I have heard Will speak at the TIE conference in Rapid City. Now that I have started my own blog and am planning to use them in my English class, it seems to be a whole new conversation. I will record some of what I heard:
Will's Wiki
Will's Blog
Will had been a 21 year educator. Quit to become a full-time blogger and speaker. Will has been blogging for six years.
Google Blog Search
Technorati
To start blogging you need to read blogs. The links above are great places to start to find blogs that interest you. You then need to start commenting on other blogs. Engaging is a very important piece. At that point you may feel comfortable to start your own blog. There are many places you can start your own blogs. I have a couple started, but I am not sure where I want to "live."
Blogs are reflective. You can use it as a journal, but the real power is to put your thinking and opinions in there and see what people think. You put in intellectual sweat.There is a lot of synthesis in blogs. There is a lot of hypertext. Kids will be working in linked environments.
The question was posed to Will asking the difference between a blog and a wiki: A blog is a conversation. A wiki is a collection. What is the difference between blogs and forums? Blogs are deeply personal. They are your space. Forums are not. They are a group of people.
Reading blogs is an important part of being a blogger and a few that Will talked about were:
Clarence Fisher's blog
Konrad Glogowski
Karl Fisch
Teacher modeling works best when teaching blogging. Here are a couple more:
Vickie Davis - Cool Cat Teacher
Bud Hunt
IM is a very effective language and we should be teaching students that as well as formal language. We need to tell them when it is appropriate.
There are many places you can set up blogs. Here are a few:
learnblogs.org
wordpress
I have a blog. I read blogs and occasionally comment in other's blogs. I am not yet to a point that I consider myself a blogger. I am getting there though. I really want my 8th graders to publish their writing to a blog this year and comment on one another's blogs. I HAVE to be a good role model, so my summer is cut out for me. I am so excited!
I always enjoy Will's presentations and hope to catch a few more!
1 comment:
I also attended the TIE conference and was very impressed with Mr. Robertson's Keynote on Read/Write Blogging. I seen you link on an NECC conference link site.
Anyway, I work as the District Wide Technology Assistant Coordinator at the Todd County School District in Mission SD. I have been blogging for a few years about our local happening but just recently start a social network for the teachers in the school district to get them move them into the Web 2.0 world and intro them to blogging, wiki's, online forums, ect.
I hope that the teachers will pick up this media and integrate it into the curriculum. You links are great.
Post a Comment