EduBlog Insights

My day begins with a click on Bloglines and then the windows of learning begin to unfold. Ahhh, so many opportunities. Shall I go here? Shall I go there? Oh, the places I can go…..

For instance, this morning I clicked on one of my favorite reads, Alan Levine’s CogDogBlog. My first stop took me to WordPress Theme Philosophy, then Dog Facelift, on to iForum Sneak Peek, and finally Web Site Notes. There’s many more stops that I will make a little later.

Alan blogs….

But if you are like me, and want to do some, to moderate, to severe customization, you get more and more into the code, and you look at templates a little bit differently. I have found that not all templates are created quite a like. Some are designed more as a one off, while others really lend themselves to being pried open. So I am going to try and blow the dust off of my braincells and try and outline the changes I have wrought in several WP sites, mostly for my own documentation sake.

So as Alan is dusting off his braincells in order to outline the changes he had made, my braincells are alert and dancing because I know the learning will continue for me. I too am interested in tweaking my WordPress site. Now I started with Manila, have used TypePad, Blogger and some others. Customizing the design of weblogs has never been an easy task for me. I know what I want and can usually figure out the code but seem to continually hit roadblocks as to where to put it, what else do I need to do to make it work and each of my changes sometimes make other changes I don’t want. So I “re-tweak” and spend far too much time on what I am always sure takes others just a few moments. You may know the story, if you are “challenged” in this particular area as I am. I see other sites and really admire the design of many of my colleagues’ blogs. So I try for a while (actually I really persevere) and then tell myself that the instructional part is more important (which it truly is), give up for a spell, and then find myself right back tackling the customization world.

Now that was my lead-in for what I really want to blog about this morning. It is this amazing educational blogging community that is truly an international model for learning. We simply must help build communities like this for our students. Alan’s blog is quite a model for that thought. He blogs about Word Press but he weaves his own learning into the post, gives concrete examples, uses images to help us “see”, gives step-by-step directions, shows many examples, links to relevant spots and then writes in a way that definitely crosses over all the six traits of writing. I am going to use some of his posts as models for my students in “making writing your own” and using humor so effectively. Plus, he ties everything in with the theme of his blog - not the WordPress Theme but his theme “CogDogBlog”. It is inspiring.
Having students writing and thinking about what they are learning on blogs can really evolve. Students need time for this type of learning. They should not be left out. Just imagine an hour a day (at least), students blogging about their learning through this type of sharing and building of communities. Wow! I can just picture the classrooms. After reading Alan’s blog, I am once again feeling that “I can do it!” and I will have this wonderful help from Alan. If we get more kids in on this they too will be saying “I can do it!” This is real learning - much better than “going it alone”. Let’s keep talking about opening the windows in our classrooms. We need those student “voices”!

A few quotes from other edubloggers that speak to this learning and including the student “voices”….

Ewan McIntosh from edublogs:

would any of these teaching / blogging ideas (or all of them) appeal to you?
What about convincing your colleagues to take part?
Are teachers ready for some honest feedback from the people that matter?
Would you spend time with one of your students every week planning how the next week would be taught?

Clarence Fisher from Remote Access:

This is exactly one reason why I want my kids to blog; and just as importantly, to read the blogs of others. Blogs are doors to the rest of the world. This is a powerful explanation of what we try to do. We “invite other people to know our lives,” you “read others’ blogs and discover their lives in other places.” This is why I am adamant that my kids link to, read, and comment on the blogs of people who live in other parts of the globe. I want them to hear from Australiankids, from Brazilian kids. From kids who live in major urban centres, and from those who live in small towns just like they do. They need to learn about their differences, see their similarities, and understand about how, on this ever - shrinking globe, they are a generation of people who will have many problems to solve when they inherit what we are leaving behind.

Darren Kuropatwa of A Difference:

Marc was scribe today. I didn’t think it possible, but he raised an incredibly high bar up another notch.

In her comments to Jefferson Lani suggested:

Just a thought: I wondered about a Scribing Hall of Fame to which everyone could aspire. It seems to me that you, Janet and Michael should be the initial inductees. You have set such high standards!! Maybe the members of the Hall of Fame could even have mention of their membership in their profile image.

Vicki Davis of Cool Cat Teacher Blog: