Archive for November, 2003

« Older Entries

Weblog Struggles

Wednesday, November 26th, 2003

On his Thoughts on EdBlogger post Will struggles with differentiating between using a Web log and “blogging.”

“This is an important distinction for a couple of reasons. One, I’ve really come to believe that the act of blogging can be a valuable way to learn to write more effectively. I know there have been a lot of definitions of what Web logs are, but I’m not sure that is the case with the act of blogging. To me, the process of blogging is, most of the time, an ongoing series of steps:

1. Find and read material that is relevant to your life.
2. Capture the essence of this relevant reading, give credit to its source, and synthesize those ideas into a piece of writing that advances a personal, perhaps greater understanding of that topic 3. Publish that writing for response and for perhaps pushing someone else’s thinking on the subject.
4.Read some more.

It’s a process that I think teaches and practices a great deal of critical thinking, information literacy, research, collaboration and composition skills that on one level I think may be difficult to replicate with any other writing instruction. I know traditional expository writing instruction comes close, but rarely is there the personal interest in the writing that blogging provides. And it is that personal interest that I think helps writers really own the process and make it real, which in turn leads to some real learning.”

Will goes on to wonder if this is really even possible in a school setting.  I’m not sure either, especially when many of the things that are relevant to teenager’s lives are difficult subjects for us to just give them  free rein to discuss on a school weblog. However, I think we could steer them to issues that should be important to them and work at fostering interest.  This is why I think a school-wide focus on current events is so important.  A base knowledge has to be built. 

The other thing I’m not sure about is whether the students have the developmental skills or readiness or whatever to actually start “blogging.”  I think we have to oversee it in our school settings and that means we have to have control and make sure the content fits our curriculum. Of course, I’m coming from an elementary prospective mostly. I’d be interested in what you middle and high school edubloggers think.  Next semester we will be letting some of the preservice teachers have reflective blogs during their student teaching. I’m sure we’ll hear their voices!

I am going to try just letting my Wrinkles group explore and then write next week. I’m going to suggest that they think of something they have learned in school this year that is of interest to them and an area that they wish to learn more about. They are so used to not really having many choices of what they will learn and the idea of having a voice is yet again another matter. Just that concept alone is mind-boggling for them. They haven’t had enough opportunities to write freely. Giving them a voice should not be as difficult as it is in our schools.  I’ve been thinking a lot about that lately and need to contemplate that much more!

Next week I may need to help the students with sites about different topics and let them choose as our time is so limited.  Most of these kids don’t have computers at home. I’m not sure they are ready for this yet but it won’t take long to discover that.  It wouldn’t hurt to see their reactions, talk to them about it and see what they think. Hmmm, wonder where it will lead…. I just know that when I ask the students the questions, most of the time they have the answers.  I just have to figure out the right questions (not so easy)  and then listen carefully (again, not always so easy)…..

For now though I’m suspending “weblog thinking” for a few days!  I wish everyone a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday.  Let’s all go enjoy our families and friends.  I plan to!!


—–

Posted in About Weblogs, Imported | Comments Off

No More Linkrot!

Tuesday, November 25th, 2003

This post is directly from Calpundit.  It should be quite useful for a lot of us! Thanks for sharing, Kevin!

FIGHT LINKROT!….Thanks to a comment from Lisa Williams (here), I learned today how to create permanent links to New York Times stories that don’t disappear behind their archive wall after a few days. It’s a bit klunky, but since we bloggers link to the Times frequently I thought I’d pass it along. Here’s how to do it:

  1. The Times provides an RSS feed for all their stories in conjunction with Dave Winer’s Userland. The various feeds are all listed here. You’ll need to subscribe to all or some of these feeds in your news aggregator (for example, I subscribe to National, International, Opinion, and Politics).

  2. The RSS feed provides a URL for each story that has some additional stuff tacked onto the normal Times URL. For example, here is the normal URL for the Thomas Friedman column I linked to last night along with the expanded link from the Userland RSS feed:

    http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/16/opinion/16FRIE.html

    http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/16/opinion/16FRIE.html?
    ex=1384318800&en=d0591e73d0b23754&ei=5007&partner=USERLAND

  3. The expanded URL indicates that the link comes from a blog, and according to Dave the Times has agreed that “now and in the future this link will work without a fee to access the archive.”

