Just Blog It! Blogging Tips & Ideas Why Blog? You don't start blogging for awards. You blog because you are passionate about your profession, and have ideas & content to share with potential readers. Start When You're Ready, Already! No Excuses! Keep an Idea Folder Going! Schedule It. Get Graphic! Share Shamelessly! Adding Video & Widgets to a Wikispaces page is really easy! Be You! "My Tip: YOUR VOICE is the BEST VOICE.I always appreciate blogs that embrace an original, authentic voice. Give Credit! Buy Your Name! Be Thankful! Lastly, be stubborn! What are YOUR blogging tips? Can't Get Enough of Miss Critter Sharpe? Credits & References: Pictures of Critter Sharpe used with her Mommy's permission Video of Critter Sharpe from YouTube Pictures of my furry first cousins Boo & Bentley from my auntie Life With Lynn's Blog (I'm so proud of her!
10 20 ways to think about your class blog… One of the ways I like to encourage learning based on my school’s learning principles is to promote the use of class blogs. In the lower primary years, the blogs are often used to communicate with parents and to share the learning that takes place at school. As we move higher up in the school though, the class blog has the potential to be so much more than that. I’ve written about class blogs several times in the past, but my thinking has changed as I have watched the blogging experience unfold at my school. A great post this week by Andrea Hernandez, entitled Where is the Authentic Audience? I think that a class blog is not (just)… (With apologies if you use your blog successfully in some or all of these ways!) Some questions to consider… 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. Like this: Like Loading...
Making “Fair Use” Fun Talking to kids about copyright and fair use can be about as exciting as discussing algebraic properties. Even mentioning the words “fair use,” especially to seventh graders, is guaranteed to elicit a lukewarm response. However, what I learned teaching a lesson on “Fair Use” from Common Sense Media’s Digital Literacy and Citizenship curriculum can be best summed up as a mathematical equation: Relevant + Relatable = Fun Here’s the relevant part. The lesson became easy to relate to when the students performed and posted their original songs to YouTube and then discussed how they would feel if someone sang their song in public and/or, a) didn’t give them credit, b) claimed it as their own. In a world where cut, copy and paste have become automatic reflexes, all of this is confusing, murky, grey area stuff. Agreed. Diana Graber is Co-Founder of CyberWise, a Digital Hub that helps busy adults understand and use digital tools to enhance learning.
An Inquiry into Distraction Sometimes the most spontaneous ideas turn out well. The elementary tech coach and I were meeting the other day about technical stuff, but I couldn’t get something off my mind, and so our conversation turned to focus and the distractibility of computers. Our students are privileged. They each have their own laptop. It’s amazing what they can do on their laptops. My colleague and I then and there decided we’d get into a discussion with the students. What is concentration We started the conversation with students with: “What is concentration?” Next, we created a concentration scale: How focused are you? How well do you focus? After they put their dot, we asked them: “What made you put your dot where you did?’ It’s easier to focus when I’m excited about the subjectI focus more when I’m playing soccerWhen I’m at home by myself, I’m focusedIt’s easier when I’m not talking to friendsI get unfocused when I’m online Bing. We had now been having a conversation about concentration for one hour.
Blog « PASS IT ON Goldie Alexander has authored 75+ books for adult and young readers of all ages. Today she is going to talk about her latest two novels for readers 9-12 Neptunia, Cybertricks 2043, and her junior novel: Gallipoli Medals. You are in the unusual position of having three books out at the same time. How did this happen? It was just one of those extraordinary co-incidences. Gallipoli Medals is published by the Anzac Society. How did these ideas form and grow? Most of my ideas come from what I have read, what is happening around me, movies and TV I watch, conversations I listen to on trams and trains, my own grandchildren and what children suggest when I visit schools. Here is something about these latest books Neptunia: “Cassie Georgiana Odysseos has the potential to become an Olympic swimmer. Cybertrick 2043 “It is 120,43 AD, and Pya, Zumie, Jafet and Trist, live in tiny Cells cared for by tutor-holos only able to communicate via an avatar. Your characters are strong and resourceful.
