Blogs

= = =**Overview: **=

Blogs are used today for a variety of reasons: from personal blogs, business blogs, media blogs, to educational blogs as well as anything you can practically imagine. A blog was a name that derived from weblogs since they mostly consist of time-stamped articles, posts, or diary entries in a journal like form on the web. Blogs can arrive in different forms, from a written blog to a video blog (vlog). Today, blogs are necessary to people who communicate with various communities of individuals, groups, corporations, educators, and social networks. Some experts are even predicting that blogs may become our primary method of sharing information.

People that blog on a continuous basis are referred to as bloggers. For the most part, they update their web sites frequently to reflect their beliefs and can even be connected to other bloggers to form a blog community. Much like you follow people on facebook or twitter, community bloggers follow each other and become one network of ideas.

Nowadays, it is extremely easy to set up your own blog. Most blogs have a traditional entry and include the date along with the person’s ideas on any topic of interest. It is easy to flow into blogging as it is a way of conveying your own thoughts and ideas. However, always keep in mind that what you blog can be read by anyone, and although it may feel like your own journal it is not as private.

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=Here are some examples of some great blogs: = [|Mr. C's Class Blog] [|Teacher Lingo] [|Disney Blog] [|Mrs. Hill Class Blog]

=Ideas For the Classroom: = Blogs can be used in various ways in the classroom and or for the media center such as:  1. Creating a healthy discussion about a the weeks topic with your students on your own class site. [|example] 2. Getting creative ideas for activites or classroom decorations. [|example] 3. Forming collaborative work groups between departments and individuals. 4. Having students record their journey on a project and reflecting their feelings along with any questions to pose for their followers. 5. Form a classroom blog on sports throughout the year and pose various questions to build student interests and motivation. 6. Create a "mailbox" blog for your students to post questions, concerns, or interesting ideas. 7. Create a study blog for your students on upcoming tests, quizzes, or concepts. 8. Create a media center blog for a book club. 9. Create a media center technology blog suggestion area for study sites or activities.

=Pros & Cons: =
 * ** Pros ** |||| **Cons** ||
 * Creating a blog can be an easy way to create class websites that will encourage kids to participate. || Students may form a habit of writing in slang rather than in proper English since a blog gives them a lot of freedom to write what they think. ||
 * Encourage students to write in the blog and improve writing skills. || Blogs may may sometimes be difficult for students to stay on the right topic because they may begin veering off on a social topic instead. ||
 * Even if students do not have computers at home they can have access to the school media center or public library. || Not all students have access to computers at home. ||
 * A blog provides a place for consumers to provide positive and negative feedback on products. || Some people/students may lack typing skills making this task very time consuming and easily frustrating. ||
 * Blogs encourage class participation, especially for shy students. || Additional time is needed to monitor and update your blog accordingly. ||
 * Blogs promote intercommunication among people and companies. |||| Students can appear to be working on a class blog, but actually play around with other websites that are not part of the lesson. ||
 * Blogs can motivate students into reading books as there are many sites that discuss various stories as part of a type of book club". ||  ||   ||
 * Blogs can be used as an alternate for book reports can expose students to technology while showing their creative side simultaneously. ||  ||   ||

=Links and Resources: = [|Blogging? Its Elementary] =[|Guide To Educational Blogs] = =[|How To Write a Blog] [|Blog Benefits] = = =

=Interested in creating your own blog? Below are several websites that will allow you do you just that. = [|www.blogspot.com] [|21 Classes] [|www.blogger.com] [|Class Press] [|www.typepad.com] [|Word Press]

=**Citations: **=

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Shelly, Gary, Thomas Cashman, Glenda Gunter, and Randolph Gunter. <span style="font-family: verdana,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10px; letter-spacing: 1px; line-height: normal;">//<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Teachers discovering computers // <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">. 5th. Course Technology Ptr, 2007. 115. Print.

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