And what if you read the Times the semi-old fashioned way, by just scanning their website? There’s no way to generate the permanent URL yourself, so if you want to link to something you’ve found you’ll have to keep a couple of keywords in mind and then search through the appropriate RSS feed in your aggregator and look for the story there. That’s a bit of a pain, but it might help wean you off your non-RSS ways and begin reading news the 21st century way. There’s a silver lining to every cloud, isn’t there?

If you want to know more, Dave explains the whole thing here and has a bit of discussion about it here.

And while we’re on the topic, here’s a ranking of the most archive-friendly major news organizations:

  1. Tier 1: CNN, the Guardian, and the BBC all have permanent archives that never disappear.

  2. Tier 2: The Washington Post places old articles behind an archive wall, but previously existing links to the articles work forever. The New York Times makes permanent links possible, even if they’re a bit of a pain.

  3. Tier 3: The LA Times places all its content behind an archive wall after a few days and breaks any existing links.

  4. Purgatory: The Wall Street Journal is in a class by itself, since their content is never accessible free of charge on the Web.

This post is dedicated to Brad DeLong.

UPDATE: Corrected the information about the Washington Post. Once you link, the link seems to work forever. However, if you search for an article on their site, you can’t get free access to it after about two weeks.

Posted by Kevin Drum at November 16, 2003 03:56 PM | TrackBack



—–

Posted in About Weblogs, Imported | Comments Off

Tim’s Leading the Way

Tuesday, November 25th, 2003

Leading the Way : A New Principal Uses Technology to Communicate & Connect

Last night I was browsing the net and decided to check out Intel’s Innovation Odyssey. When the site appeared on my computer I was delighted to see Tim Lauer being recognized! Tim is a principal/teacher/weblogger/ friend. He wears many other hats - and I’m sure, does a great job at all of them. We need more like him in education. It is great to read all about Meriwether Lewis Elementary. The school looks so inviting and you can tell creativity abounds. Tim is using weblogs to communicate with teachers, parents, and the larger community.

Excerpts from the article:

Just inside the front doors of Meriwether Lewis Elementary, a wall-sized mural offers a clue: This is a school that celebrates creativity. Lauer has been contemplating creative ways to merge new and old traditions since he arrived as the brand-new principal this fall.

The favorite part of the new principal’s day? “Lunch duty,” he says with a grin. He often has a digital camera in hand when he’s walking around the playground. Taking photos “is a great way to get to know the kids and interact with them.”

Lauer also has set up an internal weblog for communicating with staff. This online forum replaces the email bulletin that staff used to receive each Friday. Because the software includes a comment feature, teachers can use the weblog to engage in dialog and discussion. Instead of being a message from the principal, the weblog has the potential to spark dialog and build community. As he settles into his new role, Lauer will be using his personal weblog to reflect and connect with an audience of educators from across the country. His weblog, “Education/Technology,” is at http://tim.lauer.name. The Lewis Elementary weblog is at http://lewiselementary.org

I love seeing people like Tim and Joe taking on roles of leadership in education.  The principal is definitely one that can effect change in schools. Tim surely is leading the way - lucky staff and lucky kids! Hmmmm - wish I could move to Portland and be a weblogging teacher……

Posted in Imported, Kudos | 1 Comment »

Next Best Thing……

Monday, November 24th, 2003

I just spent some time browsing through the posts made from the attendees at NCTE 2003.  It was great to have the NCTE 2003 weblog that aggregated contributions from attendees of the EdBlogger 2003 conference.  Sounds like they had a great week-end!  I noticed that the ncte.edweblog.org is a project of Clarity Innovations, Inc. What a great company!  Thor and his group are always ready and willing to be there for educators.  I love the opening three lines on their site…

Our vision is clear.

Our mission is simple.

Our intent is genuine.


You can read posts from Mark Bernstien, Will Richardson, Tom Hoffman, Tim Lauer, Yosha, eBN, Pat Delaney, spitgirl, Cyprien Lomas, Albert Delgado, Thor Prichard, and Paul Bradley. 

 

Paul Bradley posted about SubEthaEdit…..

SubEthaEdit (better known as its former name “Hydra”) is a local network based wiki application. For those of you who don’t know what that means, it is a word processing application that lets multiple users on the network all edit the same document at the same time.  During EdBlogger 2003, we used it to keep track of the meetings. Click (original post link) to read the notes of the first afternoon session, “Blogging in the classroom, lab, library and school.”

Pat wraps it up with a final request for all attendees to click the “How’d we do?” link and give us some feedback.

