Blogs

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=Blogs=

Blog is short for weblog. Like wikis, blogs are websites that you can easily build yourself. I think of blogs as more personal; they are place to journal and comment about all that you read and experience. The formats of blogs and wikis are slightly different, blog entries appear in descending order, wikis appear where you place them, but the tools to edit are nearly identical. You'll soon be a master of both! I like to start with the [|Common Craft Show]for a simple overview. There is free blog software available to get you started: How can you use it in your classroom? Some examples:
 * [|Blogger]
 * [|Wordpress]
 * [|livejournal]
 * Student journals
 * reading response
 * book reviews
 * http://u28mcba09.blogspot.com/
 * http://thediaryofannefrank.blogspot.com/
 * http://itc.blogs.com/greenstream/

Apart from the many uses with students and in your teaching, blogs are a great professional development tool. It's a way to stay connected to all the latest news and trends in education. Here are a few to get you started:
 * http://www.assortedstuff.com/
 * http://www.speedofcreativity.org/
 * http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/Bridging-Differences/
 * http://www.thisweekineducation.com/

Bling your Blog! ( Thanks, Sarah for the name!) [|www.blogspot.com] Now that your blog is up and running, let’s add some pizzazz! You can add pictures, video, lists, bookshelves, polls, text…loads of choices.

We are going to add these to the layout, or the structure of the blog rather than as a post. This way, they won’t get pushed down and archived.  Select the **Layout** tab || Here’s were you can add a gadget. Click on “add a gadget” and make a selection. If you are embedding video from YouTube, a VoiceThread or similar application, this is where you will choose HTML.

If you’d like to add a class bookshelf, try Shelfari. First visit [|www.shelfari.com] to set up you’re your account and create a shelf. Then go to [] for instructions on embedding it in your blog. ||