Oh, the things I have learned!

     One of the most exciting things I have learned in this course is the process of setting up a blog- who knew it was so easy! I had never seriously considered setting up a blog for myself or any of my hobbies/interests because I was intimidated by the idea of it all- no more. I can set up a blog that is practical to my uses and manage it effectively. I can promote and monitor my blog with ease, whether I use it in my classroom or in my personal life. I can easily find my way around blogger and my dashboard and am confident I could do the same through other websites if I so choose.
     I have decided that I will set up a blog for use in my student teaching starting this spring term. I will begin Drama at McNary High School after spring break, and I believe that will be a good environment to promote a classroom blog. It will be a discussion forum for extra credit and if that goes over well, I will think about extending the use of blogs in my future classrooms. I look forward to getting students feedback and input for this type of learning tool, because I think it is a truly valuable outlet.
     I know there are many, many blogs currently being used in classrooms and I will continue to do my research about new uses. Teachers need to stay updated on new teaching tools and blogging is certainly one of them. I have good role models for uses of blogs in schools, so I have no qualms about incorporating this technique. I also know how to find interesting blogs that I find useful, including ones that concern the field of education. Educators should stay connected and up to date on concerns throughout the field, and blogging is a great way to do that.
    Overall, I am very pleased with my growth in this class; it was much less structured than classes I am used to, but I appreciated that at times. I felt free to post what I found interesting when I had time to do so. I enjoyed the process and look forward to blogging more in the future- thank you Denvy!

My new favorite thing

I believe I understand more what is meant my 'managing your blog' when I see just how much there is out there to see and interact with. My own personal blog seems pretty simple, but everything else is overwhelming. I am becoming a big fan of my dashboard; it looks organized and useful and there are no flashing lights so I don't get scared. Also, my scrolling list of recently updated blogs I follow is very useful and makes my sense of order feel happy. I look forward to getting more comfortable in the blogging world with the help of my dashboard!

Another use of Blogs- HS PE

I almost forgot about this use of blogs! My mentor teacher last term (for high school P.E.) kept a blog for students who wanted to earn extra credit. It is surprisingly easy to fall behind in P.E.- mostly if you forget your clothes or don't feel like dressing down and lose your points for the day. My mentor created an extra credit blog on blogger and posted a different health or fitness quote every week,. If the student left a meaningful thought/comment they received 5pts extra credit. Most students who signed up for blogger and left comments were students with 100% in the class anyway, but occasionally it helped a student from a C to a B and gave students another option for earning points in a participation based class.

Promoting my blog

     I would assume that my blogs for my classes wouldn't need to be promoted, and Denvy is right in pointing that out. If, however I was inspired to start an educational blog for the wide world to see I would like someone other than myself and my mom to read it.
     Denvy pointed out some great ideas in his latest blog post, and I think they all sound do-able. I would probably have to begin by trying to connect better on the web as it is, and connect my facebook with my blog. I would also be sure I was updating on a regular basis and discussing what people seem to be interested in.
     Also, this site: http://www.google.com/support/blogger/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=42377 is blogger's own ideas for promoting your blog and it looked very useful as well. There are ideas for promoting your blogger blog specifically, and techniques for connecting you blog to other places around the web.
     If the time comes where I want to promote my blog I feel as though I am equipped to do so!

Managing blogs- in general

          In thinking how best to manage my blog, I can't help but wonder if that would really be a problem? In my world of blogging I don't believe it would ever get out of control to the point where I wished I had some mad managing skills. But I could very well be naive about the uses of being a knowledgeable blog manager.
         This is one particular website that I found interesting, and I know it would be extremely useful if I were not taking this class: http://chronicle.com/blogs/profhacker/tools-for-managing-multiple-class-blogs/22893. I appreciate the instructions on RSS feed and a blogging client (for if all of the classes I taught had blogs built in).
         I, like others in this class have checked out edublog- a website for educators and their blogs. I think that is also a great resource if I got to where a good portion of learning was done online.
         I am going to continue to look for ideas about how to manage a blog like the one I have in mind and in the meantime I will see what others have to say on the subject!