I know we will be getting more feedback and I look forward to it - once again weblogs are a vehicle to let us say….it’s the next best thing to being there!!


—–

Posted in Conferences, Imported | Comments Off

Pamela’s Thoughts

Friday, November 21st, 2003

As our Literature Circles project is nearing the end, I have been giving a lot of thought to what worked, what didn’t, how to manage it better, and other reflections.  I will be posting later on the Literacy & Technology Instructor’s Edublog.  Meanwhile, I just had to post Pamela’s thoughts…. 

This is my posting on the thoughts I had about this project. Well, I liked it. I enjoyed posting about certain parts in the book that I found interesting. Yes, it was a little difficult to have to post on every role; however, it made me think about every aspect of the book I was reading. I had to think about the travel of the characters, the real world connections, and even the idioms used within the story. Because of the departments, I had to really analyze the story. This in turn helped so much with my comprehension of what was going on. At first, I really did not like having to wait to read the next chapter, but that gave me discipline and a chance to really absorb what I had previously read. Sometimes I tend to rush through a chapter just to quickly finish a book and get to the end. This was not possible this time. I had to be patient and take it one day at a time. I think this would be great for students in the classroom. My goal would be to have each student participate in posting. This could be accomplished outside of the regular reading schedule. You could group students throughout the year to read one short chapter book and post. If there was a class of twenty-four, you could have a group of six per month post. This would help with management of the site and monitoring the students’ reading. After the four months were up, you could have a grand conversation about the book everyone had read and posted on. This would be an ideal plan for schools that have limited technology resources. Every child would get a chance to participate. If it works, then you could start with a new book, and this time have everyone post at appointed times. Because the children will have already had experience with posting, they should need little management. I would just need to make sure that I keep up with the postings.


—–

Posted in About Weblogs, Imported | Comments Off

Educational Parallels

Wednesday, November 19th, 2003

Zephyr Teachout is the director of Internet organizing for the Howard Dean presidential campaign.

Baseline’s article, “The Marketing of a President” says the following:

Teachout is a key architect of one of the most effective marketing efforts in the history of national politics, and the most sosphisticated online camaign to date. Using a variety of Internet tools, from the electronic journals known as weblogs to social networking sites, the Dean campaign has propelled the Vermont doctor from near-anonymity to the front of the Democratic pack aiming to replace George W. Bush as chief executive of the United States.

The lessons of the Dean campaign do not just apply to politics.

I find this fascinating reading but find myself making, or maybe I should say hoping for, educational parallels as I read. Granted a political campaign holds far greater interest than educational issues but how can we effectively heed the lessons they are learning and then in turn put the focus on education?

With the Internet, an effective capaign creates a community that will on its own begin to market your product for you. Properly done, you won’t be able - or want - to control it.

The trick is to turn the buyers on a product, concept or candidate into evangelists, willing to take action on their own to spur demand. And the recrutiment doesn’t have to cost much.

The payoff is a powerful multiplier effect that turns anyone into a potential campaign worker.

OK, we have seen the educational use of weblogs increase this year but maybe we need to think a little harder about what we want to celebrate as more educators enter the arena. When you get right down to it, a weblog is a space on the web where teachers and students can write. And then, publish quite easily! If we educators, make sure there is an authentic audience that is willing to take the time to comment, we can in turn open the door for having a purpose to write and a reason to want to make the writing better. Then critical thinking on issues is a logical follow-up. I use the word celebrate because that’s how I view our job of helping to foster that student voice. My question is how can we work at creating a multiplier effect that gets more students involved in this process?

The two most effective tools for Dean have been a Web site that allows users to set up meetings with individuals of similar interests, known as Meetup.com; and the easy-to-use online diaries known as weblogs, or blogs.

Making these tools widely available via the Internet, reather than husbanding them at campaign headquarters, means Dean’s marketers give up a fair amount of control of messages made on behalf of their candidate.

Teachout says this spreads “ownership of the campaign,”

It’s time for us to give students ownership. We have to be willing to take the risks of giving them a voice so we all can have a dialogue - I think that’s teaching at its best and if we don’t do this, who will? We get the joy of helping then write and think as they learn to be a responsible, thinking, well-informed citizen.

The blog itself is not about getting votes, it’s about activiating people to get votes.

Educational blogs are not about getting web spaces, it’s about how we use those web spaces to get kids writing and thinking.

