Enhancing Education Through Blogging: A Classroom Integration Guide

1. Integrating Blogs into Your Classroom follow along or Independently on your own Jim Jewell, Loma Park I.T.F. jjewell@eisd.net

2. What is Blogging? • Web-based publication consisting primarily of periodic articles, most often in reverse chronological order • Communication tool that can be dynamic or static in nature • Blogging is about reading and writing. • Literacy is about reading and writing. • Blogging is about literacy.

3. Educational Blogging • Educational Blogging is blogging by students, teachers, administrators, industry experts, and other involved entities that focus primarily on the educational process and educational interests.

4. Uses for Educational Blogging • Dialoguing • Teacher and Professional Blogs • Classroom or Student Blogs • Parent and Teacher Communication Blogs

5. Dialoguing • A teacher blog that posts questions about current subject matter can be a great way to introduce students to responding in writing and contributing collaboratively. For instance, a teacher might ask specific thought-provoking questions about a book the class is reading, and ask for students to respond through the “comments” feature with their ideas. This is often done as a voluntary exercise to help demonstrate the uses of blogs in easy steps.

6. Teacher or Professional Blogs • Teachers can blog for each other about their experiences teaching, their philosophies, and their methodologies. • Teachers who do this often go on to becoming professional speakers or imparters of knowledge • Jim Moulton, former teacher & trainer, PBL consultant with Apple in the Northeast • http://www.edutopia.org/spiralnotebook/jim-moulton

7. Classroom or StudentBlogs • The providing of each student with an individual blog seems to generate the most significant enthusiasm for blogging among students.** • Students who blog have an opportunity to discover the work and joy of communicating their ideas in written form, and then getting feedback from others. • Most often public student blogs are done under a nickname and without any personal details, so that the incredible excitement that can come from communicating with a global audience does not place the student in harm's way. • **Moderated on a teacher’s site

8. Parent Teacher Communication • Teachers will often start a blog for providing communication to students, parents, or other education stake holders. • Posting of Homework & Assignments (for absentees) • Posting of Class Rules, Consequences & Syllabi • On-going classroom activities drawing the parents into what their children are working on or for students who have been absent. • Using the comment feature to ask questions or to gain clarification, where the answer would be of interest to all the readers.

9. Student Benefits • Helps them find a voice • Creates enthusiasm for writing • Engages students in meaningful dialogue • Provides an opportunity to teach about responsible journalism • Empowering students • Life long writers • Becoming a community voice • Writing outside of the box

10. Info Source Video • Click Here to watch video (you may have to login to SimpleK12) • Click Here to watch the YouTube video (from home or outside the District)

11. Create Your Own Blog • The bulk of the class will be spent creating your own unique blogs and/or visiting some of the samples below.

12. Wrapping Up • Leaving Comments • Moderated • Provides an opportunity to teach: • Netiquette • Journalism Rules • Internet Safety • UnModerated • Not recommended • May put your job in jeopardy • Blogging, RSS, QR Codes and Parents • RSS in Plain English Video (evaluate it yourself) • Blogs in Plain English Video (evaluate it yourself) • Make QR Codes * to your Blog (outside room-newsletters) • Questions *SimpleK12/Infosource Webinar