Comments on: What Would You Say About Blogging?

By: Sharon Ellner

Sharon Ellner — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 18:09:55 +0000

What are the main aspects of blogging that you would emphasize/highlight in a 20 minute overview of blogging?
-use the CommonCraft video on blogging – http://www.commoncraft.com/blogs – simple and to the point about what blogs are
- show them how blogs are for posting as well as responding to information
-show them how blogs can respond quickly to current topics as it is so easy to post and comment to blogs

What examples of blogging would you show and why?
Show them examples of quality blogs such as the ones that have won the Edublog Awards – include student, teacher, administrator and well-known blogs so they can see what the blogs can do and how blogs can be used for many different purposes and audiences

What other tips or advice would you give?
-help them to understand that blogs are easy to do
-blogs can be setup in many ways to provide various levels of access and safety for students
-if possible, have a blog that they can read and post comments to so they get the feel of responding to blogs
-show them how a reader, e.g. Google Reader, can be setup and used to make reading of blogs very efficient

What country are you from? United States

By: Sue Waters

Sue Waters — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 00:50:27 +0000

@cyd45 The links for credits is for people who want to become Edublogs supporters. You can read more about being a supporter here.

@Nancy Wow great to hear how long your blog is going and how well it is doing. Excellent work.

@John Borst Thanks for your thoughts. I have been thinking that it would be good to have a list of Principal and chief Adminstrators who blog for exactly that reason. Similar to what I’ve done for the class blogs.

Any thought anyone?

@Pina Looks like you have your avatar working fine.

@tlpsart Hi Yyonne – glad to hear how much you are enjoying blogging with your students. Checked out your blog and love how you are using photos to share what is happening in class. Totally agree – in many ways reading blogs is more important than just writing your own blog posts.

@Webhosting thanks for your comments

By: webhosting

webhosting — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 05:51:08 +0000

What are the main aspects of blogging that you would emphasize/highlight in a 20 minute overview of blogging?
–Userful articles that attract me.

What examples of blogging would you show and why?
–Fashion and beautiful styles.

What other tips or advice would you give?
–Your blog can be more beautiful.

What country are you from?
–AU

By: tlpsart

tlpsart — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 05:55:00 +0000

I’m Yvonne Osborn, a Primary Visual Arts specialist teacher from Melbourne, Australia, and I’m relatively new to blogging. My site is http://www.tlpsart.edublogs.org. I can honestly say that blogging has refreshed my whole attitude to teaching and opened my eyes to what’s out there in regards to communicating about teaching and learning.
I have wanted to showcase our students’ artwork for quite some time and then along came blogging and it allowed me to do that. Our site is of a different variety (perhaps more for information and less for opinion) and it is taking a while to get the comments I had thought would be forthcoming but I enjoy making it and love using it as a teaching tool. Our students almost burst with pride when they see their work online. I can foresee endless learning opportunities for my classes and those will multiply when I eventually get an interactive whiteboard in our Art room.
I agree with Mike Curtain when he says “I think any conversation about blogging has to start with a direct attack on the popular perception of blogging as an act of vanity: Blogging is not about pedants on soapboxes but about conversations. It’s as much about reading blogs as it is about writing one. You really can’t get the full effect without doing both.” I am enjoying reading Mike’s blog “Connecting the Dots” and another by Rodd Lucier called “The Clever Sheep”.
I blog humbly but with pride, pride in the way I relate to my students, in their great work and in the way that at 55 years old I am finding the use of the new communication and learning technologies exciting.
Thanks Edublogs. You are a dream come true.

By: pina

pina — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 08:24:23 +0000

oh yeah please answer on my blog which is pinawya67.edublogs.org

By: pina

pina — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 08:22:57 +0000

Hi
Howcome I cant upload my blog Avatar?
Please answer
CYA

By: John Borst

John Borst — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 01:49:28 +0000

First I’m from Canada:

There are some chief administrators who have blogs. Include them in your examples since this is an address to principals.

See if you can find some examples of principals who blog. Peers learn best from peers. The more they do it the better they will understand how teachers can use them in teaching both among themselves and with their children.

I got into it purely by accident. I wanted an organization to start up a traditional magazine on education in a niche market. I couldn’t get it off the ground. So I went to a webdesigner and asked how I could set up a site as cheaply as possible. He built one on Wordpress and the blog was born. That was in Sept. 2006. I wanted to prove the market was out there.

Spend a minute or two on the impact of being able to track visits and # of times an article is read and where the visitors are from. The number of comments are reinforcing but when no comments appear the reinforcement provided by increasing numbers is highly motivating. It is instant feedback. The effect of a surge or a statistically visible link is like a wow moment.

In some senses it is like performing only the audience is invisible.

Another advantage is you make contacts all over the world. Serious contacts. Last month I spent 4 days in London and I got together with three leaders in the field I blog in, 2 from Great Britain and one from South Africa.

My imagination just runs away with me thinking about how I might use this tool and social networking tools in a classroom but alas I left the classroom in 1977. Yes I am that old.

Anyway, hope that helps and thanks for all the ideas. There is a post in it.

Oh and my site is http://www.tomorrowstrust.ca and check out the websites of the woman who does the cartoon strip. She has a class one too.

By: Nancy

Nancy — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 01:08:59 +0000

I’d show them my students’ blog A Really Different Place http://areallydifferentplace.org The blog is three years old and we have had 35,000 visits—that’s a heck of a lot writing, thinking, reflecting and discussing by 10-12 year old kiddos.

By: cyd45

cyd45 — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 21:52:33 +0000

hey im am a new here and i was just looking at all the blogs here and they were pretty cool and i almost forgot why when you are on your profile it says you have no credits click here to purchess more? can someone please write back about the answer? thanks to you all!

By: Sue Waters

Sue Waters — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 10:37:34 +0000

@mppsliblog Excellent points about increasing motivation to read books and write about what they’ve read.

@Ken Allen I’m always amazed how it sparks ideas that I hadn’t thought of and takes my learning places I wouldn’t have considered.

@Janzalone Excellente news about your presentation. Glad it went really well and especially the news that you were approached about creating a collaborative blog for the region. Thanks for sharing how you tackled the presentation.