A key way of carrying on a campaign-wide converstion is the comment area on Blog for America. More than 100,000 comments have appeared on the weblog since June 10.

If the campaign can’t handle the volume of comments as it grows, how will it get meaningful impact from the conversation?” (The staff admits they don’t know yet, but they’re working on it.)

The parallel for us is that we don’t know yet either and we’re working and thinking about it. We sure don’t have those numbers so here is where we can learn from them. I’ll be following that thread.

The whole is smarter than the sum of its parts, says Johnson. Teachout wats to know what the parts are thinking.

In the end, the weblog gives the candidate, his staff, and all the people in the field a chance to conduct something like a clueful conversation.

Indeed, we have parallels here. Never before have we had a chance for such clueful conversation. The question is, where do we go from here?

The common theme of all the technology used by Dean, says Rowe, from the weblog to the wiki, an information pooling tool that lets staffers post reports on media coverage of the campaign, is a focus on building community.

Let’s keep building our educational community. Let’s keep finding others and keep on sharing all we are learning and thinking. We can make a difference!

Zephyr Teachout has no interest in technology for technology’s sake. “We want the simplest, dumbest tools we can get,” she says. The idea is to get people working, not to dazzle the,, and to get their feedback on what could be done better as quickly as possible.

That’s what we need to remember. I think we will get lots more educators on board if we just keep it simple. I am still in awe of how much you can do with a weblog in which students and teachers are writing, posting, thinking, creating, and responding on subjects they care about. Yep, keep it simple! It works!
—–

Posted in Imported, Writing | Comments Off

Blog Workshop complete with “The Blog” graphic

Monday, November 17th, 2003

<via>Scott Leslie of EdTechPost

http://awd.cl.uh.edu/blog/blob-blogWeb2.gif

Ginger at Almost Audacious IT ran a blog workshop aimed at faculty recently, for which she produced the above hysterical graphic. Ginger says “I just swiped the graphic from the classic ‘The Blob’ movie and did some magic on it in Flash by tracing the bitmap. ” The ‘just’ sounds a bit modest to me - this perfectly captures the frenzied pitch that has accompanied a lot of the blog hype of late. - SWL

The page, Blogs in Education, that Ginger created for her faculty is great. The incredible graphic is there! Her content includes:

  • options for instructors using blogs

  • options for students using blogs in your courses

  • articles about blogging

  • sample blogs

  • Blog writing tools

  • aggregators

  • tools for Advanced Blogging

It’s great to get all these different perspectives from the different people who are creating weblog workshops.  Thanks to Scott for the link and to Ginger for sharing her workshop!


—–

Posted in Imported, Teaching | Comments Off

“Tapped In” Blogging Transcript

Friday, November 14th, 2003

I did sit in on the “Tapped In” blogging session last night.  I’m not sure these type of discussions are my cup of tea.  It’s hard to get everything down that you want to say, plus it’s impossible to answer every question.  I have to constantly multi-task but that was a challenge.  Anyway, here’s the transcript if anybody is interested.

Transcript


—–

Posted in About Weblogs, Imported | Comments Off

Transcript

Friday, November 14th, 2003

# Tappedin transcript for AnnePD, 2003.11.13 17:04:19

# AnnePD contributed 25 messages, 0 emotes, 0 private messages, and 0 private emotes during 65 minutes.

2003.11.13 15:59:00 Login

Room: AnnePD_Ofc

Room: ASO

AnnePD joined the room.

MagdalenaR left the room.

MagdalenaR joined the room.

ElizabetJS: Sandy, what is blogging?

SandraS: Well, I think Pam is leading this session on blogging…

PamB: Welcome to Web tools. This evening we’ll be discussing blogging…

DorothyGst13: I,m Dorothy, I teach elementary art

PamB: Sandra, go for it!

LoriJH: What is blogging??

SandraS: ok, so blog stands for web log

SandraS: very simply, it’s an online journal

JasonB: cool

LoriJH: Yes. Let’s talk about web tools.

SandraS: one can sign up for free services like Blogger

LoriJH: What suggestions.

PamB: I asked Sandra to join us to share her experiences blogging iwth her college students.

CarolM: Sandra, what tool(s) are you using?

SandraS: Does anyone else here use blogs personally or in the classroom?

JasonB: This is the first time I’ve heard of blogging.

