Educational Blogs
As you can imagine, Blogging is a quick and easy way to communicate with parents and students. Educators use blogs as student writing spaces, classroom organizers, professional reflection spaces, and for many more purposes. Many teachers allow comments and use the blog as a forum to extend the school discussion, or use it as a way to allow students to reflect upon probing questions. Others do not use the comments section, and use the blog as an easily updatable web page with one way communication.
Take a few minutes to have a look at these education-related blogs, or feel free to explore your own with a Google search. Some of the blogs below are intended for teacher to teacher interaction and some are for students and parents. You may like what you see, or you may not like the style or prose of the blogger. I guess that is life.
http://erictremblay.blogspot.com/- e-Learning Acupuncture- great blog for tech integration
http://www.jameslogancourier.org/ - Check out the best of links on the right
MPB Reflections - Reflections on 21st Century Teaching
Teaching Learners with Mutiple Special Needs - resources
Your Tutor- online video tutorials
Autism- a blog with people posting the best Autism blogs
Bud the Teacher - about teaching
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.
Commenting on Blogs
Are there any guidelines or rules for blog posts?
While there are no rules per se, these are a few things to keep in mind as you blog your progress:
- Privacy? There is none! Everyone can read your blog. This is the nature of blogs in general.
- Remember, you can remain anonymous by choosing a generic name for the blog and hide your user profile if you wish.
- Keep in mind the type of posts you make and use discretion in mentioning names/places.
- Copyright issues and intellectual content also apply to blogs.
- Photo posting – When posting identifiable photos of other people (especially minors) it is advisable to get the person’s permission before posting their photo in a publicly available place like Flickr.
- Never upload pictures that weren’t taken by you (unless you have the photographer’s consent) and always give credit when you include photos taken by someone else in your blog.
- Respect your colleagues’ thoughts and comments, but feel free to disagree. That’s how discussions ensue and change happens!
Read these two articles for some tips on how to make good comments:
To complete Thing 3 you must:
A. Post a comment on this blog
B. Post a comment to another "non-23 Things" blog of your choice
C. Post a comment to a fellow 23 Things traveler's blog
D. Look at your blog settings
E. Reflect on Thing 3 on your blog
A. Post a comment on this blog
B. Post a comment to another "non-23 Things" blog of your choice
C. Post a comment to a fellow 23 Things traveler's blog
D. Look at your blog settings
E. Reflect on Thing 3 on your blog
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. Mind that your comments will be read by anyone accessing this site. In addition, note that you comment on any of the Wilton 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. Subscribe to Your Fellow Traveler's Blogs and Comment on Other Participant's Blogs
Since the core concept of Web 2.0 is social and is about forming communities of similarly focused individuals we should practice what we preach.
Since the core concept of Web 2.0 is social and is about forming communities of similarly focused individuals we should practice what we preach.
Already your facilitators have subscribed to your blogs and you are probably receiving comments on your blog posts from the facilitators, now it's your turn. You just learned how to subscribe to blogs above so go ahead and subscribe to your fellow 23 Things Traveler's blogs.
Then, since you have posted on another blog of your choice, dive in and participate with your fellow 23 Things Travelers. Post comments on their blogs, your'll find them listed in the column to the right. Keep the conversation going.
D. 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 improve teaching and learing? How would you feel about blogging with your students or colleagues? What concerns do you have about educational blogging?
I know I sound like a broken record, but when does anyone have time for all of this? I'm in school 8-10 hours a day just keeping my head above water. When I go home I have my wife/kids/dog who all deserve my time. I'd love to meet some of these people and find out what they are giving up in order to spend their time blogging. Of cours I probably could just ask them on their blog, or would that be an infraction of blog etiquete?
ReplyDeleteI thought some of the blogs posted were amazing, but I agree with Jim. As I checked out the first blog listed, my initial reaction was "Who has time for this?" I did look through a bunch of the blogs this morning because it is vacation and I had some time, but I do not usually have the time between work and being part of a busy family! I did get sidetracked on several of the blogs and as a science teacher, one that I will explore further is Google Body. It worked well as I use Chrome as my browser.
ReplyDeleteI was impressed with the educational blogs, and the concern of the bloggers to use them as one form of communication; a suppliment to real life communication, not a substitute. Some of the blog designs were dated and unattractive, not like this one!
ReplyDeleteWow. I've been at this for a l-o-n-g time today.
ReplyDeleteI did find a blog that will help me in teaching and read a great post about technology in the kindergarten classroom. Right now tho, I'm missing my pilates class . . . .
Yes in today's world Blogging is very famous. Blogging is a quick and easy way to communicate with parents and students. It help the students to increase their knowledge and also help to communicate with their teachers or use it as a way to allow students to ask their questions.
ReplyDelete