Robin’s Technology Tips

This blog has moved.  My new address is:  www.robinstechtips.com.  Hope to see ya’ll in my new space.

In my recent blog readings, I have come across the prevailing thought that the importance of blogging is not just to make your voice heard, but it is the ongoing conversation that happens after a blog/piece of writing has put out there and others comment back to extend the conversation.  It is not just the writing workshop process happening in the classroom, but it is taking it to the world.   When you have to clarify and defend what you say, you improve your ability to write with a clear focus on your audience and purpose in expressing yourself. 

Students who blog have a great opportunity to see their writing read by others and even get feedback on their thoughts and insights from “real-world” people and not just their teacher.   How powerful is it to know that anyone in the world can read what you wrote and make comments.  Remember – Comments can be moderated so that the not so helpful ones are not made public.  

What are some examples of student created blogs?  Here is a list taken from Will Richardson’s Book  Blogs, Wikis, and Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for the Classroom.

• learn how to blog – nothing better than a hands on experience for learning
• class writing assignments/ ongoing portfolio of writings - blogs would keep all the writing organized and students can look back over time and see how their writing has changed over the year.  This could also be a showcase of their best work.
• express opinions or insights about class topics – Blogging is not just for LA classes, students can give insight on:
  • history topics
  • pieces of music
  • what makes learning a new language hard
  • how science and math can be found in everyday life
  • write editorial pieces about current events
  • discuss class activities

Any other ideas? 

Once you have read a few blogs you may decide you want to start one of your own.   This technology tip is for teachers who want to begin a blogs.

Check out these blogs from math teacher Karen McLinden.  Students are asked to respond to a post during a specified amount of time.  Some are math topics and some are topics about recent events in the lives of the students.

What are other kinds of blogs that teacher’s have started?  Here is a list taken from Will Richardson’s Blogs, Wikis, and Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for the Classroom.

• Reflective Journal that focuses on:
  • Your teaching experiences – The good, the bad, the ugly.
  • Your own learning – Professional development – What do you do with those ideas?  Did they work?  What would you do again?  What would you never do again?  Have you seen a good teacher in action?  Advice that you need to remember.
  • Share your experiences – Give how-to’s for another teacher, Describe lessons that you taught and how they went, share technology integration that you have attempted.
• Class Blogs:
  • Literature Circles or online book clubs
  • Class related info – i.e. calendars, events, homework, supplies, wish-lists
  • Post questions on class topics for students to respond to – can focus on literature or skills
  • Post writing prompts and have students expand on them as part of their comments to you
  • Showcase student work  or provide example of good classroom work
  • Gather internet resources for class assignments
  • Link your class to another class in the world for a joint project or just an ongoing conversation

Any other ideas?  Please add your ideas in the comments section.

Let’s start  with the difference between a blog and your TeacherWeb page.  A blog allows for users to comment and keeps all posts stored in chronological order.  Blogs are also searchable and can be “tagged” with keywords for easy access to previous information.  For instance, in a few months from now you think, “Oh yeah – Robin emailed us something about blogs.”  You can come to this blog and search using the word “blog” and this post will come up.  Users can also subscribe to your blog and get notified every time something new is posted without you having to send out the info.

 In education blogs are great at :

• easy publishing
• self-expression
• personality
• forces writer to think about the audience
• peer feedback
• chronology
• community of learners

Examples of use in education:

• Teacher’s Web Page
• Learning Journals – reflect on one’s own learning
• Create historical diaries – each day’s post equals day in character’s life
• Create fictional diaries – choose a character from the book and write a diary from that person’s point of view – respond to events in the book
• Publish Book – a chapter a day
• Collaborate with different classrooms
• Role Plays – Students are assigned various roles and post blogs from their view point.

So where do you begin?  Start by reading some blogs.   Technorati is a blog search engine that tracks millions of blogs on all sorts of topics.  Check out your favorite websites, see if any of them have links to blogs.   Comment on the blog and see what happens.  Being part of this community is to not only read or consume the information, but to also add back to the knowledge base of other reader’s.  You are more than welcome to comment back on this blog at any time!

Next, subscribe to a few blogs to begin being a member of the blogging community.  Blogs can be subscribed to through a number of free online readers, and sometimes you can get notification through email.  If you are interested in setting up a reader, let me know and we will get you started.   Here are some suggested educational blogs to subscribe to:

You are now well on your way to becoming a blogger yourself.  Setting up your own blog is easier than ever and is completely free!  If you are ready for this step, let me know and I can come get you started.  I currently recommend edublogs as it is free, easily customizable, made for educators and contains no ads.

Happy blogging!

Further Reading:

• http://www.edutopia.org/blogging-history – article about a class blog project
• Recent article that shows writing improves with blogging: “Learning with Weblogs” by Helen S. Du, Christian Wagner at City University in Hong Kong.