BLOGGING+-+getting+started

Blogging is the hub of all other tools that you will use. It give you a voice, a place to reflect, and place to share information and somewhere that others can go and see what you are about.

I am borrowing the tutorial (below) from: [|Maggie Verster] who posted the resource using slideshare.
 * Above anything else, start a blog.**


 * USING THIS TOOL WITH the NetGeneration -**
 * I highly suggest you get a Slideshare account -(although, I am not a fan of slide show presentations, it is a great place to give information)
 * Have your students follow you. They can review yours (and others) slide presentations relating to specific topics as well as embedding them into their own blogs.
 * Follow other educators, provide feedback, comment on their work
 * Allow your students to upload and share their slide presentations - seek feedback from the world wide community.
 * Have students analyze a variety of slide presentations on similar topic (media literacy).

__**Blogging in the classroom:**__ 1) **Create and update your OWN teacher/leader/educator BLOG** - Don't worry about who is or isn't reading it. If you write it, they will come. Blog for yourself. Think of it as a reflective journal - but with transparency. Make a focus for your blog - Engagement in Learning; The Netgens, Inquiry Learning, transformative learning, education,........

Later, you will create sub-blogs (where you can talk about specific projects or subjects - math blog, Olympic blog) - Depending on the age of your students, you can have your students maintain the subblogs.

For those of you who use a LEARNING MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (Drupal, Moodle) that is stored on your school/district server - use the system as your classroom NEWSLETTER, a place to give information. Your BLOG is separate. Your blog will remain with you, even if you leave the school or district. It is YOURS.

3) Follow student blogs (moderate) using an RSS FEED. Using the Google RSS feed (and making a folder) was the BEST thing that I did this year as a method of moderating student blogs. I can moderate anytime, anyplace and anywhere.I now use RSS feeds to follow educators and other students around the world.
 * 2) Create student blogs**

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 * 4) Create additional blogs that are subject specific** (these may be where you deliver information rather than as reflective tool, like your main blog). The purpose is to create a transparent, open community that encourages other classrooms, teachers, and community members to participate in what you are doing. See example at: []

I used math blogs, science blogs, social studies blogs...etc, as a platform to address curriculum while also maintaining a global transparency. In one assignment which ended up being an assessment - my students read an article about opposing views of the Olympics. Two other classrooms used the same blog entry and began commenting on their own point of views (which was the focus of our Critical Pathways focus (an Ontario driven mission). See example here: [] This activity created an AUTHENTIC platform for our students to demonstrate their comprehension strategies.

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 * Start your Edublog Account. Create one post (who you are, why you want to blog, what your educational philosophy is)**

Create your student accounts using ONE EMAIL ACCOUNT. Follow these instructions (I did, and it worked great) []
 * STUDENT ACCOUNTS:**

//**Organization Tip:**// //**You will get a list of student usernames and passwords. COPY AND PASTE this list into either your EVERNOTE, or Googledocs. You will need it during the year. I found [|Evernote] very useful, because it is easily accessed and great for file storage and reading. I have a folder containing all my student usernames and passwords for the web2.0 software we use.**//