Beginning+Blogging

**Why blog?**
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**What's a blog?**
A Blog (a contraction of the term "Web log") is a Web site, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order.

Let's look at the pieces of a blog by looking at [|David Warlick's] blog and [|Will Richardson's] blog.

**How many blogs are there, really?**
[|Over 70 million] as of April 2007. [|184 million] as of April 2008 [|(Universal McCann Wave 3, 2008)] Technorati tracks the [|State of the Blogosphere] every year.

A Global View of Blogs

 * Who's reading blogs?** [|(Universal McCann Wave 3, 2008)]


 * What kinds of blogs are they reading?**[|(Universal McCann Wave 3, 2008)]


 * Who's writing blogs?** [|(Universal McCann Wave 3, 2008)]


 * What do they write about?** [|(Universal McCann Wave 3, 2008)]

Thinking about blogging
• Instructional • Informational • Reviews • Lists • Interviews • Case Studies • Profiles • Link Posts • Problem Post • Contrasting Two Options • Rant • Inspirational • Research • Collaboration • Prediction and Review • Critique • Debate • Hypothetical • Satirical • Memes and Projects
 * What type of [|content is in a post]?**

• Promotional • Informational • Persuasive • Editorial • Provocative • Collaborative [|10 Ways to use your edublog to teach] [|How you can use your edublog to start conversations]
 * What is the purpose of the blog?**


 * Blog Review**
 * //Your Task//**
 * What kind of content is posted?
 * What is the purpose of this blog?
 * Who is the intended audience?
 * What kind of media is embedded?
 * What did I like or dislike about this blog?

>> //classroom-focused blogs// >> [|deutschlernen] - a unversity level German class blog >> [|Español en CCV Burlington] - college level Spanish I and II blog >> [|How Beautiful You Are] - a first grade classroom in California (caution - sound automatically plays) >> [|Kinderkids Classroom] - kindergarten blog in a New Hampshire school >> [|Kirklandneuk Primary Blog] - French class in a UK primary school >> [|Songhai Concepts] - a Philadelphia information technology class blog >> [|South Paris] - an elementary classroom blog and each student has his or her own blog (listed on the right side of the page) >> [|Tamara Tendrop] - high school Spanish I blog - student entries on right, uses gabcast too! >> [|Toa's Troops] - 5th grade classroom blog >> [|Two Stars and a Wish] - French class blog from Newport, Isle of Wright, middle school level (more or less)

>> //education-focused blogs// >> [|Chinese Teacher] >> >> [|Cool Cat Teacher] >> [|David Warlick's $.02 worth] >> [|The Fischbowl] >> [|High Techpectations] - Lucy Gray's blog >> [|Learning Blog] - Alex Ragone >> [|Moving at the Speed of Creativity] >> >> [|Practical Theory]- principal Chris Lehmann's blog >> [|Sarah Puglisi] - elementary immersion teacher >> [|Weblogged] >> [|World Language Lab] - Allison Weiss from Chicago Lab Schools

Debrief

Who is your intended audience? What is the purpose of your blog? Personal? Professional? Instructional? Collaborative? What kind of media are you interested in using? What would you like your blog to be called?
 * Plan your blog**

[|Edublogs] - a free web-based blog service specifically for educators; [|video tutorials] and helpful [|support forums] make this a terrific site. Let's start a blog!

- Start a blog - Post at least two posts - Embed some media in a post or in your column(s) - Blog design and options - Comment on someone else's blog, being sure to leave your blog's address
 * Your task**

Our Blogs
(I'll link your blogs here)

One of the most powerful ideas in blogging is the comment. Choose one of the blogs from this workshop above or one of the blogs you explored earlier and leave a comment in response to a post.

[|divshare]** - a web-based repository for photos, videos, documents - this comes in handy if you have multiple blogs or wikis and want to use the same information in several sites.
 * Cool plugins and widgets....