Understand how to incorporate blogging into your classroom and improve writing along with some tricks from teacher and edublogger Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher.
1. Blogging for a better classroom
Vicki Davis, Teacher
http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com
Handouts
http://coolcatteacher.wikispaces.com
2. Web 1.0
The Read Only Web
Source: The Wayback Machine
3. Web 2.0
The tools in school are
changing again.
The Read/ Write Web
4. Web 2.0
• Blogs
• Wikis
• Podcasts
• Social Networking
• Tagging
• RSS
5. Every teacher needs an RSS Reader
• Google reader – http://reader.google.com
• Netvibes – http://www.netvibes.com
• PageFlakes – http://www.pageflakes.com
Note: I did a Web 2.0 workshop series for
Atomic Learning – if you have a subscription
you can learn more there.
7. Do blogs matter?
“The Internet’s
first scalp.”
John Podhertz, The New York Post
I want to say this about my state.
When Strom Thurmond ran for president,
we voted for him. We’re proud of it.
And if the rest of the country
had followed our lead,
we wouldn’t have had all these problems
over all these years either.
— Mississippi Senator Trent Lott, Dec. 5, 2002
8. Media’s Response
A Kennedy school of journalism study found:
“A certain receptivity in the bloggers allowed
judgment in the press to correct itself.”[1]
[1] Rosen, Jay. "The Legend of Trent Lott and the Weblogs." Pressthink: Ghost of Democracy in the Media
Machine 15 Mar 2004 05 Jun 2006
<http://journalism.nyu.edu/pubzone/weblogs/pressthink/2004/03/15/lott_case.html>.
13. Blog Anatomy
• Post (the entry)
• Comments
• The Sidebar
• The RSS Feed
• About the Author
• License
14.
15. Places for Classes to Blog
• http://www.classblogmeister.com
• http://www.edublogs.org
• Youth Voices – High School Kids
• www.ning.com
• www.blogger.com
• www.think.com
17. Video + Blogging = Vlogging
http://www.youtube.com/user/digiteendreamteam
18. What about bad comments?
• Moderated comments
– It takes time to show up.
• Spam comments
– Require you to enter
letters to make sure
you’re human.
– “Authentication code”
19. Elementary Blogging
• Mark Ahlness – Mighty Writers
– http://classblogmeister.com/blog.php?blogger_id
=41233
• Al Upton’s Mini Legends
– http://minilegends.edublogs.org/
– His Students are on the right side
20. 10 Habits of Bloggers That Win
(What to teach students about
blogging)
21. Habit #1
Have a “voice”
Blog Like a Pirate
http://westwood.ning.com/profiles/blogs/693670:BlogPost:8384
My new one “blog like a “blue Man” (Avatar)
22. Classroom
“Voices” are
Educated Ones
• No IM speak
• Make it clear what
part of the
assignment you’re
doing (Headings)
• Spell check
(Firefox)
23. Habit #2
Hyperlink words that need
explanation.
(Contextual Linking)
http://technocatteens.blogspot.com/2010/08/augmented-reality-future-now.html
25. Habit #3
Have a tempting title.
Catchy
Informative
Piques Curiosity
Explains a little bit
See http://technocatteens.blogspot.com/
26. Which blog post will you read?
• A paragraph I read today
• Ipods: Killing the CD as we Know it
• Gesture Based Computing Assignment
• Murdering the Mouse: The Future of Gesture
Based Computing
27. Habit #4
Write and cut in half.
(Write fast and then edit it down and reorganize.)
28. Exception
• The “How to” Post
• Then be very specific, give examples, show
pictures, screenshots, tutorials.
29. Habit #5
Don’t post till they can see the
white with their eyes.
(White space)
http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/2010/09/tips-to-overcome-conversation.html
34. Screenshots & Videos
• Jing – www.jingproject.com (Screencast)
• Fireshot – Screenshots on web
• Win 7 Snipping tool – Screenshots
• Camtasia – Screencasting
• Students should know how to embed
35. Other add ins
• Graphic Organizers –
http://www.classtools.net
– Graphics
• http://westwood.ning.com/profiles/blogs/comparing-
and-contrasting
36. Habit #8
Before you bag it, tag it!
Pull Technologies -
http://westwood.ning.com/profiles/blogs/reflective-blog-post-plns
Use a Tag “pln”
http://westwood.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=pln
37.
38.
39. Habit #9
Ping and Participate!
Ping your friends! (for adults)
www.twitterfeed.com
40. Ping Search Engines
• www.pingomatic.com
• Only ping if you WANT
to be found!
• People you link to will
follow trackbacks to
YOUR BLOG!! So get
ready!
41. Make it easy for others to Ping
your content
• Tweetmeme
http://tweetmeme.com
/about/retweet_button
42. Engage in
Conversation
Reply to those who
comment to you!
Disqus
www.disqus.com
43. Commenting
People read
You
your
comment
comments
People
People read follow your
your Comments
blog to
Your blog
44. Habit #10
Get the stats back!
www.statcounter.com
Blogger is internal
45. The great need for
meaning
• We want a global
audience.
• Must be done wisely
and safely.
46. Where do I go from here?
Start blogging!!
Every expert was once a beginner.
Notas do Editor
The Internet came along in the early 1990’s but only was an information source for schools because web pages were difficult to create and required knowledge of HTML programming. Because of the difficulty and expense, schools did not publish on the Internet, so this first internet is often called the read only internet or Web 1.0.
Now, we have entered a phase of the Internet called Web 2.0 or the Read/ Write web. Because of the decreasing cost of using electronic tools Students, teachers, administrators, and publishers are now turning in pen and paper and using a whole array of electronic tools
with such strange names as blogs, wikis, podcasts, and a whole new way for students, administrators, and teachers to network called social networking. Don’t worry if these names sounds confusing, when we get done with this tutorial, you’ll be on the way to becoming as familiar with these tools as you are now with paper, pencil, and textbook. As a classroom teacher, I was nervous when I learned of these tools and considered them for my classroom,
Teachers like me (and now you) can now chronicle our journey and best practices to share with others on our own blog. WE will learn more about blogs later but for now, it is a way to communicate as an individual or group electronically without knowing any programming.
http://flickr.com/photos/skepsis/http://farm1.static.flickr.com/1/189515973_0750e87ae2.jpg?v=0Licensed under creative commons attribution 2.0: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en-usSource of photo - http://flickr.com/photos/skepsis/189515973/
And that is what I suggest for you to do today. (Worksheet) – You’ll notice I have marked on your worksheet for today “My top three things to try when I return.” Your assignment from this workshop is to take three things back to your room that you will use THIS WEEK! You can’t swallow all of these things whole, you’ll choke. You’ve got grades to do and a lot of things going on… start with three.