I finally had the chance to peruse the articles about blogging. I found The Eighth Floor the best for me. It had so much useful information for beginning bloggers. I especially enjoyed viewing a blog for First and Second graders. It gave me a new perspective of how I can tailor my own blog and the infinite possibilities there are. The overwhelming theme that I got from all the blogs was to have whatever you write be meaningful and remember your goal for the blog. Is there anything else we should remember that is important for successful blogging?
I am very hopeful that at least some of my attempts today to complete our assignments are okay. I do not believe I was successful at commenting on a post. I do believe I was successful at getting onboard with Twitter (but am not sure that my profile is there). I am also hopeful that I am posting this entry into the correct section (WilliamsonConnects! as opposed to my personal blog). Anyway, I am excited to finally be at this point and can’t wait to see what happens next!
I’ve began to use Twitter – to be honest, I’m not sure how it will fit into what I do in the classroom. But I’ll keep an open mind and continue to explore and see what I can gain from it. I was wondering how everyone else was feeling about Twitter. Here’s something I found about Twitter that I thought others might find interesting: http://www.edutopia.org/twitter-professional-development-technology-microblogging
I have been experimenting with ScribeFire for about a year now. I am currently using version 2.3 and think it’s amazing. If you are a blogger that uses firefox, I can’t begin to tell you how awesome ScribeFire is! The tagline on their website is “Post to your blog without ever leaving Firefox.” That’s just why I like it so much. I can set it up to post entries to all of my blogs (yup, that’s right, I have multiple…). Then when I click the scribefire button, I can create a post and choose which blog it should post to. No need to login to each blog’s “dashboard” separately!!
I really like this blog post, “Using Google Docs to record, improve, and increase feedback.”
Feedback throughout the writing process is so important for our students. Google docs allows us to “chime” in at any time and keep up with student work. I love that we can follow a student from start to finish online, without having to print each draft.
One of the blogs contained information about using voicethread…I LOVE VOICETHREAD and you can even imbed any of your voicethread projects into your blog!
Check out voicethread at:
Technology changes so fast, it’s almost impossible to keep up. The article about Web 2.0 and bridging the gap between generations hits on a great issue. The youngest of kids could teach most of us a lot- colleges have not caught up, which makes even the youngest teachers behind technologically. It’s almost as if we need a pause button, even just for a little bit, to let us get everyone caught up. I find myself now in a position to help try and close the gap- it’s actually my job now! Here’s a question- How do we convince the reluctant ones that this is important enough to pursue, that it’s worth investing the time on the front end because the benefits are so vast? Our audience has already “bought in”- how are we to get our teachers and leaders to buy in as well? We can’t close a gap if we don’t have all the players wanting to close it.
Being new to blogging, I’m a bit overwhelmed and then to think that I will eventually be using it in the classroom -WOW!! The following site looks like it has a great step-by-step procedure to get started: http://www.sandaigprimary.co.uk/pivot/pivot/entry.php?id=1487&w=john_johnston
The first step is to visit other blogs and also begin publishing to your own blog-just what we are currently being asked to do.
I would like to create a blog with my high school students to discuss good books that we are reading in class.
I read the article by the captain and his experiences coming home from the war. hope my kids never have to go through this.
I just read “Smart Blogging in the Classroom” and found the steps helpful to think about beginning my own blog.
My hopes are for students to look forward to responding to posts and maybe posting some of their own. I want the students to be able to communicate with one another in a different environment. I am new and willing to experiment! I hope this will be a SUCCESS!!!! Hopefully some of these sites will help me accomplish this.
I took some time to look at the “Cool Cat Teacher Blog” site. I think this site can serve as a great reference for people like me who are new to blogging. There are step by step directions of how ten different things having to do with blogging; such as how to createa hyperlink, what makes a good title, how to tag, etc. Worth looking at if you are inexperienced or just forgetful.
I read the blog from the soldier who was returning from duty in Afghanistan.l He described his experiences and his feelings regarding the emotions of coming home.l It would be interesting for students to get first hand knowledge of the war experience. He had also posted photos which brought it to a personal levell. This would be a way for students to learn about social studies in teh modern world.
We have just finished “From Web 2.0 to School 2.0″. The document shared much information about ways to use today’s technology in the classroom. We had three powerful points to our discussion.
First, we recognize the need to remember that technology is but a tool. We must never forget that technology is a means to an end not an end in and of itself.
Second, we recognize that students are generally better versed in available technology than educators are. Our training, then, is to provide safety and protocal for usage.
Third, we anticipate that a gap is created between student safety provided in a school environment and the student safety provided at home. There may need to be ongoing training provided for parents who are often “in the dark” to the latest technology.
Our question is how to we assure students, who are by nature trusting, are provided safe “webbing” both inside and outside the school environment?
THe article laid out 10 steps to easy classroom blogging, however I just can’t get my hands around using blogging in the classroom. I can definitely see the benefits of collaborating with teachers. I question how to us this wonderful technology other than to just use this technology.
The potential for writing is endless. Again the caveat is that it has to be meaningful and focused.
This is all very new, but I am very excited about sharing all this information and helping my students do the same.
After reading an article from SMARTtech, our group discussed the ideas of social networking and using the Internet in the classroom. This is crucially important for preparing our students for the future. The following questions came about.
HOW CAN WE ACCOMPLISH THE FOLLOWING IN THE CLASSROOM?
I am sitting here in the WC! meeting marveling at how technology has changed!! I can not believe that this is possible. I remember being excited when I went to college and I firt learned about email. I couldn’t believe how quickly I could communicate with my friends accross the country. Now I’m sitting here in a meeting and posting to the same blog that we’re learning about. Who would have thought that this would be possible.
That being said, I can’t wait to get started in September. I think that this technology is really usefull. I’d love to hear from other Math teachers how they use blogging for math. I also can’t wait until I can get back to my Smartboard again. I am currently looking for games that I can create that will help my studnets with Math Vocabulary. I love the new features of the Smartboard software. The new games are really cool.
It’s been almost a month since our first WC! meeting of the 2008-2009 school year. I’m excited, energized, and ready to learn with all of the new participants. At our first meeting, we discussed the article, “What a Difference a Century Makes!”, WC! expectations, staff guidelines for district-owned laptops, and Google Docs. We learned how to use Google Docs and how easily it can be used with students. It was interesting to note how many student excuses (regarding homework) we can extinguish with the use of Google Docs; no more lost disks, broken printers, stolen papers, etc.
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