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The Use of Blogs in Education Blogs are in a wave of new technology that also includes podcasts and wikis. These technologies are part of the Web 2.0 or the read/write web. This means that many people are reading and writing on a blog site. Blogs can be used in the classroom environment for communication between students within single class, between different classes at the same school or even between students at different schools across the country and around the world! One important thing to keep in mind when blogs or any part of the read/write web & internet is safety. In order to provide for a safe and engaging experience, school districts, teachers, parents, and students must take ownership and assume responsibility.

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=**School District Policy **= School Districts should post their policy for internet usage in their schools. The YouTube video clip that I am sharing shows the importance of a school district's policy and contract for using the internet for educational purposes (videohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFZfTYgb5LM). I also provided the Wilson School District's written policy for internet use.

Student/Parent Contracts

Students and Parents need to be held accountable for their internet actions. Informational contracts and links to sites that share safety advice should be included on the informational letter.



Safe Read/Write Web Practices Teachers, parents, and students need to use safe practices while using the read/write web. I provided a link that informs the reader of safe practices and also offers advice. Online Safety Tips and Advice [|Student Rules and Responsibilities for On-Line Safety] Here is a wiki with many tips and resources regarding internet safety and Web 2.0 created by our fellow classmates.

=__**Why should we use blogs in the classroom?**__= There are numerous educational benefits of blogs. Blogs are: • highly motivating to students, especially those who otherwise might not become participants in classrooms • excellent opportunities for students to read and write • effective forums for collaboration and discussion • powerful tools to enable scaffolding learning or mentoring to occur (Nguyen,2006)

=How do we use blogs in education? = Blogs can serve at least four basic functions: (Nguyen, 2006)

//Class blogs can serve as a portal to foster a community of learners. As they are easy to create and update efficiently, they can be used to inform students of class requirements, post handouts, notices, and homework assignments, or act as a question and answer board.//
 * //1. Classroom Management (Nguyen,2006)//**

example 1: [] Students in our Middle School fill out an assignement book and the teachers post their assignments for the day called TAD's.

example 2 : [] Students are made aware of the basic principals of character education.

//**2. Collaboration (Nguyen,2006)**//

Blogs provide a space where teachers and students can work to further develop writing or other skills with the advantage of an instant audience. Teachers can offer instructional tips, and students can practice and benefit from peer review. They also make online mentoring possible. For example, a class of older students can help a class of younger students develop more confidence in their writing skills. Students can also participate in cooperative learning activities that require them to relay research findings, ideas, or suggestions.

example 1: [] Uses a poll to ask students if they have used a certain type of program before.

example 2: [] Individuals are able to review and edit content.

//**3. Discussions (Nguyen,2006)**//

A class blog opens the opportunity for students to discuss topics outside of the classroom. With a blog, every person has an equal opportunity to share their thoughts and opinions. Students have time to be reactive to one another and reflective. Teachers can also bring together a group of knowledgeable individuals for a given unit of study for students to network and conference with on a blog.

example 1: [] Discussion blog for French students that encounter problems when they travel.

example 2: [] This is a good example of a discussion based blog.

//**4. Assessments (Nguyen,2006)**// Blogs present, organize, and protect student work as digital portfolios. As older entries are archived, developing skills and progress may be analyzed more conveniently. Additionally, as students realize their efforts will be published, they are typically more motivated to produce better writing. Teachers and peers may conference with a student individually on a developing work, and expert or peer mentoring advice can be easily kept for future reference.

example1: http://mrssmithsenglishclass.wikispaces.com/Something+Wicked+This+Way+Comes This is a novel test with a final project option for an 8th grade English class.

example 2: http://mamsseekers.wikispaces.com/Science Provides a website for the students to take an online science quiz.

=**Teachers Can Blog Too!**= Not only can teachers have students use blogs in the classroom, but teachers can utilize education blogs to education themselves as well as share lesson plans with other bloggers. Teachers can find ideas for lesson plans by grade level, by subject, or by specific topics. Additionally, teachers can collaborate with other teachers on activities. Many teachers also use blogs for their own personal education. Want to learn more about differentiated instruction or the use of a wiki in a classroom? You can find a blog about it! Videos, pictures, and links can also be shared through a blog. Check out the video on [|Ten Ways to Use Your Blog Edublog] for more information.