Langwitches - home Easy Group Blogging With Posterous Spaces Tim Rylands' Blog - to baldly go....... Using ICT to inspire Snappy Words is a bit like InstaGrock, GraphWords, WordSift and Visuwords and has the advantage that you can sometimes double click on a node to dig deeper. It’s an online interactive English dictionary and thesaurus that helps you find the meanings of words and draw connections to associated words. You can easily see the meaning of each piece of vocabulary by simply placing the mouse cursor over it. Learn how words associate in a visually interactive display. For younger children, Snappy Words shows that words are malleable, playful delights, to be picked up & juggled with. Type words in the search box and click Go or simply hit Enter. Place the mouse cursor over a word to view the meaning.Double click a node from the branch to view other related words.Scroll the mouse wheel over words to zoom in or out. Try out GraphWords, WordSift and Visuwords to see which one you find the most useful. Snappy Words requires no registration or software installation. Category: 2) Useful n Interesting
Of inquiry and ignorance SmartBlogs “Knowledge is a big subject. Ignorance is bigger. And is more interesting.” — Stuart Firestei in “Ignorance: How It Drives Science” As the school year begins, educators (and parents) will encounter students who pose the question: “Why do I need to learn this?” All too often we brush off the question with answers like, “If you want to become a X (insert profession), you need to understand X (insert content).” Alternatively, we instruct in such a manner that fosters the perception that everything exciting and important in a discipline has been accomplished. If there be nothing new, but that which is Hath been before, how are our brains beguil’d, Which labouring for invention bear amiss The second burthen of a former child. – Shakespeare Sonnet 59 Taking an inquiry approach to teaching STEM topics avoids shallow answers and lectures on the accomplishments of past generations. Inquiry relies upon ignorance. The appropriate use of ignorance needs additional explanation.
6 Steps to Better Student Blogging When I started blogging with my students, I had no idea what I was doing. I knew I wanted them to write, I knew I wanted them to connect, and I knew I wanted them to reflect openly on many issues and not just blog their writing assignments. Sometimes their blogs blew me away and other times I wanted to encourage them to hit delete rather than publish. Over the years as I have seen our blogging reach a wider audience, we have fine-tuned what it means to blog and it is something that I continue to work on with every batch of new students. So how can you take your blogging from just writing to actual global collaboration and reflection, well, these tips may help. Be a blogger yourself! If you need more help, please visit my blogging resource page. Like this: Like Loading...
Six Reasons Why Kids Should Know How to Blog Digital Tools Teaching Strategies Flickr:Pixelsrzen In the digital age, kids need to have an understanding of what it means to be a responsible digital citizen. They need to learn the technical how-to’s, as well as a more global comprehension of how to navigate the online world. By Jenny Luca CREATING POSITIVE DIGITAL FOOTPRINTS. “As of August 6 my blog has had 533 visits worldwide. COMMUNICATING WITH DIGITAL TOOLS. Wow indeed. Jenny Luca contributes to PLP’s group blog Voices from the Learning Revolution. Related Explore: digital footprint, eportfolio Getting to the How and Why of Student Blogging « Principal Greg Miller This year every grade 2-6 student in my school has been set up with a Kidblog account. After successfully introducing this easy and safe platform with older students last year it made sense to continue to explore blogging as an excellent form of authentic literacy. Here are some of the reasons why I feel every student should be introduced to blogging: The idea of student blogging has definitely taken hold with many of my teachers as the year gets underway. I do, however, want to share a word of caution. Whether writing posts or commenting, I will be encouraging teachers to expect a lot of their student’s writing this year. Like this: Like Loading... Categories: 21st Century Competencies, 21st Century Learning Tags: 21st century learning, Authentic Literacy, blogging, Blooms, Elementary School, Kidblog, student engagement, transforming education, Writing