Managing a class blog

             I believe I could be easily overwhelmed by the amount of options for creating a blog, as well as by the techniques for managing a blog. If I were to assign blogging for a particular class I would facilitate it by creating a blog specifically for that class or that assignment, and then making it so only the students in that class could access and comment on the blog. I would be sure all students were 'followers' and each student was comfortable  using and had access to the technology.
             I would not have to worry about promoting this type of blog because all of my students would have had a tutorial about how to create a Google account, how to find our class blog, how to become a follower, and how to comment on the topics. I would not want to promote this blog to others because of the nature of it.
             I believe this would be the easiest type of blog for me to create, manage, and promote for my students.

Gadgets!

I have had a good time filling out my page with fun and useful gadgets. Also, I have added pictures and information of myself. As far as gadgets are concerned I like being able to see tidbits of what those I am following have written. Also, I was pleased to add a news gadget just for fun. Although I don't really feel the need to add a bit of everything I am glad I feel comfortable finding and adding gadgets. If and when I want to add a video or poll in the future I easily can. For the time being I am comfortable with what I have so far.

How would I use blogs?

Let's see...

       

     I see myself using blogs sparingly in my personal life, and only under a few circumstances. I might set up a blog once I have children to keep far away relatives updated with pictures and funny stories. Or I might set up a blog if I was going on an extended adventure to other countries and wanted to keep my family informed and jealous about all of the cool stuff I was doing. Other than that, I think I would probably only set up a blog and attend to it if it were part of a class I was taking. As I have said in a previous post, I am not very good at maintaining online communication. 

    As a teacher I would try my best to maintain a blog for my students. One particular use I see would be maintaining a discussion forum where I would post topics of discussion and they would comment on those topics. Also, it could be a place for students to raise questions for the rest of the class and myself. I believe I would prefer to maintain a website for all of my classes and department combined (I am writing this with being a high school drama teacher in mind) with particular blogs for the different classes. 

      If I were writing a blog for other educators I would share and ask for ideas for the classroom and use the space to discuss issues that were relevant to our district. 

      I know there is an endless list of uses for blogs and hopefully I will gain ideas by looking through my classmates blogs!

virtual comunication

        Personally, I am not very good at staying connected online. I never remember to email my family, and my facebook lays neglected for days at a time (quite a feat for a college student). I very much prefer to talk to someone on the phone or face to face and I have trouble connecting through blogging. That doesn't mean that I think they are VERY good tools to share information, ideas, opinions, and news. One blog I did get interested in was by a man who walked across the United States. Everyday he would post pictures and a bit of information about where he was and what he saw. I particularly enjoyed seeing the end of his journey because he walked through my hometown and posted pictures of locations I recognized. He also stayed with my friends family in Tillamook before he made it in to the ocean. It was totally awesome :)
       Blogs have made it possible for anyone to be an author, and who knows- maybe I will become hooked!

            Although this is my first time blogging, I have been aware of it's uses in education for a while. My sister is a 3rd grade teacher in Arizona, and she keeps a blog for her classroom. Parents and students can follow along to see what has happened in her classroom and what is coming up next. Also her friends and family (like me) can take a peek at what she is up to down south. I think it is a great idea for a teacher to be connected to the web somehow through blogging or their own website; it is a current way to connect with families.
          I also found many articles and a few studies that outlined many of the uses of blogs in education today. Scott Huette of the Teaching Effectiveness Program mentioned in a 2006 article that many benefits come from students blogging themselves. It was recommended that the teacher model how to set up a blog but then many in depth assignments can use the blog. Blogging for students promotes a different type of thinking that they rarely get. It will promote associative and analogical thinking that is coveted in the work force today, but generally not taught in schools.
          Blogging can connect teachers and parents, teachers and students, teachers and teachers- really anyone who is interested in the workings of your school and the education system. It is a great way to bounce ideas off of other educators or those interested. A lot of the time education is criticized for being behind the curve as far as new technologies and methodologies go, and blogging is a great way to work on improving both of those areas.