Blogging and eboards: Adding an online component to classroom

learning

David Polochanin, January 9, 2010

Connecticut Writing Project

Take a quick survey

Access the link from my blog:http://the30somethingsuburbanguy.blogspot.com

My background

1995 UConn graduate, BA in Journalism State staff reporter, The Providence Journal, 1995-1997 Connecticut Writing Project Teacher-Consultant since 1999 Freelance columnist, The Boston Globe, 2001-2005 Correspondent-intern, Boston Globe, 1994 Correspondent, freelancer for Hartford Courant since 1993 Other recent freelance work has appeared in Education

Week, Middle Ground and The Christian Science Monitor Teacher of middle school Language Arts at Gideon Welles

School, Glastonbury, since 2001

About eboards

Eboards are online message boards They can, and probably should, be moderated It costs $39 to purchase use of an eboard for a year

(multiple teachers can use the same one) Underthesamesky.eboard.com

Cwptraining.eboard.com

http://www.eboard.com/

What is blogging?

Blogging, or weblogging, involves writing for a web site that contains an online personal journal with reflections, comments, and often hyperlinks provided by the writer.

Source: www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/blog

Everybody’s got one…

Why Blog? A brief research base

Blogging is writing for an authentic purpose. “Authentic literacy activities in the classroom replicate and reflect literacy activities that occur in people's lives outside of school and instructional contexts.” Duke, Purcell-Gates, Hall, Tower, International Reading Association, 2006

Blogging is response to writing. “Students need to hear the responses of others to their writing, to discover what they do or do not understand.” – Donald Graves, University of New Hampshire professor emeritus and author of A Fresh Look at Writing, 1994

Blogging is relevant for the adolescent population. “Content creation by teenagers continues to grow, with 64 % of online teenagers ages 12 through 17 engaging in at least one type of content creation, up from 57 % of online teens in 2004. Girls…dominate most elements of content creation. Some 35 % of all teen girls blog, compared with 20% of online boys.” Pew Internet and American Life Project, 2007

One guy’s theory about blogging…

“I think the pleasure of completed work is what makes blogging so popular. You have to believe most bloggers have few if any actual readers. The writers are in it for other reasons. Blogging is like work, but without coworkers thwarting you at every turn. All you get is the pleasure of a completed task.” (Scott Adams, creator of Dilbert cartoon)

One woman’s theory about blogging…

Deborah Branscum, a contributing editor to Newsweek, wrote a feature on blogging for the magazine and contributes to Fortune.com, Macworld, Wired, PC World. Here are 4 reasons she’s a fan of blogging.

Creative freedom. Part of a blog's allure is its unmediated quality.There's an enormous freedom in being able to present yourself precisely as you want to, however sloppily or irrationally or erratically.

Instantaneity. "With a Weblog, you hit the send key and it's out there.“

Interactivity. "It's a kick to get feedback from people you've never heard of who stumble on your Weblog," she says.

Source: http://www.jdlasica.com/articles/OJR-weblogs1.html

What you will do today

Explore blogs online and identify characteristics of quality blogs

Create a personal or professional blog using Blogger.com and respond to others on their blogs

Discuss and consider how to use blogs in the classroom - as an instructional tool and as a component of your academic program

Sample blogs

http://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/

http://kristof.blogs.nytimes.com/

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/

http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/hqblog

http://dailynightly.msnbc.msn.com/

http://gladwell.typepad.com/gladwellcom/

Explore blogs – first activity

Take 15-20 minutes on your own to explore blogs

Record, individually or with a partner, some characteristics of what makes a blog effective. Post to eboard.

underthesamesky.eboard.com (password = share)

Share conclusions with the group.

Characteristics of effective blogs - continued

Surf the Web for blogs of news organizations and media sites, favorite authors, celebrities, etc.

If you need a little more direction, check out TIME Magazine’s 2009 Best Blog site:

http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/0,28757,1879276,00.html

Or Forbes Magazine’s Best Blogs:

http://www.forbes.com/2003/04/14/bestblogslander.html

Post your responses to this “eboard”

underthesamesky.eboard.com

Create your own blog – see instructions on sep. paper

Directions: Setting up your blog.doc

Link to my blog example: http://polochaninsinsights.blogspot.com/

Final survey

Please return to my blog to take post-workshop survey:

http://the30somethingsuburbanguy.blogspot.com

“Without the New York Times, there is no blog community. They’d have nothing to blog about.” (Malcolm Gladwell, author of Blink and The Tipping Point)

http://www.everyblock.com/about/

Additional resources

http://www.jdlasica.com/articles/OJR-weblogs1.html (Two articles about blogging and journalism)

We’ve Got Blog: How Weblogs Are Changing Our Culture (book, Perseus Publishing)

The Poynter Institute: www.poynter.org (The preeminent journalism research site in the U.S.)

High School Broadcast Journalism Project: http://hsbj.org/

National Writing Project: www.nwp.org Connecticut Writing Project: www.cwp.uconn.edu