Teachers can search for lesson plans based on what grade level of students they teach. Many are broken in to primary and secondary. Some can be found that will break the grade levels more specifically, such as K-3, 4-5, 6-8, and high school. Other blogs will also include college level lesson plans.
 * 1. By Grade Level**

example 1: [|http://elementaryteacherblog.blogspot.com] This blog is an elementary teacher sharing some lessons that she used in her elementary classroom as well as some posts that students can answer to.

example 2: [] This blog is written by a high school teacher; she has her students learn history by sharing how they are living through current history.

example 3: [] In this blog, the college teacher pursues the topics of business, employers, and employees with his students. Teachers can see how easy it is to implement current events in to their curriculums from this blog.

When searching for blogs, teachers can also look by specific subject. This is useful to teachers that are looking for lessons in specific areas of study.
 * 2. By Subject**

example 1: [] History can be learned through 50 second videos on this history blog. It is a great way for history teachers to implement different types of learning in the classroom.

example 2: [] In this blog teachers can read up on how math can be enjoyable and rewarding. This is information is something many teachers may also want to share with their students.

example 3: [] This science blog will help science teachers create fun labs for their students; it gives suggestions to help students become engaged and interact during their science lab.

If there is a certain topic that teachers are going to be working on with their students, they can search lesson plans on blogs for specific types of lessons.
 * 3. By Specific Topics**

example 1: [|http://www.linesdotsanddoodles.blogspot.com] This art blog shows a lesson that can go along with science too. Students created fish bowls while they were learning about the types of fish in the ocean.

example 2: [] This math blog is a how-to about statistics.

example 3: [] History teachers can find many lessons on the U.S. government on this blog. It is a great resource to use in the classroom.

Teachers can find tons of information on any variety of topics they may be interested in. If they want to find out more information to educate themselves further, teachers may want to look toward blogs. There are many blogs where people research then post a collaboration of all of the information they found.
 * 4. Teacher Education**

example 1: [] Technology can be a challenge for teachers at times. This blog, developed by a teacher, is there is help other teachers with the different forms of technology.

example 2: [] Included in this blog is information about teaching paperless. With all of the technology available for teacher/student use, in all reality, teachers can develop in to a paperless classroom.

example 3:[| http://www.chemistry-blog.com/] This blog would be very useful to chemistry teachers. On it they can find many discussions about chemistry and the research currently be done in that area of study.

Many teachers reflect on their lesson plans or on how their day went in general. They like to jot down ideas on how to make a lesson better, what worked, what didn't work, and how they may like to modify a lesson in the future. Additionally, teachers that share their reflections will soon see that other teachers may add to their list of future suggestions on making a lesson work better.
 * 5. Reflective Teaching**

example 1: [|http://justathought.edublogs.org]/ This blog gives a teachers professional thoughts on being a teacher.

example 2: [] This blog is a substitute teaching reflecting on his experiences in the classroom.

example 3: [] This teacher shares some of the humorous stories that she has experienced in the classroom. This blog will give any teacher a good laugh!

= How Do I Start? = There are several sites where you can begin. These are all user-friendly and simple enough that a beginning blogger can get started.

[|Word Press] This is a popular site that is free and easy to use. There are also lots of blogs you can check out to get ideas of what you can do.

[|Teacher Lingo] is a site specifically for teachers. You can create a new blog on this site. If you already have a blog, you can joing this site and share your blog with other teachers!

[|Blogger] is Google's blog building site.

Sources Used: [] [], [], http://mrssmithsenglishclass.wikispaces.com/Something+Wicked+This+Way+Comes, http://mamsseekers.wikispaces.com/Science, [|http://blog.wallwisher.com/][|[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog]]][|[[http://theedublogger.com/2010/12/01/befunky-photopeach-and-sketchfu-its-what-students-want-to-do/]]][|__http://etudiant.edublogs.org/2010/07/28/probleme-de-logements-etudiant-en-france/__] []Stufflet's Edit