Blogs What Why and How

8/8/2019 Blogs What Why and How

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Who am I?Jo McLeay

The Open Classroom blog

http://theopenclassroom.blogspot.com/



Teacher since 1978, mother of five adult children,lifelong learner...



My children - Emilly, Tristan,Felicity, Lachlan and Kieran



At school I teach English and am English

Domain Leader



What are blogs?

use the chat to put in some ideas



A blog is...

a free personal website containing...

hypertextual pieces of writing (or content such asvideo, photos, flow charts, links, music, slides, art)composed by an individual...

new posts appear at the top of the page...

posts can be edited anytime, even after publication



There is an invitation to...

...make comments, thereby makingit a conversation



Characteristics of blogs

simple to get started

word document-like editing

free

a repository of content that lasts



With the read-write web the power of content creation has been handed

over to the user and there is no goingback

This is the world that we as learners

live in

This is the world that our studentslive in

In the 21st century



How do we blog?




Before the end of this session

you will have a chance to start your ownblog



And most importantly, WHY dowe blog?




We'll start with why first...

unless we know why, who wouldbother?



Why blog?

We can blog for:professional developmentreflectionidentity

collaborationconversation

Blogging is useful for reflection on and

improvement in our professional practice



"I am amazed at all that has happened, and I haven’t

even begun to speak of all that I have learnt fromreading, reflecting and commenting and receiving comments. Or the joys and learning experiences of blogging with my Year 9 students and the contact with Clarence Fisher ’s class. I would like to thank Clarencefor his inspiration and guidance. To top it all off being nominated for Best Teacher Blog in the Edublog Awards...."

In December 2005, after 6 months as a

blogger I wrote...

http://incsub.org/awards



http://remoteaccess.typepad.com/remote_access/



Blogging overcomes the isolation of

teaching

we learn together

it makes our job easier (others helpwith our research)

doing our job well becomes moreenjoyable



Why reflect?

Standards of the Victorian institute of teaching

Professional engagement

“Teachers reflect on, evaluate andimprove their professional knowledge

and practice.”



Blogging as reflection

The edublogger community modelsand encourages this

Teachers who are passionate abouttheir practice



With reflection I can….

Evaluate effectiveness

Identify my own learning needsVisualise future ideas

Ask for help

Keep up with research



Blogs enable…

Looking back to where you were

The benefits of connecting disparate

peopleLearning from others

Articulating beliefs and thoughts

Refining these



Building community

http://edubloggerworld.ning.com/

http://edubloggerworld.ning.com/



Blogging….

another way of learning

a different way of thinking



If blogging is good for teachers

who are lifelong learners....

...what will it do for students?



What sort of learning experiencesdo our students need?

In the 21st century…

We want learners who are motivated to

be lifelong learnersCritically literate in every way

Digital citizens

Reflective and compassionate

I’m sure you can add to thislist… (please do)



Motivation

"Think about it. Kids are motivated. Theyoften want to write more and they want to

write better, using proper grammar andspelling because they know they have anaudience who will read their work."

(C. Fisher)



Blogging and other interactive tools

Can make students' experiences of learning more enjoyable

collaboration helps students learn aboutstudents in other parts of the world

collaboration means that together we canachieve more than individual classroomscould achieve alone



Some practical points:

SETTING UP A BLOG

Blogs can be set up for free at a few different sites.

http://www.learnerblogs.org (for students)

http://www.edublogs.org (for teachers)http://blogger.com

WRITING BLOG POSTS

Once you have set up a blog, either for yourself, or for your students, you can immediately begin writing and editing posts.It is simply like a word processor. After finishing writing, simplyclick save and what has been written automatically goes on

the Internet for everyone to read.



PRESENTATION

Your blog’s appearance can becustomised. Simply click on thePresentation tab at the top and choose

the theme that you like.

Many of these themes can be further customized allowing you to place a search

box, lists of links to other places on theInternet, calendar, files, etc



WRITING GOOD POSTS

Writing online is different from writing on a piece of paper because it can have more stuff on it. For example, a blog post doesn’t only need to be writtentext. It can also include pictures, videos, links to other websites, etc. We use three rules for writing posts:

1. Divide long pieces of writing into pieces using sub-titles.

2. Include links, pictures, videos, etc. to give peoplemore information.

3. Include a catchy title



COMMENTS

One of the main advantages of blogging isthat students can write a post and otherseither in the class or anywhere else aroundthe world can write comments on them.

To leave a comment, click on "comments" or “add a Comment” on the actual post and write what you would like.



Shaping our learning throughcomments

Anne Davis muses that:

“Students need practice with the standards that are being taught. Blogging is a great way to provide that practice… helps make it authentic and important to the student. They haveownership … classroom discussions are very important… crucial to take the time to share and

reflect on how the comments are shaping our learning.”



How to teach commenting(and why)...

Vicki Davis in Georgia USA has a very useful blog post onthis, including:

You show the blog author that "you hear

them"

Beginners who comment will receive thefeedback that will keep them blogging and

push them to excellenceRemember the power of words

Teach commenting



Some comment starters:

This made me think about…….I wonder why…….Your writing made me form an opinion

about…….This post is relevant because…….Your writing made me think that weshould…….I wish I understood why…….This is important because……



Teaching with blogs and the read/write

web...

Using wikis and blogs in a classroom feelsdifferent. It should be different. It is meantto be.

Clarence Fisher talks about rethinking our classrooms as studios



According to Clarence…

Using wikis and blogs and other online tools isnot meant to be something that we struggle todo, trying to find time to fit them in on top of allof the “regular” things we do in our classroom.

Wikis and blogs are meant to be a regular

part of the classroom/studio.



I heard myself saying…

“I just didn’t know blogging was going to changemy life in the way it has”



But it is not for everyone

Uses the intrapersonal intelligence

Makes some feel uneasy (the fear factor)

Some people reflect better in other ways



Blogging is a tool for learning…. and I

cannot now imagine learning or teachingwithout using blogs.

Thanks to:Graham Wegner Claudia CerasoClarence Fisher

Anne DavisVicki Davisand my Virtual Learning Network

Blogs What Why and How

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