Blog presentation outline:

 

Introductions

I’m Jeff Giddens. I work at First District RESA ETTC earning my living helping teachers use technology efficiently and effectively. If you asked me, “Jeff, what do you want to do with your life?” I’d tell you…

“I truly want to help make this world a better place than I how I found it. I want to be considered a necessary person, a person that this world needs.”

 

My email address is jgiddens@fdresa.org

 

Here’s what I want to do. I want to help teachers make the lives of children better by

  • integrating technology in a meaningful way
  • improving understanding (this will positively affect achievement)
  • making learning more engaging, relevant, meaningful

 

Let me be clear about what I mean when I say engaging, relevant, meaningful

  • Engaging: interesting to the students; makes them want to learn
  • Relevant/Authentic: useful to the student; students feel as though this information will help them outside of school
  • Meaningful: it’s important to the students; the task/information meets a need that they have

 

I also want…

  • to document cognitive development over time
  • students to become more reflective—looking at how they think and thinking about that thinking (metacognition)
  • students to use/share what they have learned with an audience wider than that of the classroom (family, community, the world?)

 

Why are you doing what you are doing?

What are you looking for?

 

What are we discussing?

Blogs

explanation and resulting information gleaned from Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog )

                                                                         

What is a blog?

A blog (or web log) is a web-based program that allows you to create reverse chronologically ordered posts on a common webpage. In simple terms, it’s an easy way to make a webpage that acts like a continually updateable/archivable diary. You don’t have to know how to write html or do a lot of technical things. You write something (a thought, idea, poem, story, opinion, rant, etc…), click a button, and save it to the Internet.

 

Blogcabulary

The word’s you’ll need to learn in order to “speak the language” of blogs

Blogerati

Bloggers who are “in the know”; the elite of the Blogosphere

Blogger

A person who maintains a blog

Blogging

Making, keeping, adding to, or editing a blog

Bloggorhea

When you just can’t stop blogging or post too much information

Blogilicious

Something you just have to share on your blog

Blogosphere

The blog portion of the Internet; the blog universe; the collective term encompassing all blogs. Blogs are much like the rest of the Internet—connected to similar resources (other blogs); bloggers read other blogs, link to them, and reference them in their own writing. Because of this, the interconnected blogs have grown their own culture.

Blogroll

A list of other blogs that a blogger post on his/her own blog

Blogstipation

When you want to blog but just can’t think of anything to post

Blogstrosity

Posting/blogging way, way too much…to the point that it’s frighteningly impressive

Blognology

The study of blogging

Blogology

Blogging for bloggers

 

An exhaustive glossary of blog-related terms can be found at the Blog Glossary at Samizdata (note: it may contain language more “expressive” than what has been used here).

 

Quick history-

Where did blogs come from? Are they really new?

 

  • People have been keeping journals/diaries/logs for a long time; a good example is the diary maintained by Samuel Pepys
  • Ham radio users also have logs called "glogs" that were personal diaries made using wearable computers in the early 1980s.
  • Before blogging became popular, digital communities took many forms (Usenet, email lists and bulletin boards). In the 1990's Internet forum software, such as WebX, created running conversations with threads.
  • the term "weblog" was coined by Jorn Barger in December 1997.
  • the shorter version, "blog," was coined by Peter Merholz who in April or May of 1999 introduced the word weblog into the phrase "we blog" in the sidebar of his weblog (it soon began to be used as a noun and a verb)
  • In early 2002, blogs began to spring up to support the invasion of Iraq. These were "war bloggers.” Blogs also kept marginal stories alive" in the press until they picked up enough steam to be considered “real” news.
  • Howard Dean and Wesley Clark made blogs a credible news source. Blogs also arose among soldiers serving in the Iraq war. Such military blogs (milblogs) have become the modern version of a war correspondent.
  • In 2004, the role of blogs became increasingly mainstream, as political consultants, news services and candidates began using them as tools for outreach and opinion formation. Anthologies of blog pieces began to reach print, and blog stories began appearing on radio and television. In the summer of 2004 both the Democratic and Republican Conventions made use of blogs.

