Blogging in Elementary: Starting the Conversation Early Session 2236 (2 p.m.)

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Alice Mercer on March 3, 2009 at 11:20am

This is a preview of my Blogging in Elementary Preso for CUE 2009 on Thursday March 4, at 2 p.m. PDT

Audio will be available at Blog Talk Radio

7 Things You Should Know About Blogs

2 page handout on blogs

movingforward » home

A hub resource for sharing links and resources for various stakeholders about ed tech

oakridgeedtech » Start of Year Intermediate

Example of a student response on a blog

1 Twister 1998 -- Blogmeister

Assignment #18: What Works in Oak Park | Sixth Grade Blog

Landmarks Class Blogmeister

Warlick's CoLearners | Main / ClassBlogmeisterWiki browse

Sign In to Class Blogmeister - Class Blogmeister

Yahoo Groups: Class Blogmeister Support Community

Edublogs - teacher and student blogs

The Edublogger

The Edublogs Forums

Blogger: Dashboard

EdTech Update: Remove the "next blog" button from Blogger

Weebly - Create a free website and a free blog

21Classes – Free Classroom and Education Blogs - Home

SchoolBlog - About ePals - ePals Global Community

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Donelle on March 8, 2009 at 7:24pm

I was just about to look on your blog for the CUE resources. Wow. These are great. I really enjoyed attending your workshop and these links will be a big help to get me going. It was nice meeting you in person. Look forward to seeing you at the workshop in April. :)

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Alice Mercer on March 8, 2009 at 7:27pm

There is our first winner! You're already using Edublogs, correct? Send me a message on my page with your user name, and I'll forward the information on to them.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Alice Mercer on March 8, 2009 at 8:44pm

I just realized I forgot one thing that could be really key for your school situation. I have very high turnover (30% each year), lots of kids come and go through the year. To orient new kids, I use a static page called "information" where I have them review some of the info I gave the rest of the class at the beginning of the year. Here is an example of one: http://oakridgefifthgrade.edublogs.org/about/

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Alice Mercer on March 8, 2009 at 8:43pm

I just realized I forgot one thing that could be really key for your school situation. I have very high turnover (30% each year), lots of kids come and go through the year. To orient new kids, I use a static page called "information" where I have them review some of the info I gave the rest of the class at the beginning of the year. Here is an example of one: http://oakridgefifthgrade.edublogs.org/about/

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Alice Mercer on March 7, 2009 at 1:58pm

Thanks to those of you who showed up for this session! To practice the skills you'll be teaching students, please leave a comment, positive or negative, just make sure it's appropriate, or you can ask a question. The first three commenters will receive complimentary supporter status on edublogs.org for a year (thanks to Sue Waters at theedublogger.edublogs.org).

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Ashley Tarquin on March 9, 2009 at 2:41pm

Hi Alice,

Really enjoyed your presentation at CUE. I am a teacher on special assignment in Encinitas, a k-6 district. I am interested in getting blogging started in classrooms throughout the district. We have a few teachers blogging on their own. Do you have any suggestions as to how I may start this process? Many teachers have wordpress accounts or at least those that have webpages, so they are ready to blog. I plan to send them the link to your blogging wiki so they can see blogs in action. Then I will have a training for those interested in diving in. I would greatly appreciate any suggestions you may have.

Fondly,
Ashley

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Alice Mercer on March 9, 2009 at 3:08pm

I'm glad you enjoyed it. Most teachers start by doing a class blog, then begin letting students comment. If you start with Classblogmeister, you would start with just the teacher page. If you go with classblogmeister, I strongly suggest contacting someone who uses that system. I gave a wiki contact for that in my training materials.
On edublogs, which uses word press blogging software, you would just start with a teacher blog, then have students comment on teacher posts. If this still isn't clear, you and I can do a Skype call in a few weeks when I have my bearings back. The wiki is not mine, but I have contributed to it (http://movingforward.wikispaces.com). Scott McLeod who blogs at Dangerously Irrelevant and is an Ed Admin professor at Iowa State set it up.

Based on your comment, you have one one complimentary edublogs supporter status for a year. Please let me know how you would like to use it. It would get one main blog, to which up to 30 student blogs could be attached.

▶ Reply to This