CarolM: I’m just starting to…

SandraS: I use Typepad for my own blogs…Typepad is the new interface developed by Movable Type

AnnePD: Yes, I have a personal one and I use them with students.

MagdalenaR: yeah my first time too.

SusanR joined the room.

SandraS: Anne, what level students do you use blogs with?

ElizabetJS: This is the first time that hear about an online journal

CarolM: Sandra, what do you use with your students?

PamB: We’ll have time tonight to explore some blogs

SandraS: i use blogger because it’s free and their new interface works well SusanR left the room.

SandraS: there’s livejournal

SandraS: easyjournal

AnnePD: I use them with fifth graders and with preservice teachers who will be doing their student teaching in January.

MagdalenaR: where do you sign up for these services

DorothyGst13: I,ve not done any of these things I’m a neophite(sp?)

SandraS: www.blogger.com

JasonB: Anne, could you explain how you use this with fifth graders>

PamB: Sandra or Anne — can we look at your blogs?

SandraS: sure

LoriJH: Is this self created or are their actual companies that maintain such sites?

SandraS: companies

ElizabetJS: Would fifth grade be the lowest grade to try them with?

SandraS: basically it’s a templated web page

SandraS: you write something, post it to the page

SandraS: and it gets uploaded and maintained at the company’s servers

PamB: Generally, blogs are web sites that consist of many entries on a single web page posted daily or at least weekly and usually include a title and date. The typical blog format is to list entries in reverse chronological order with the most recent entry on the top of the page making it easy for people to scan quickly through the entries. SeidyC joined the room.

SandraS: great explanation!

CarolM: Sandra, has your school expressed any interest in hosting university-related blogs using software like Manilla? DaveS joined the room.

SandraS: nope

AnnePD: I would be glad for you to look at my blog. My personal one is EduBlog Insights at http://anne.teachesme.com. One I did with fifth graders last year was called NewsQuest. Students wrote about current events and collaborated with a high school journalism class. I use Manila.

SandraS: we have a severely challenged IT infrastructure

SandraS: yes, EdublogNetwork uses Manila

MagdalenaR: What type of entries is it just for writing?

DaveS left the room.

SandraS: Anne, your link gave me a 404…

PamB: Sandra, will you post your blog url so we can take a look and then come back and ask questions?

JamesWr: what purpose can they serve for students- can access be controlled BJ joined the room.

SandraS: http://eng304classblog.blogspot.com

PamB: click on Sandra’s link and then come back in a few minutes

AnnePD: The GSU server may be down. The site I used last year for students was http://anvil.gsu.edu/NewsQuest

CarolM: James raises an interesting access question, especially for children

LoriJH: Interesting concept. I am wondering do your school firewalls allow easy access or was their special permission involved?

SandraS: college-level means I don’t have to deal with permissions and firewalls

DorothyGst13: I clicked on the link I got no response

SandraS: so I’d be interested to hear about k-12 access

AnnePD: I did not use the blogs as online journals but as a place of the web for students to write, collaborate with others, and have a voice.

ElizabetJS: Could this journal be compared to something like e-classrooms where students share by replying to each other JasonMc joined the room. JasonMc left the room.

MagdalenaR: Yeah it looks very similiar to e-classrooms

MagdalenaR: e-classrooms is just seperated into different folders

JamesWr: I guess they offer a sounding board that chat rooms do not

LoriJH: This sounds like a great concept. I am thinking especially with the gifted students that I work with.

AnnePD: To me, the neat thing about a weblog is that you can make it be what you want it to be. The possibilities are limitless. The preservice teachers I mentioned are using weblogs to discuss books using Literature Circles. I am also working with fifth graders this year - a combination of ESL and native English speaking students. The goal is to improve writing and thinking.

CarolM: Anne, are your students’ blogs accessible to the web public?

LoriJH: That souds like a great way to make writing and communiation useful.

MagdalenaR: So does everyone just log on and write

JasonMc joined the room.

SandraS left the room (signed off).

AnnePD: My student blogs are accessible to the web public. I work at Georgia State University and the server may be down at the moment - it happens! The student blogs are linked off of the NewsQuest site. SeidyC left the room.

LoriJH: The only problem JasonB and I see is getting permission. Anything “chatty” our firewalls block.

MagdalenaR: Anne with your preservice teachers is it like a reading club on line MarianneH joined the room.

ElizabetJS: Weblogs would be very helpful for ESL students because they are able to express their ideas freely.