 

Types of blogs

Collaborative

a blog written by more than one person about a specific topic. It can be either open to everyone or limited to a group of people; Metafilter

Corporate

Blog where employees of a corporations post official or semi-official information

Directory

Blog that contains useful resources for web-surfers; often collect numerous web sites with interesting content in an easy to use and constantly updated format; news-related weblogs; Slashdot

Format

Blog that specializes in a particular form of presentation, such as images, sounds, videos

Friendblog

distributed networked journal on the Internet that is composed of short, frequently updated posts written by friends connected through their similar interests

Personal

Online diaries that are integrated into the daily lives of many people; may contain communications between friends

Political

A blog with links to articles from news web sites and with political comments from the author

Thoughtful

primarily concerned with daily life and events; often blur into personal, topical, or political issues

Topical

focuses on a specific niche, often a technical one; Google Blog

 

How to make a blog

Link to PowerPointà http://www.jeffgiddens.com/createblog.ppt

Go to Blogger

Choose to create your own blog

Create an account (username, password, display name)

Choose title and address

Choose template

Start posting

Type and format your message

Save as a DRAFT or PUBLISH

Republish

Ta-da!                  

 

If you want to add pictures

get a place to host your pictures (Geocities will work)

upload your image to your hosting site

Go to Blogger

Make a post and where you want a picture, add this code:

<img src=”http://________”>

Turn off any hyperlinks

Click on PREVIEW

Save as a DRAFT or PUBLISH

 

Ways to use blogs in a classroom

The following ideas are based on suggestions made by Anne Davis (of eSchoolNews) at 

http://anvil.gsu.edu/EduBlogInsights/2004/10/05#a668

Students can use blogs to create a reflective, community-generated journal to...

  • reflect on their learning experiences.  
  • keep a log of their experiences.
  • write a description of specific tasks/activities.
  • describe what worked or what didn't work. 
  • provide some tips for other students who might attempt tasks/activities.
  • write about something they’ve learned from other students.
  • explain insights they have gained from what happened in their class.
  • share ideas for activities to use in the classroom. 
  • provide some how-to type instructions on using specific skills/strategies in the class
  • explore important issues.

 

Teachers can use a blog to...

 

  • post class-related information such as calendars, events, homework assignments, rubrics, and other pertinent class information.
  • post assignments based on literature readings/content-specific concepts and have students respond
  • communicate with administrators, other teachers, parents, community members, and/or anyone else interested in what students are doing
  • post prompts for writing.
  • provide examples of classwork, vocabulary activities, or explanations of concepts
  • provide online readings for your students to read, research, and react to.
  • gather and organize Internet-based resources/rubrics for a specific course, providing links to appropriate sites and annotating the links as to what is relevant about them.
  • post photos/links to downloadable files and comment on class activities.
  • invite student comments or postings on issues in order to give them an opportunity to develop a writing voice.
  • publish examples of good student work completed in class.
  • showcase student questions, observations, work, ideas, art, poetry, and creative stories.
  • create a dynamic teaching site, posting not only class-related information, but also activities, discussion topics, links to additional information about topics students are studying in class, and suggested/selected readings to inspire learning.
  • create a reading circle based on content-specific reading passages.
  • create an online book club (note: books can be fiction, nonfiction, or merely related to a concept being explored).
  • make use of the commenting feature to have students publish messages on topics (thereby giving them an opportunity to practice giving constructive feedback).
  • post tasks to carry out project-based learning tasks with students.
  • build a class newsletter, using student-written articles and photos they take.
  • link your class with another class somewhere else in the world

 

You can encourage your students to use a blog to share... 

 

  • their reactions to thought-provoking questions.
  • their reactions to photos you post.
  • journal entries.
  • results of surveys they carry out as part of a class unit.
  • their ideas and opinions about topics discussed in class.
     

 You can have your students create their own weblogs to...

  • complete class writing assignments.
  • create an ongoing portfolio of samples of their writing.
  • express their opinions on topics you are studying in class.
  • write comments, opinions, or questions on daily news items or issues of interest.
  • discuss activities they did in class and tell what they think about them (You, the teacher, can learn a lot this way!).
  • write about class topics, using newly-learned vocabulary words and idioms.
  • showcase their best writing pieces.

 

You can also ask your class to create a shared weblog to...

  • complete project work in small groups, assigning each group a different task.
  • showcase products of project-based learning.
  • complete a WebQuest.
  • Share ideas you have for using weblogs in education. 

 

 

Any questions?

Email me at jgiddens@fdresa.org