Blogging 101

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Blogging 101

• Michelle C. Obert
• Instructional Technology Specialist

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What is a blog?

• Blog is a shortened form of weblog or web log
• Website where journal entries are posted
• Displayed in reverse chronological order
• Includes text, images and hyperlinks
• Hyperlinks link to websites, video, audio, other
  files
• Usually focus on a particular area of interest
• Usually a conversational style of documentation
• Similar to a traditional journal or diary entry
• Place to share your thoughts, opinions and links

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What is blogging?

• Authoring a blog
• Maintaining a blog
• Adding a post to a blog

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What are individual articles on a blog called?

• Blog posts
• Posts
• Entries

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What is a blogger?

• Person who posts entries on a blog

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Why are blogs useful in the classroom?

• Encourage discussion
• Encourage interaction
• Engages many participants, not just a select few
• Provide writing practice
• Provides writing for a purpose/audience
• Fosters communication skills
• Prepares students for life after high school
• Fun so it motivates students
• Research shows that students who are normally
  quiet in class flourish through electronic
  writing

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Why are Blogs Useful in the Classroom?

• Research shows that blogging by students may have
  a positive influence on achievement and
  higher-order thinking skills
• Allow anytime learning, not confined to classroom
• Allow collaborative learning
• Provide opportunities for feedback and potential
  scaffolding of new ideas
• Publishing student writing in a blog furnishes
  them with an audience which often produces higher
  quality work

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According to Rebecca Blood, author of Weblog
Handbook, there are 4 benefits of students
blogging

• Use of blogs helps students become subject
  matter experts
• Use of blogs increases student interest and
  ownership in learning
• Use of blogs gives students legitimate chances to
  participate
• Use of blogs provides opportunities for diverse
  perspectives, both within and outside of the
  classroom

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Will Richardson, Blog Evangelist, says

• The range of uses for Weblogs among educators is
  wide. Hundreds of librarians have realized their
  power in communicating information about
  resources and in starting conversations about
  books and literacy. Students use Weblogs as
  digital portfolios or just digital filing
  cabinets, where they store their work. Teachers
  use blogs as classrooms portals, where they
  archive handouts, post homework assigments, and
  field questions virtually. Clubs and activities,
  sports teams, and parent groups use Weblogs to
  post scores, meeting minutes, and links to
  relevant issues and topics. In other words, a
  Weblog is a dynamic, flexible tool thats easy to
  use whether youre creating with it or simply
  viewing the result.

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Mabry Middle School Blogs(GA school)

• http//mabryonline.org/blogs/

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How Can Teachers Use Blogs?

• Post assignments
• Share thoughts
• Stimulate classroom discussion
• Praise students
• Easy way to keep tabs on student journaling
• Allow teachers to link to web resources for
  student homework and classwork
• Parents can also visit these sites to reinforce
  Internet-based content at home
• Allow collaborative learning

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What are Blogs Called in Educational Circles?

• EduBlogs
• Schoolblogs

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How a Teacher Views WeblogsWritten by Anne Davis

• I see Weblogs as a
• Way to improve my own writing
• Just in time learning arena
• Place to share
• Easy way to create a website quickly
• Way to connect with others and make connections
  to learning
• Perfect spot for quick writes
• Writing room in which you can make it be what you
  want it to be
• Perfect place to think outside the box
• Place to go to each day that provides elements of
  surprise and anticipation
• Way to give students ownership of a personal
  space
• Website that encourages active engagement by the
  students and teacher
• Place to collaborate
• Up-close and personal way to include parents in
  the process

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Before Students Blog

• With all of the negative press My Space is
  receiving, blogging has been blocked in many
  school systems
• Blogging can be very educational if used in the
  right way
• Blogs are tools that can be used or misused
• Misuse occurs often when there is a lack of
  instruction
• Even with bad publicity, more and more teachers
  are realizing how cool blogs can be as a way to
  capture student interest and motivate them to
  learn

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Guidelines to Follow

• Get permission slips from parents before
  students blog
• Even with permission, do not use students last
  names
• Assume that whatever students post will be read
  by the whole wide world
• Never link to any site that is not safe for
  students to view
• Talk with students about the type of material
  that is and is not appropriate on a blog
• Setup guidelines for student behavior that
  promote learning
• Create a blogging policy for students and have
  them sign it
• Develop a policy regarding actions to be taken
  when a student is a victim of a harmful/hurtful
  communication
• Create a policy regarding consequences for
  inappropriate posting
• Create and post a Blogging Safety Rules poster on
  your classroom wall or a bulletin board devoted
  to Internet Safety

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Features of a Blog

• Date Header
• Title
• Time Stamp
• Post (paragraph or short essay often with links)
• Author Name
• Category
• Comments (feedback to a post)
• Trackback (link back to another blog)

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Activities for Teaching and Learning Blogs

• Analyze- Ask students to analyze a book, article
  or other posting
• Brainstorm- Pose problems and create a collection
  of ideas
• Collaborate- Work collaboratively with another
  class in another school
• Communicate- Interact with an expert and conduct
  an interview
• Compare- Make a comparison
• Discuss- Examine a problem, question, drawing,
  photograph, or diagram
• Explain- Ask students to learn and demonstrate
  their understanding
• Imagine- Ask students to imagine a situation or
  scenario
• Observe and Log- Observe human interactions,
  scientific experiments, or other activities and
  post a record
• Persuade- Ask students to make a persuasive
  argument
• Predict- Read or watch then predict what will
  happen next
• Problem Solve- Pose a problem and then discuss
  solutions
• Question- Get students involved in asking
  questions
• React, Think and Act- Connect in-class learning
  to blog entries and transfer learning to new
  situations
• Read and Jigsaw- Read or use online resources and
  discuss then analyze, evaluate and create
• Remember and Reflect- Think about an activity and
  reflect on it
• Share Student Work- Share materials in a digital
  format including pictures, documents, PDF files,
  photos, charts, graphics, written work, audio,
  video and presentations

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Commenting on Blogs

• A feature of a blog that provides visitors the
  ability to attach instant feedback to a blog post
• Talk to students about making comments to blog
  posts
• Stress that they may disagree with the entry
• Disagree respectfully
• Always give credit along with constructive
  criticism

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Commenting Guidelines

• Be polite
• Make sure other people can understand your
  comments
• Be specific and clear about what you are saying
• If you are answering a question copy and paste
  it into your comment so people will know what it
  is
• Do not repeat other people
• Stay on topic
• If you are giving an opinion tell why you think
  that
• Ask questions that make people think
• Say things that make people think

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Sentence Starters for Commentsfrom Anne Davis an
Instructor at GA State University

• 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 we should
• I wish I understood why
• This is important because
• Another thing to consider is
• I can relate to this
• This makes me think of
• I discovered
• I dont understand
• I was reminded that
• I found myself wondering