Blogs on Parade: What We Noticed
  • The possibilities are so vast! for parent communication, for student communication, for learning communities. . . .
  • It's got to be visually appealing right off the bat. "If I want block text, I will open a book." On the web, we need visual stimulation.
  • Megan's BlogDesk: mixture of text but a variety of graphics. Simple cartoon. Videos. Spacing = asymmetrical. Symmetry doesn't work well on the web.
  • On school blogs, we see second- or third-grade students online, our digital natives. We need to catch up. Plus, it's FUN.
  • Lots of links to other places and things--which also leads to that never ending.
  • The personality of the person creating it really comes through.
  • Two levels of navigation--two kinds of organization. Tabs for general categories, navigation bar for individual pages.
  • Just say NO to small fonts.
  • Don't overuse bookmarks! If something's linked, have that link lead to something good. No gratuitous bookmarks/hotlinks.
  • Ads are yucky. And they cheapen the site, I think.
  • Title carefully. Eschew the long URL. Go for easily identifiable words--like the title of our blog: RWPeTeachingTools.


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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.