (An interactive log for students and parents in my AP Calculus class. This ongoing dialogue is as rich as YOU make it. Visit often and post your comments freely.)
The Good Habits Blog (blog for students)
Mrs Cassidy's Classroom Blog (elementary)
Blogical Minds (This is a blog created to explore what happens when 5th graders blog and converse about literacies in class and beyond)

Google Search for Blogs
http://blogsearch.google.com/?hl=en&tab=wb

Check out the following education/safety focused postings and articles:
MySpace Education
Change Agency
BlogSafety.com
Blogs, Fair Use, and Paying to Play

Blogging Tips and Tricks:
Web Blog Basics
Blogs - Anatomy
Blogs for Learning
E
valuating Blogging
B
logging Best Practices
Top 10 Blog Writing Tips
___________________________________________________________________

QUESTION!
Since this is a class about blogging, we thought you might want to do a little, well, blogging. So, what are some advantages to using blogs? What are some disadvantages? What can you do to minimize the disadvantages?
____________________________________________________________________


Add your comment to this post. Take a minute to think about the above questions. (Or share something else, if you choose, like an idea your already have for using blogs) Click on the "comments" link below and then type your answer. You can comment as "anonymous or other." Be sure to include your name somewhere so we know who you are. Read others’ comments and feel free to comment on their comments!

Thanks!
Lee Anne



7 comments:

Anonymous said...

What a great post!

kttkathie said...

I am overwhelmed. Forget teaching classes. I need to spend my time reading blogs.

Anonymous said...

thanks for the link to support blogging - there were several blogs by librarians. Especially one for a hs in chicago. Had a great post on how to pick the perfect prom flowers - what every jr/sr needs to know!

Dr. K said...

I appreciate the free coffee, clean bathrooms, and adequate parking when I attend 8th floor classes

Eden said...

This is all so overwhelming, but exciting!!! I'm not sure how I'll use this in my classroom...but I will get there!! :)
eden

Anonymous said...

Blogging seems to be another method of written communication. It appears to be an informal approach to share knowledge and ideas while developing relationships with like-minded people.

How are blogs similar to discussion boards or chat rooms?

Anonymous said...

There are so many advantages to blogging. It gives students and teachers an outlet for their infomration and ideas, it also acts as a repository for classroom information, giving a common place for information regarding a class or topic. Blogs are also self archiving, so you build long term resources for future classes or students that are time and date stamped. Imagine a current events class that has students reflecting on current events and liking to resources, over time you have a hudge archive of events. Students become part of a historical archive.

Some disadvantages are that, in some forms, a blog can exponetially add work to student and teachers. It opens students work to the world and could potentially bring undesired attention, however, much of this can be controlled. There aren't many disadvantages, it mostly depends on how it is structured in a classroom.

-Julie