Blogging

The thing with blogging that has really taken off in my own classroom is when I use blogs as something more than merely writing a response, or a journal. When a blog has taken off in the classroom it becomes an extension of a conversation that motivates and moves in an un-thought of direction.

Check out the blog my students made when we read the book Native Son while we studied ethos (character/credibility), pathos (emotion), and logos (logic). Students first posted links that related to the ethos of the main character, Bigger Thomas, then they were to post a comment for another student's link.

http://weblogs.ccsd.k12.co.us/cth/mrobbins2/?p=20#comments

Another way to get familiar with blogs and how to incorporate them is to just surf the net looking for interesting blogs that strike your fancy and get you thinking about student work.

This blog that you are reading houses links to several other blogs that you might find interesting.

Thanks to...

Molly (skier) and Tina (boarder) - May the Web 2.0 lift you to new heights in your teaching.

As shocking as it may seem, there was a time when paper and pencil were the primary tools in our classrooms. We have the following people and resources to thanks and are sure to continue adding links to those who will help us in the future...

To Christine for always saying yes...

http://cougarramblings.blogspot.com/

To Will Richardson for captivating our attention for three hours (a rare feat) at the 2007 TIE conference and for writing Blogs, Wikis, and Podcasts...

http://weblogg-ed.com/

To Sue S. and Michelle A. for being tech pioneers in a book-centered content area...

To Apple and the creation of the iPod, who knew that techonology could be useful, cool, and lifechanging...

To Entertainment Weekly for dutifully writing about Britney Spears and Juno on a weekly basis, our lives would be empty without you...

Google Docs

Want to do a really cool group project, but you need to add some pizazz to this venture? Google docs is the answer. Google docs is an online application where students can collaborate on the same piece of writing from anywhere there is a computer with internet access.

When you think Google Docs think Word, Powerpoint, and Excel only on the web. When I trained my students on this awesome resource all I did was put the interface on the board and say, "What does this remind you of?" and "How do you use this?"

I have used it for a essays with some success. The caveat is that if students do not have their own Google account, they must use yours (or somebody elses). In my case, I let those students use my account and I changed the password for them...it ended badly. One of my students deleted my entire Google account, all of my blogs, docs...everything.

But there is hope...Google just announced a new way to use Google Docs called Google Apps. At this point I don't know enough about it to give it a thumbs up or down or to relay any caveats.

Google Docs Tour:

http://www.google.com/google-d-s/tour1.html

A Blog devoted to Google Docs usage:

http://www.commoncraft.com/video-googledocs