Blogs

= Blogs =

A ** blog ** (short for ** web log **) is a website, usually maintained by an individual, that is updated with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or material such as images or video. Entries are displayed in reverse chronological order, so the most recent entry appears first. Readers have the opportunity to post comments to the blog.

Using blogs, you can:
 * Find lesson plans and instructional ideas
 * Communicate with fellow educators
 * Share information with students and families
 * Provide opportunities for discussion

** Teacher blogs: **

 * [|Free Technology for Teachers]
 * Your Smarticles: middle school teacher shares ideas, often with links to student work and downloadable resources
 * [|Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites Of The Day] explains how he uses the sites to teach English Learners
 * Reflections of a Techie
 * 40 Blogs for Special Education
 * Special Education News Blog - From EdWeek


 * Class blogs: **
 * Mrs. Adams' Third Grade Class
 * PDS 5th grade Math: students share math explanations
 * [|Blog, Blog Blog Blog, Blog Some More] English I class
 * Fisch Algebra offers support resources
 * More Class Blogs - organized by grade level and topic

**Student blogs:**
 * Emily's Blog – Grade 3
 * [|Grace’s Blog] – Grade 7
 * [|Chemistry: It’s “Element”-ary!!] – Grade 10

**Edublog Award winners**
 * [|The Edublog Awards website] - View the best blogs in education!

**Find More Blogs:**
Scott McLeod has gathered several examples of educational blogs at his wiki Moving Forward, and organized them by discipline. People blog about lots of things besides education. 10 Ways to find Blogs You'll Love points to finding tools for all kinds of blogs.

**To Create a Blog:**
[|Blogger] from Google is a good tool (also known as Blogspot), but is often filtered at schools. Talk to your tech staff about unblocking a specific address for your blog.

[|Edublogs] offers free blogs // without ads // to educators creating a blog for educational purposes. Check out their Introduction to Blogging. They also offer extensive tutorials as well as specific advice for teachers who will have students posting to blogs. Follow these steps to set up your own edublog in minutes.

[|Gaggle.Net] and Blogmeister offer protected environments for student bloggers. The free version of Gaggle includes advertising; an ad-free subscription version is also available. [|Blogmeister] was designed by David Warlick with teachers and students in mind. The teacher can evaluate, comment on, and finally publish students' blog articles in a controlled environment.Blogmeister also has a Blogger's Pledge for students to sign. Warlick provides [|step-by-step instructions].

Select __**one**__ of the following:

 * 1) ====Review and subscribe to educational blogs. On Assignment #1, provide **links** to **three** blogs of interest to you. For each blog, discuss **two** things you have learned so far from the blog that can impact your teaching.====
 * 2) ====Create your own blog for your students or families. On Assignment #1, provide the **link** to your blog. Discuss how you will use the blog to support your instruction.====