CarolM: Thanks, Anne. Actually, I was asking more for privacy issues than technology ones. SandraS joined the room.

JasonB: So, let me see if i have this correct. By blogging, I can post a question ( if I am doing literature circles) and the students can discuss their views?

JamesWr: Your tech dept can allow access ports or sites

LoriJH: Ya right. You don’t know our tech department. They are dorks.

CarolM: Anne, could you talk a little more about the collaboration with high school journalism students?

AnnePD: Are you familar with Literature Circles? Students take on different reading roles like Discussion Director, Word Wizard, Travel Tracker, etc. and discuss books that way. That blog is located at http://anvil.gsu.edu/LiteratureCircles.

LoriJH: I like the idea of reading circles or “Oprah” discussions.

JasonB: Thank you!

PamB: I posted a website to share some info and sample blogs with you. The url is http://www.infosearcher.com/blogs.htm Check out the high school journalism class blog and elementary blogs

ElizabetJS: Thanks that’s a great resource!

MarianneH: Anne, that URL didn’t come up.

LoriJH: This was most useful!

JamesWr: hey i’m one of those dorks ;)

SandraS: great list, Pam

AnnePD: Yes, students post on their web sites and then the high school journalism class would comment on what the students wrote. They also created lessons for them on good news writing. They encouraged the younger ones and were impressed by what they were doing.

LoriJH: You are a cool dork. Ours aren’t!

CarolM: FYI, on Pam’s list, she mentions Kern County. They also host Manilla sites for non-profits, like the Bay Area Writers Project.

LoriJH: I like this concept. Thanks for such a great idea. DorothyGst13 left the room (signed off).

SandraS: also, on the list…Movable Type is not easy to use…Typepad is the user-friendly version AshleyG joined the room.

AnnePD: EdBlogger Praxis is a great site that lists lots of educator weblogs. It’s at

PamB: Thanks Sandra. I’ll cahnge that.

AnnePD: http://educational.blogs.com/edbloggerpraxis/

CarolM: Thanks, Anne. Great opportunity for high school j. students…

JasonMc: I have actually been using Movable Type for a while now. It took a bit to get it set up. While not as immediately user-friendly as Manila, I really like it.

JamesWr: if you cannot gain access maybe you could build a lan discussion group for students

CarolM: Is anyone here hosting their OWN blog? i.e. buying the bloggin software and their own server?

SandraS: Movable Type is very versatile

AnnePD: The link I just listed is EdBlogger Praxis and it is run by Al Delgado. It lists lots of educator weblogs - great resource.

SandraS: but you’ve got to have access to a server, know some Unix

SandraS: nope

AnnePD: We bought Frontier and are hosting sites for GSU students and faculty.

CarolM: Anne, is it paying for itself?

SandraS: Anne, how is that working?

SusanR joined the room.

SusanR left the room.

PamB: Anne, are many students taking advantage of the free blogs?

JasonMc: I managed to get an old Win 2000 network server, popped Movable Type onto it and runn our school’s web site on it.

SandraS: cool, Jason

PamB: JasonMc -can you share the url with us?

JamesWr: cool edu blog site, thanks

DorothyGst6 joined the room.

AnnePD: Different professors are taking advantage of introducing it to students. We are not offering them just for anything but under the umbrella of useful educational purposes. As students show interest in classes, they can set up a weblog. We are in a pilot project type mode.

JasonMc: The learning curve was kind of steep at first, but it’s nice having the server sitting in my classroom. The url is http://lakewood.kpdsb.on.ca

CarolM: So both Moveable Type and Manilla can actually become more “traditional” website-like places, just with easy content management, right? AshleyG left the room (signed off).

JasonMc: I have another site that I have put together for my staff to use. It’s at http://pdzone.org

SandraS: the Edublog website is hosted on Typepad….

PamB: Nice job! Jason

JasonMc: Thanks!

SeidyC joined the room.

SandraS: nice work with Movable Type, Jason

AshleyG joined the room.

SandraS: Carol, that’s an interesting comment…where do blogs and websites blur? AshleyG left the room (signed off). AshleyG joined the room.

SandraS: some blogs, especially with video/images, come much closer to a website

SandraS: not so much a traditional blog

JasonB: Thanks for the information on Blogging!

AshleyG left the room (signed off).

AshleyG joined the room.

JasonB left the room.

AshleyG left the room.

AshleyG joined the room.

ElizabetJS: Thanks for the helpful sites on blogging.

