Take a few minutes to have a look at these education-related blogs. Some of them are intended to be used with students, others are not. Remember that people express themselves in different ways and you may not enjoy everyone's writing style or the content of their blogs. They are merely examples of how educators are blogging.
James Logan Courier - high school student journalism
Teaching Learners with Mutiple Special Needs - resources
Bud the Teacher - about teaching
G-Town Talks - from a superintendent of schools
ETLMS - from Oakland Schools
This Week in Education - by journalist and former Senate education staffer
List of blogs related to education in various categories
Then, give some thought to how you might use a blog in your classroom. Read this good post for some ideas.
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To complete Thing 3 you must:
A. Post a comment on this blog
B. Post a comment to another blog of your choice
C. Look at your blog settings
D. Reflect on Thing 3 on your blog
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A. Post a Comment -
Scroll down to the bottom of this page and you'll find a link to "post a comment." Clicking it will allow you to leave a comment about this entry. Go ahead and do that. Then, remember that you can leave a comment for any of the 23 Things assignment entries. (However, if you have a question that needs an immediate answer, it's better to email us!)
B. Comment Again -
Comments are important in the blogosphere. They provide feedback to the blogger, allow the blogger to get to know his/her audience, and connect bloggers who write about similar topics. Now that you're in a commenting mood, go back up to the list of education blogs (edublogs) listed above and post to at least one of them. Or better yet, visit the blogs of other participants in this project (listed on the right) and post a comment on one of them. Depending on the blog service used and settings applied, posting comments may require information like your name or email address, or they may allow anonymous comments. Some might have the comments setting turned off and not allow you to leave any at all.
C. Your Blog Settings -
Login to your blog dashboard and have a look at the settings, including how to turn comments on/off (but do not turn your comments off, as we will leave comments on your blog!) Watch the video for a brief overview of blog settings.
D. Reflect - Blog Prompts for Thing 3
How might a blog support the work you do? How might you use a blog with students? How might they respond to a blog assignment? What concerns do you have about educational blogging?
Curriculum Connections
Idea #1: A blog is an excellent device for home-school communications. Daily assignments/homework/special school announcements can be posted on your blog and then your students and/or their parents can “subscribe” to your blog.
Idea #2: A blog is an excellent forum for discussion of issues. Create one for the next school, local, state, or national election and discuss the issues of the day.
Idea #3: A book discussion blog is a library and language arts favorite. Start one today and then branch out into other topics such as pro/con topics of interest, student opinion surveys, or campus activity discussions.
To echo what others have said here, the diversity of blogs out there is mind-boggling! I'm also not sure what I would eliminate from my life now in order to make time to read blogs and/or write a blog on a consistent basis. I can see that this format could be useful as a classroom organizing tool, but here, again, my main concern would be finding the time to keep it going.
ReplyDeleteI think the most helpful part of this article was the link to 33 Ways to Use Blogs in Education. Some of the ideas I liked were the narration of stories (in my room we write role plays and skits using different communication skills). Another idea I liked was blogging to review children's books. Sometimes I have students read a novel as an alternative assignment and this would provide me with an easy way to assess a student's progress. We could also use blogs as a way to record memorable learning moments from our field trips. Or we could use them to interview family members about topics we are discussing in school.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed looking at the many different styles of writing, sharing, and informing on the sample blogs listed and a few under the "blogs related to education". I can certainly see how there is something there for everyone. I, like Brenda, found the "33 Ways" to be very helpful. I like the idea of having my students create blogs and use audio narrations. This would give them practice with our microphones as well. I could have my younger students voice a famous quote of someone they are researching, or even say a few words or phrases in the language of the country they are researching. My older students can include short video clips that they create in class using our new editing program. Lots of possibilities here.
ReplyDeleteThe "33 ways" to use blogs was very informative and varied in ideas for ways to use blogs in many subjects. I liked the idea where students create a timeline of historical events or events in a story. I like the online feature so that the timeline can be done cooperatively. Another I like was to create a blog where students collect data on science experiments. Again the collaboration is a main component. Blogs are also good for reacting to books. This is a great way to excite students and teachers to read.
ReplyDeleteWow! A girl can really get lost in all of these blogs. I spent so much time navigating my way through them, clicking on links and other blogs they followed, that I kept getting lost.
ReplyDeleteA blog that I found particularly interesting was the one written by the Superintendent of Schools. It keeps parents and community members informed of the how's and why's that are occurring within the school system. This is so beneficial as it nips rumors in the bud. As we all have probably experienced, rumors occur in many school systems. Often times these rumors explode into much more than they really are. By having this blog available, it allows students, teachers, parents, and community members a forum to find out the "truth" and provides a forum for questions and comments.
