Website on Steroids: Creating a Powerful Blog

Website on Steroids: Creating a Powerful Blog

Last summer, I had the awesome opportunity to write a guest blog post for a website called "Free Technology for Teachers" which is written by Richard Byrne. I thought I would share it here, in case there is something in it you can use this year or start thinking about for next year.

Blogging Ideas

Here is a prezi that goes through some various ideas and activities you could do with a blog. Watch the prezi full screen to allow you to be able to actually read the posts and see what the actual activity is. With the onset of May and the end of the school year, we might as well start thinking about next year :)  

Sharing with Blogs!

Blogs are a great way to share. As a teacher, there are a lot of things that we can share. We can share things we make, things students make or things that we find on the internet. Maybe you have an awesome powerpoint that you want your students to be able to see outside of class? Post it on your blog. Maybe a student made a really awesome project and you want to share that? Take a picture and share it on your blog. Maybe you want your students to collaboratively work on a Prezi? Well, create the prezi and share it on your blog. Students are wired for computers and the internet. Let's use that! They want to be able toTo  see materials outside of school. Parents want to be able to see things outside of school. It helps engage. It helps students be involved and get connected.
Sharing:
To share a powerpoint: upload your powerpoint into google docs, which will give you the embed code.
To share a prezi, click "share" and use the embed code.
To embed your powerpoint/prezi on your blog, click the "html" tab when you are composing a new blog post.

Three Headed Monster: Think, Write, Read

I like to refer to blogging as a Three Headed Monster. When a student sits down to my blog, each time they must do three things. First, they must THINK about what they are going to say. Next, they WRITE what they want to say, what the answers are, their opinion, etc. Finally, they go back and READ what their classmates have shared as well. When you can come up with a tool that forces the student to think, write, and read and have it be something they WANT to do, then why wouldn't you use it? If you could go to Target and buy such a tool, you would. But you don't have to because blogging is free! All you need is a google account and an imagination. There is a wide variety of ways you can have students interact with your blog. Posting comments is something we do a lot in my class. A few examples of comments my students post:
1. Vague post: At the beginning of a unit, I often tell my students to "just tell me something" about the world we are about to start. I provide them with appropriate websites and they browse at their own leisure and share with me and their classmates what they want. Good way to get them in the "mood" for that ancient world. 
2. Imaginary Conversation: Students love to imagine, especially middle schoolers. So let them! To show me what they know, I like to have my students post a comment in which they have a "conversation" with an imaginary friend about a certain topic (pyramids, Nile River, Greek Mythology, etc). Students really get into this because its fun for them to choose their imaginary friend and pretend to talk to them. This is a really good example of the Three Headed Monster because students really enjoy looking through the comments and seeing what their classmates did and who they talked to. 
3. The Great Debate: Middle school students struggle with opinions. One thing that prevents them from sharing their opinion in class is they are afraid they are "wrong" or don't know what to say. Help foster their opinion forming by giving them a way to think about it first instead of on the spot sharing in class. I pose a question and have the students post a comment about what they think and WHY. This is a good way to have all students share what they think instead of waiting for their turn. Again, students then read through their classmates opinions and continue to discuss. 

There are many, many different ways you can have students post comments but they can't do anything unless you have a blog! 
I recommend using blogger.com.  Though there are other options such as wordpress and edublogs.

Blog Week on Techno.ED

Water for Sixth Grade: A Carousel on Prezi

You may not know this, but I like to blog. I don't just blog for the sake of blogging, I blog because I think it helps students learn. I think it gets kids involved with my class more so than without it. By definition, a blog is a "web log" that allows you to share your thoughts and provide readers the opportunity to "comment" on your posts. That is a blog in its most basic form. However, that is just the beginning. A blog in education can be a educational powerhouse. It's a website on steroids. This week on Techno.ED, I am going to share each day a different way you can use a blog in your classroom. The best thing about blogs is that whether they are basic or dynamic, it will still help your students learn! Also, blogs are so easy to use! All you have to do is try and not be scared. Plus, I am right here in the building and I love to help people set up blogs and work with them with ideas of how they can use it in their class. The above prezi is a sampling of what a blog can be used for. I will take a closer look at some of those items throughout the week.