AshleyG left the room.

PamB: your welcome.

PamB: Be sure to look at Weblogg-ed site…

JasonB joined the room.

PamB: it has lots of other educational blogs. It gives a good idea of waht is going on in K-12 SeidyC left the room. JasonB left the room. SusanR joined the room.

MagdalenaR: just out of curiosity what grade level do you think is the youngest you can use this blogging with?

PamB: Sandra, do have nay students who do not want to blog?

SandraS: some…

SusanR: use the slash, Beth /join PamB

SandraS: I would think the youngest age would be anywhere close to beginning literacy?

SusanR: and lowercase “j”

SandraS: maybe even first grade?

SusanR left the room.

CarolM: How about typing as a bloggin issue? I would think that would be a more natural barrier

SandraS: absolutely…typing is definitely a challenge!

AnnePD: Weblogs are dynamic. A regular website is static. Also weblogs enable you to instantly publish. It is a way to connect with others and make connections to learning. It is a way to give students ownership of a personal space. And it is an upclose and personal way to include parents in the process.

JamesWr: is there any legal problems k-12 wth giving access to blogs. . . are they monitored

PamB: Amsterdam international school uses blogs in their eelementary school…in all the classes but I’m not usre how young.

CarolM: Sandra, did you have students using this as a entre to typing? SeciliaC joined the room. ElizabetJS left the room (signed off).

SandraS: not so far, Carol, but that would be a good idea

MagdalenaR: okay, it sounds like a good activity to enhance reading and writing. I just was not sure if they could handle all the typing.

SandraS: traditional blogs tend to be short entries

KerriLM joined the room.

AnnePD: James, I got parent permission from each child’s parent. I explained what they were doing and everything they wrote would come to me on an email as I was a managing editor on their sites.

JamesWr: good

SandraS: if students had consistent access, they could write more regularly but perhaps not at great length…that might take care of some typing problems

CarolM: Anne, would you be willing to share a copy of the language you used on the permission slip?

MagdalenaR: Great thinking Anne

DorothyGst6: at what age are most children keyboard literate?

PamB: Anne- so the kids don’t write directly to the blog/

AnnePD: At the elementary school where I used to teach, we began keyboarding in grade 3.

JasonMc: Has anyone used blogging in interactive projects? I know wikis are a popular way to do this, but I’m trying to work within technology that I already have.

MagdalenaR: Well I have worked with first graders and they know how to type, slowly. SandraS so wants to set up a wiki…

AnnePD: Pam - I started with a class blog, then students created their own blogs. SeciliaC left the room.

CarolM: My understanding of wikis is they were kind of the blog parent…

SandraS: my student blogs are interactive in that each student needs to find two readers outside of class KerriLM left the room.

SandraS: the readers can then post to the blog, if the blog author gives the reader permission

PamB: that’s a great idea

CarolM: Can students continue to access their blogs after school?

DorothyGst6: what’s a wikis?

SandraS: at college level, yes

CarolM: wiki

BethD joined the room.

AnnePD: On my EduBlogInsights (http://anne.teachesme.com) I have links to lots of other educator blogs.

PamB: thanks anne

SandraS: a wiki is a website of information that can be accessed by anyone (can be password protected)

SandraS: collective information building

SandraS: Wikipedia

PamB: Anne, can i add your site to the blog page?

JasonMc: I have thought about the possibility of using a blog as a tool for having my French students share info with French-speaking students in other parts of the world. Does anyone have experience in something like this? Any problems you can foresee?

AnnePD: Sure!

SandraS: that would be way cool, Jason

SeciliaC joined the room.

AnnePD: Jason, I don’t have experience with that but it’s a great idea!

PamB: isn’t the concept of a Wiki that anyone adds information to it to sahre and build the site? JasonB joined the room.

PamB: sorry..share

SandraS: yup, Pam

JasonB left the room.

AlexisV joined the room.

JasonMc: I’d like to jump in, but I want to test the waters first, you know?

SandraS: http://www.wikipedia.org

MagdalenaR: Jason, do you mean like pen pals but over the internet? SeciliaC left the room.

AlexisV: Can someone help me…is this thr correct place to be concerning the pre-service teacher chat?

JasonMc: That could be part of it. I was thinking of collaborative projects; sharing information for a virtual field trip, for example.

