Johnson - Creating a Writing Course Utilizing Class and Student. The Internet TESL Journal Andrew Johnsonchompjp [at] mac.comRitsumeikan University (Tokyo, Japan) Weblogs, or blogs for short, were created as a tool for people to create online journals without the need of any programming experience or knowledge. Although not originally intended for use in EFL classes, blogs have immense potential as an extremely valuable tool for the teaching of second language writing. By utilizing free blogging services on the Internet, teachers are capable of creating and storing online supplemental materials for students, post class notes for student review, and give general feedback to the class as a whole and individually. Additionally, students are able to submit assignments online. Introduction Weblogs (or blogs) are electronic journals that allow the user to keep records of their writing on a website (Figure 1).
Figure 1: An example of a student's blog. Setting up a Blog-Based Writing Class Intended Audience for this Section Features of the Blog-Based Class. Emerging Internet technologies for education, instructional tech. Teaching Writing Using Blogs, Wikis... / Using Blogs in the Clas.
Blog » Blogging. Our students just finished a second round of Student Led Conferences (SLC) this school year (one in Semester 1 and another in Semester 2). SLCs are a formal opportunity for students to present to their parents about the state of their learning. The students’ advisor (a teacher responsible for a specific group of students during the school year) serves as a facilitator to prompt and guide the students if needed, but is a silent presence as the students share their learning with their parents. SLCs are not a time to talk about grades, student behavior, but about learning habits, process, improvements and goals.
Although there was emphasis placed on an ongoing documentation of each subject area as learning and reflection happened throughout the school year, a significant amount of time was dedicated to prepare for the SLCs Preparation for Student Led Conferences Each subject area had to be represented with at least one blog post. Min Kyung’s Blog Karin’s Blog Juan Carlos’Blog Ji Won’s Blog. Tips On Blogging With Students. Blogging in the Classroom. Meg’s Blogagogy. The Year of the Blog: Home. The Year of the Blog: Weblogs in the Writing Classroom If the Web were to have its own astrology—something, perhaps, like the Chinese system—then 2003 would be the Year of the Blog, for while blogs (short for "weblogs") have been around since at least 1993, something in the stars and planets has just now come into alignment, making blogs rise above the horizon of notice. Witness these events: In January, Blogger (arguably the most popular tool for blogging) announced that it had reached the one million user mark.
Just over a month later, Pyra Labs, Blogger's parent company, confirmed that it had been purchased by Google. More than a marriage between much loved web darlings, Google's acquistion of Blogger assured the longevity of the service in a post-dot-com economy. On the web, in the academy, and throughout the world, blogs are starting to make a name for themselves, so much so that soon I imagine one won't have to explain just what a blog is—they are moving towards the mainstream.
Learn to Blog : Blog to Learn / FrontPage. Blog2Learn / FrontPage. Meg's EduPedia Home - Meg's EduPedia. Classroom Blogs and Wikis. Why Teachers Should Blog. I've never been too big on Descartes. That whole sort of essentialist argument has never been for me. I'm a guy who's built furniture out of science fiction novels and travel books and who's played concerts with nothing but a roll of tin foil and a microphone. So I've never been too big on the idea that things exist because they have some fundamental essence.
Consider blogs. There is no substantial qualitative definition of a blog. Blogs, or rather blogging platforms, just exist. And in my mind what this means is that I blog and what I blog -- and how that message is received by others -- tells me what I think. And it tells me how I think. My own blog confirms my suspicions that I'm not the most polite person in the world. And that's why I think all teachers should blog. A student in my ed class last night -- a young 2nd year teacher in a Baltimore City public school -- said that he didn't feel like he had anything to offer on his blog or on Twitter. This is real maturity. ePortfolios « In For Good. Tomorrow sixth grade Language Arts students will begin pulling work from their blogs to create mini-portfolios. They’ll create a separate page on their WordPress blogs to link to and reflect upon work from all three trimesters, which they believe reflect some of their most important learning for the year.
I threw together a quick model post. I created this screencast to showcase some of the work 6th graders have done using their blogs this year. I was supposed to present the work in person to visiting teachers, but I wasn’t feeling well, so I created a screencast instead. The screencast wasn’t perfect, but I felt it demonstrated the ways I’d imporoved since the beginning of the year. UPDATE: Here’s an great example of one of my student’s portfolios. Like this: Like Loading... Reflective Assessment Workshop Session 3 – Using Blogs (bPortfol. BlogBooker - Blog Book. Blogs Instead of Blackboard - Technology - The Chronicle of High. By Jeffrey R. Young New York Jim Groom sounded like a preacher at a religious revival when he spoke to professors and administrators at the City University of New York last month.
"For the love of God, open up, CUNY," he said, raising his voice and his arms. "It's time! " Mr. The approach can save colleges money, for one thing. Organizers originally expected around 20 people to show up to the daylong meeting, which included technology demonstrations and discussions. Blackboard Inc., whose course-management system is used throughout CUNY's campuses, has become particularly unpopular there this semester after a series of technical problems. "When Blackboard is down, it's like the door to the college is nailed shut," said Joseph Ugoretz, director of technology and learning at CUNY's Macaulay Honors College, explaining that some professors use the software to administer quizzes and teach online. Those problems have caused many here to consider alternatives. Doing Something 'For Real' Mr. Mr. How To Bling Your Blog – TCEA 2010.
Staci Perkins and Mark Weems had a great session on how to “Bling Your Blog!” I was intrigued simply by the title, so I knew I had to attend this one. After chatting with a lot of TCEA attendees, this was a hot one but I know everyone couldn’t attend, so I’ve put together a recap of tips and tricks for your blog. Tip #1: Don’t overdo your text! Remember that sometimes less really IS more and who wants to come to your blog to read a novel?
So, add pictures, graphs, charts, videos, etc… Tip #2: Ask an experience blogger to guest post on your blog! Not only does this draw in your existing audience but this will draw in their audience as well! Tip #3: Embrace pop culture! Tip #4: Nobody commenting on your posts? Tip #5: Create fonts for your blog! Tip #6: Host a giveaway or a contest! Tip #7: Enable comment moderations. Tip #8: Add a “fake” bookshelf! Tip #9: Spice up your photos by adding different effects, fonts, shapes, frames – it’s easy! Tip #10: Include your students! Resources. Knowledge sharing with Slinkset widgets. A few months back I wrote an article about creating your broadcast network to feed information to your PLN. In the article I included a section on a tool called Slinkset which I used to create my Technogogy news portal, which I use to share information and links to informative articles about education, technology and ELT.
Recently, I have discovered a new feature of Slinkset that automatically creates a widget that other blog or website managers can add to their site to aggregate and share the content of your portal. I think this is a great feature and one that can really extend the reach of the information you are sharing beyond your immediate network. The widget is very easy to install. You just need to direct web managers or bloggers to the relevant link on your portal. Here's the link to mine: How about you? What tools do you use to share knowledge?