Workhop Agenda

Private Writing
Please describe your experiences with blogging. What do you already know about blogging? What kind of blog will you make today?

Pair Share

The Blog Hunt: What to Look for When You Look at Blogs
For several of the blogs listed in the BlogLogs below, please answer the following questions. We suggest you examine blogs from each of the categories--pedagogical, professional, personal, and educators on--and we urge you select titles after you've reviewed the list so that we do not all look at the same three or four blogs. Thank you.
  • What is the blog's purpose? How does the blogger communicate her purpose? How well does the blog communicate its purpose?
  • Does the blog address or target a particular audience? If so, how? How might you describe a representative audience member?
  • In what ways does the blog engage the reader visually?
  • What elements are present? For example, are there links, video clips, photographic images, graphic images, text, etc.? How do these elements help communicate a message?
  • Does the blog elicit response? If so, how and/or what kinds of response are evident? To what extent are readers invited to participate: to comment or to post?
  • What can you learn from the blog's title and URL?
Whole-Group Debriefing: Blogs on Parade
(Follow the above link to see our collected reflections.)

And Now for a Little History: Catherine's Story

Preparing to Blog
What are you going to put on your blog? What will you name it, and what URL will you chose? How might you organize it?

Building the Blog

Pair Share Show and Tell

Whole Group Show and Tell
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Laura and Ed

Bloging Resources

1-Question Interview--Index Page
ProBlogger Darren Rowse "asked 14 of {his} favorite bloggers what they’d do differently if they were starting their blog again today. Their responses were varied" and are available on the index page linked above.

50 Great Widgets for Your Blog
Helpful, fun, and/or sexy additions for your blog: painter-a-day service, world timeclocks, etc.

Blogs in Plain English
A YouTube video demystifying blogs.

CreativeCommons
Free artwork, music, and tools.

Drupal
"Drupal is a free software package that allows an individual or a community of users to easily publish, manage and organize a wide variety of content on a website. Tens of thousands of people and organizations have used Drupal to power scores of different web sites, including community web portals, discussion sites, corporate web sites, intranet applications, personal web sites or blogs, aficionado sites, E-commerce applications, resource directories, and social networking sites."

EduBlogs
This free blogging platform bills itself as "the largest education community on the Internet."

Habits of Highly Successful Bloggers
ProBlogger Darren Rowse lists his readers' responses to the one-question interview he posed to "14 of {his} favorite bloggers."

Feed2Podcast.com
The dotcom makes me think that this product probably isn't free, but it enables bloggers to have people listen to their blogs rather than just reading them. It may prove useful.

MediaMaster
MM bills itself as "the best music experience on the web for accessing, listening and sharing your music collection." It allows you to upload your music and/or radio station to your blog so that you or others may listen to selections from your collection anywhere you can get an Internet collection. This one looks like a feebie to me.

Support Blogging
As "an opportunity for students, teachers, administrators, parents, and others to help promote an understanding of the benefits of educational blogging," SupportBlogging! is an invaluable resource offering linked lists of blogs, bloggers, and blog builders.

Warlick, David F. Classroom Blogging. 2nd ed. Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin Press, 2007.
This book provides practical, step-by-step advice for teachers about using free web services to establish blogs, wikis and podcasts for classroom use. Warlick’s Blog, Exactly 2 Cents Worth, http://davidwarlick.com/2cents/ has many links to help teachers explore reading/writing/multimedia publishing options available on the web. Among these is http://supportblogging.com/Educational+Blogging

Why Let Our Students Blog?
A YouTube Video by Teachers for Teachers

WordPress
Free blogs and blogging help.