SandraS: Alexis, you’re in the right place

SandraS: We’re just finishing up a talk on blogging

MagdalenaR: Wow that sounds like something I want to try. I have not heard of the virtual fieldtrip idea before.

JasonMc: I’d like students to be able to ask questions and share info in a forum-like atmosphere without the hassle of setting up a forum.

PamB: You might be able to find a partner school in france at the Global Schoolhouse website.

AlexisV: thanks sandra…this is my first time participating. BJ . o O ( or talk to Phil Benz during one of the EuroLang discussions here in Tapped In )

BJ . o O ( Phil is in France )

AnnePD: I have been exploring possibilities with weblogs for almost two years. The best part about them is that they make you think about what you truly want to accomplish with students. You need a plan. I feel that they have helped me improve my own writing, given me a great resource through all the communication with other educators (we’re learning together), and it encourages active engagment and thinking by the students and teachers. MarianneH left the room (signed off).

PamB: Great idea, BJ…

SandraS: i agree, anne

PamB: Phil Benz has a virtual website where students meet and talk in french

SandraS: also helps me to talk about class process cuz i write about that on class blog

JasonMc: Thanks for the suggestions. I have used E-pals before, but I like the idea of students being able to share, with the group rather than with just one person at a time. I have found that it can be intimidating for students to write to an individual.

MagdalenaR: Anne would you say that it is possible to create a mock blogging on my website for my students

PamB: Anne, where do you talk with other educators about blogging?

CarolM: For those of you using blogs with k-12 kids, have you found parents logging in to read? JanelA joined the room.

SandraS: Pam, thanks…i need to run to another chat. This has been very helpful. SandraS left the room.

PamB: Sandra, thanks very much!

PamB: too late

Vbell2nGst15 joined the room.

JamesWr: It has been great info I guess we should others have thr turn …thanks

PamB: there is a group in TappedIn called blog (soap) box…

AnnePD: Well, there is a great little community out there. You need to sign up on eBN Educational Bloggers Network (http://www.ebn.weblogger.com/) and see all the good resources there.

MagdalenaR: I really appreciate the information about blogging. I had never heard of it and will look at the resources that you provided. I think this is an activity that I would like to experience. Thank you DorothyGst6 left the room (signed off).

PamB: that’s a great site.

AnnePD: Once you start blogging, other educators will find you and everyone shares what they are learning and thinking. It is better than any inservice I have ever attended. Lots of thinking, sharing, and learning going on!

PamB: well it’s almost time. thanks for coming and sharing. JamesWr left the room (signed off).

JasonMc: Back to report cards. Thanks for the great ideas.

AnnePD: Nice talking to everyone!

MagdalenaR: Bye

PamB: Thanks for all your ideas and links.

MagdalenaR left the room (signed off).

PamB: Good night!

BethD: sorry i arrived late. just read about blogging in information searcher and wanted to hear more. JasonMc left the room (signed off).

CarolM: Thanks, Pam

PamB: Beth, do you want me to send you the transcript?

BethD: would you please?

PamB hugs Carol

CarolM: Pam, read your email!

PamB: sure Beth. i’ll send it tonight

BethD: Thanks!

BethD left the room (signed off).

PamB: Carol did you send me great news?

Vbell2nGst15 left the room (signed off).

CarolM left the room (signed off).

BJ: Pam, did you tell about your group room?

BJ . o O ( sorry, I was multitasking )

PamB: oooo no I forgot!

PamB: I did tell them aobut the blogging group!

PamB: next time.

AnnePD left the room (signed off).

2003.11.13 17:04:19 Signoff

 

 


—–

Posted in Imported | Comments Off

Tapped In - Are you blogging yet?

Wednesday, November 12th, 2003

Tapped In will be featuring this on Thursday from 4:00-5:00pm PST 7:00-8:00pm EST

 

 

WebTools: Are you blogging yet?

11/13, 4:00-5:00pm PST 7:00-8:00pm EST

Whether you are new to blogging or have your own blog, come share your experiences and questions in the ASO  (After-School Online sessions) on November 13. Let’s discuss this new Web format, how it is being used to promote literacy, explore software options, and check out some interesting blogs.

 

If you wish to join in on the discussion go here: http://ti2.sri.com/tappedin/do/RegisterAction?

 

A friend of mine emailed me about this session.  I have never sat in on one of the Tapped In sessions, but am going to try to make it for this one.  Some of you may wish to join in also!


—–

Posted in About Weblogs, Imported | Comments Off

« Older Entries