I too found the "33 Ways" especially helpful in providing ideas for using blogs in my classroom. I was pleased to see that one of the suggestions was for book reviews, which is something that I am planning to incorporate into my class next year (with the help of a certain peanut m&m-loving friend :-)
The site that I am quoting from is intended for learners with special needs, but I found the following advice applicable to how i might view all of my students...
ReplyDelete" * Focus on who your students are becoming,
not what they are doing
* it is the process not product
* every interaction has the possibility of
being the A-HA moment "
and also how I might view myself as a learner.
Reading the edublogs here gave me two A-Ha moments, the first I listed above and the second is that i can use a blog as a forum for students to post their work in progress which parents can then view or use the blog site for all to collaborate on one project, each student having a piece, like creating a puzzle.
Some interesting thoughts -- actually I think you may really like wikis for the collaborative aspect of student work -- that's another "thing" you will encounter as you move through the program.
ReplyDeleteI found this information very helpful. As others said, I found the "33 Things" to be especially good, since I like to learn specific strategies that have worked for other educators. I thing a blog would be an amazing tool to communicate with parents. I could also see value in posting assignments, study guides, etc. Thanks for the insight!
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness, there is so much out there! I spent hours looking at blogs and clicking on links. I searched for blogs that are specific to my grade level to get some ideas. A few had amazing educational links and I bookmarked several. I enjoyed reading the "33 Ways to Use Blogs in Education" and found many ideas that I would like to try next year. The video on how to change your blog settings was helpful.
ReplyDeleteReading the "33 Ways to Use Blogs in Education" was very exciting for me. What a great resource for ideas! The wheels started spinning as I read through the list and imagined how I might tailor some of the different suggestions to fit my learners needs or special interests. Since I have limited time to work with my students, I find the idea of blogging as way to enhance the time I'm able to communicate and work with them. No longer would we have to wait several days on end to react or share thoughts about novels we're reading, projects we're working on or problems we're solving. The possibilities with blogging are endless!
ReplyDeleteWell, it looks like I agree with just about everyone else. The "33 Ways..." really got me thinking about all the possibilities. I also explored a variety of the other sites to see which ones were most like what I could envision. While it took some time, I found some great ideas for my blog. While I was originally thinking about creating this blog for teachers, I began to realize it might be a great tool to use with parents to help them help their children with math. A lot to think about!
ReplyDeleteThere are so many ways that blogs can be used. "33 ways" provided so many great examples. I think it could be a great tool to use within a department and with other departments to exchange share/ideas. I am thinking about all the changes that are happening with SRBI. It might be a good tool for teachers to post interventions that work.
ReplyDeleteI will probably use blogging a little differently than others as I don't have a classroom, but hope to get the other nurses involved, I will recommend that they take this PD if offered again.
ReplyDeleteZap! So much time went by as I read and clicked and linked and read and on and on. I was typing my reactions and thoughts along the way, and it is over 1.5 pages. No worries, though; I won't post it all here. :-)
ReplyDeleteThing 3 ~ Blogs in education has been mind-bending! I am amazed at the thousands of educators who have made this form of technology a priority in their daily routine. Personally, I cannot imagine finding the time to post such elaborate details, thoughts and highlights of an already busy day. I do feel, however, that there is a definite place for blogging. The 33 ideas page was interesting and stimulating as to how I could use blogging in my role as a science resource teacher. That page even had a few science related blog ideas that I may suggest to some of the science teachers I work with. When I first looked at this blogging concept I thought I might create one to go with my summer adventures around CT I am organizing with a group of friends. I thought I could post a review of our journeys and discoveries along with pictures. The same thought keeps coming back to me, though....is anyone really that interested in what I have to write or share?!? I not usually the skeptic, but just recording what comes to my mind!
ReplyDeleteI have been collecting school and library blogs and adding them to my favorites. There are so many amazing, creative and involved people out there...and I have trouble finding (or taking) the time to read these blogs. I enjoyed the ETLMS blog for its focus on information literacy and its mention of Wolfram|Alpha which looks very interesting. And like everyone, the 33 ways list is a great resource. But how to begin a library blog? Jump right in, I guess...
ReplyDeleteAll the info was very helpful. It is amazing what you can do with a blog! Hope to use these ideas with my students next year!
ReplyDeleteI would love to have my students blogging but I am afraid that the parents might come back at me with bad comments.
ReplyDeleteSo many cool blogs, so little time! For aspiring language learners, check out Zachary Jones Zambombazo blog. It is my all time favorite. Creating a blog is great way to give back and contribute to your field.
ReplyDelete