EduBlog Insights

is excellent and he encourages you to “kick the blogging tires and see

what benefits you might take away.” You need to take a look at my

elementary students’ blogging about weblogs, writing and learning. They

are indeed kicking the blogging tires. Their views on weblogging are

powerful. They are really giving some thought to what they are learning

and improving their writing with each post. The students love having a

choice about what they are writing, they feel ownership, and they are

in awe of the fact that people are commenting on what they have to say.

Alejandro’s post: My Life as a Weblogger

Have you ever had a chance to do

weblogs? If you haven’t you should try it out. Ever since I began using

weblogs my writing has improved.

Shelby’s post: What Goes On Around Here

Weblogging is when you can have the

freedom to express yourself, and write about whatever you want to! You

have to be careful when you write because you could be writing in front

of the whole world! At first, I was very excited about having ownership

over my own weblog, and the excitement keeps building!!!

Maria’s post: My Writing Is Improving

I use my personality in my writing. I

include my voice in my writing. I use many of my choices, and I have

freedom over my writing.

Jhonathan’s post: Importance of Weblogs

Aw! My brain hurts! Do you know why? It is because of all the learning in the weblog group.

You can get to all the student blogs from The Write Weblog.They

are great reads and the student illustrations are delightful! You can get a quick view of all the illustrations on their Blogging Photo Album. I’d

also invite you to leave some comments on these students’ weblogs! That

would be a great way for them to start the new year when they return

from the holiday season.

Then maybe start some student

weblogs yourself!  You will be amazed at what they (and you) will

Fortunately, he can post on his blog. Unfortunately, comments have to be turned off.

We will get to hear the good things he and his teachers are doing in

technology but the interactivity element will be sorely missed. Go by

his site and welcome him back by contacting him through the email link

he provides on his post.

I do love the quote on his blog…

things distinguishes the strong soul from the weak”

by Darrell “Coach D” Andrews. He talks about those “ah-ha” moments when

everything connects and you see true learning taking place. A quote

from his article:

In math, for example, we learn that if A=B and B=C, then

A=C. Tell students they can use this skill to make better life choices:

if Hanging out with the wrong crowd = Missing classes and Missing

classes = Dropping out of school, then Hanging out with the wrong crowd =

Dropping out of school. This kind of critical thinking can help students

Now how about using weblogs in those math high school classes and let the students make their own if A=B and B=C, then A=C connections? Wouldn’t that make for some good reading and commenting? I like it!

is making!  I read that he will be presenting “Building Bridges,

Breaking Barriers: Connecting Dreams to Education” at the 2005 ASCD

Annual Conference. Wish I could attend and hear his talk. Let’s get him

about education and how they were all pretty much bored out of their

skulls by school. Now I know that’s a typical response from

adolescents, but it was interesting to hear them talk about how school

used to be fun when they were in elementary school, but how now, none

of it seems relevant or useful. It was sad, but not surprising. I can’t

help but think kids would be more engaged if they were building things

for big audiences.

maybe I’m a dreamer and things like this won’t work in high schools but

maybe if we took a risk and opened up the conversations we could learn

a lot. Parameters could be set for responsible input. If the students

believed that input was wanted and faculty would listen, we could begin

a true dialogue. Schools could act on suggestions where possible and

have a place to explain why they could not implement some suggestions.

Hmmmm. A weblog that  asks questions and seeks answers from those

involved in the learning process…the students themselves. How could

we get the conversation going to think about needed changes that we

could implement in education?

What is your take on teaching and learning at this school?

Give examples of  times in school when you were motivated to learn. Be specific about what got you interested.

How do you think we could solve (give a specific problem that needs to

be addressed - make students a part of the solution and then recognize

their good thinking)?

How can we improve how students are doing in our classrooms?

What would get you excited about learning?

What ideas do you have for making your subject areas relevant to you?  Are there ways to connect it to today’s issues?

Do you have any suggestions for how to use technology in a worthwhile way to learn the school’s curriculum?

in the K-12 curriculum.  I challenge you to design a weblog to help in

other areas of the curriculum.” 

This challenge comes straight from Hillary Meeler of EduBlog Quest. I

love it! Hillary is the Instructional Technology Specialist from J. H.

House. I’ve written about her before. This is her first year in this

particular job and I have been impressed. She was with me this past

Friday at the inservice for the DeKalb teachers. She took notes while I

was talking. It’s so nice to have “jot notes” from sessions. The words

in red signify questions from the teachers in the audience. I got to

thinking about this and thought that this would be a great skill to

teach the kids. They don’t get many opportunities to do something like

this but it would be a good experience. It’s not easy to take notes but

it really helps in so many ways, not the least of which is  sharing it with others. This

DeKalb group began creating blogs on Blogger at the end of the session

and shared lots of good ideas they had for some other blogs they wanted

to create. We look forward to hearing more from them down the road.

Hillary is not only a good teacher and note-taker but she is busy

coming up with ideas for blogs.  She has created a nice new weblog

called House Highlights. It’s going to be an informative and upbeat blog about the happenings at House!  Hillary is making it happen!

refers to Ton’s “On the use of time for blogging” where he discusses

the most asked question he gets when he speaks to people who don’t

blog. They want to know where he gets the time to do it. He says time

point out how that applies to a lot more situations than just blogging.

His conclusion: “Asking me how much time I spend blogging, is treating

blogging as an additional activity in my life (which it was at first),

and feels to me like asking how much of my time I spend breathing.”

Lilia says her answers to this question are pretty similar. She says,

“I can afford spending quite a lot of time blogging only because it’s

so integrated with my regular activities that it’s not an add-on

anymore.”  She outlines the role blogging plays in her own work:

with me. This is what I’d like other educators to experience. I’ve said

before that blogging is the best inservice that I’ve ever had. It is

learning focused on my needs and interests. With a few clicks on the

world of viewpoints at my fingertips. I’m meeting colleagues, whom

Learning is making connections. It’s getting ideas, it’s an up close

and personal view of a colleague’s thinking and it is a sharing spirit

with other bloggers who see the potential. All of this gets me to

“raise the bar” in my own thinking. At first, it does seem like an

add-on and it does take time to explore the different avenues to see

the incredible possibilities.But the payoff is enormous! This type of

learning gives me ownership,

a voice, and a stake in the whole process.  I’m writing, learning,

and engaging in dialogue in a way I had never done before. All this

with a simple piece of technology that costs little or nothing, allows

me to publish instantly, receive comments and continue the

conversations.Then here’s the real

kicker.   We can put weblogs in our students’ hands and get

them writing, posting, thinking, creating, and responding on

subjects they care about. The students voice can be heard, we can

listen to those voices, and be a part of fostering needed change in

Merriam-Webster Inc. said on Tuesday that blog, defined as “a Web site

that contains an online personal journal with reflections, comments and

often hyperlinks,” was one of the most looked-up words on its Internet

sites this year. 

Now, let’s make it no. 1 in education for use by educators and students!