In a world that is quickly becoming paperless, I still value the act of writing on paper. Still, we've got to present a balanced approach with our students. We rely so heavily on computers anyway, and using a blog is a way to:
1) Keep a copy without worrying whether it is saved on a jump drive, hard drive, etc. because you can log in Google/Blogger anywhere.
2) Save paper!
3) Share links that students can view outside of class (and keep all your links in one post--no worries about bookmarks!);
4) Share information or student work with parents and administrators (All you Facebook and Twitter users, you can keep your followers updated on your blog each time you publish).
5) Keep a class scrapbook. Think of the reflection that can take place when students, parents, and administrators take a look at the work, activities, or material covered through the course of the year.
6) Open communication lines between teachers and students. For example, a student might have a question about a post related to a class activity and you don't have time for questions during class (so you let them ask questions on the blog). Maybe you invite them to visit the blog to answer challenge questions or play games that offer enrichment.
7) Get students excited! They really enjoy viewing a class or teacher blog. I swear some of them think they are famous if their picture is on a class blog, but, if it inspires them to work hard, why not! By the way, I do get parents permission to post certain things on my class blogs (photos); as a rule, I never post student names.
8) Safely communicate. I have seen teachers who use Facebook to keep students and parents updated, but I worry about the issues involved with "friending" people outside our professional lives. In addition, I feel a little safer knowing exactly who can see the blog (as you can decide to make it public or private for a select group of viewers). Facebook and Twitter change their privacy policies so often, and I'm not sure who can see my FB page (and what they can see on it)!
9) Create something unique. Blogs can be whatever you want them to be. Perhaps you want to share the project your class does and/or you share photos, artwork, student writing, etc. Maybe you want to share study guides, vocab, classwork, homework assignments--think of the absent students having easy access with a phone. It could a place that you write down your thoughts and ideas about teaching. Upper grade teachers, I think it would be wonderful to see students create their own blogs.
10) Make your life a little easier. I'm still learning to balance my time and efforts as a teacher. Having everything in one place has been a time-saver and a useful tool for many the reasons I've already mentioned.
There are so many ways that I can think of to use a blog and I hope you will consider giving it a try!
8) Safely communicate. I have seen teachers who use Facebook to keep students and parents updated, but I worry about the issues involved with "friending" people outside our professional lives. In addition, I feel a little safer knowing exactly who can see the blog (as you can decide to make it public or private for a select group of viewers). Facebook and Twitter change their privacy policies so often, and I'm not sure who can see my FB page (and what they can see on it)!
9) Create something unique. Blogs can be whatever you want them to be. Perhaps you want to share the project your class does and/or you share photos, artwork, student writing, etc. Maybe you want to share study guides, vocab, classwork, homework assignments--think of the absent students having easy access with a phone. It could a place that you write down your thoughts and ideas about teaching. Upper grade teachers, I think it would be wonderful to see students create their own blogs.
10) Make your life a little easier. I'm still learning to balance my time and efforts as a teacher. Having everything in one place has been a time-saver and a useful tool for many the reasons I've already mentioned.
There are so many ways that I can think of to use a blog and I hope you will consider giving it a try!
This is the basics of Blogger. I am happy to add to this as needed. I think you will find that as you work on a blog, the easier it gets. By no means am I an expert, and I'm sure if you run into a particular problem, an internet search will help you find a fast answer!
To log in to blogger, all you have to do is log in to your MBC email. In the top bar (where you normally click on Mail), go to More. Scroll down to Blogger and your dashboard will appear.
The top of your dashboard will list any blogs that you are authorized to post to; the bottom of the page will display the most recent posts of blogs that you choose to follow: your Reading List.
If you want to follow a blog, typically there will be a button on the blog or you can be on your dashboard (the lower portion) and hit the Add button to start following a blog.
If you click on a blog title, the blog will display.
Let's say you are viewing your own blog and you want to create a new post. In the upper right hand corner, hit "new post." If you are viewing your own blog and you want to view your posts, hit "Design" and let the page load. Go back to the top of the page to "More" and select Blogger. If you are on your dashboard, you can view your old posts by selecting "X posts" to see a list of any posts you've drafted or published.
It gets pretty simple once you choose a post. The HTML method of writing a blog post can get pretty complicated, so stick with compose.
Save your blog frequently, preview to see what it would look like, close if you want to go back to your dashboard.
There are lots of options with Publishing. Let's say you want to choose when your post shows to the public. Hit Schedule and work through those options. Let's say you want to organize posts by topics (not just chronologically like the blog will normally view as), create Labels. An example might be by SOL topic, class, types of posts (study guides, student examples, etc.) You could invite students or parents to leave comments--or not--by selecting Options and working through that section.
Want to add a document? There are a few options. You could cut and paste from Word. I like that best if it is a chart or graph. You could scan the document and insert that like a photo. Sometimes the fastest way for me, though, (especially with student work) is to just photograph it using my document camera. The image goes straight to the computer and within a minute, I'll just upload it to a post. By the way, to upload a photo, just go into a post and look for the polaroid button!
To create a working link, go to the page you want to link to and cut out the active link. Go back to your blog, select the post you want. Highlight the word or words you want your readers to hit to go to the link and hit Link below the word Publish. Press ok and you should see it is bolded if you preview the post.
I will soon add a note here on adding things to your blog called gadgets. Gadget are added to the left, right, or tops of blog pages. These could be something as simple as a calendar, a list of followers or a note about the blog (like we have displayed), a slideshow of photos, etc. With that, I can also write a note about changing the layout of the blog.
Please let me know if there's something else you think I could assist you with as you create a blog.
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