Using Blogs in Your Classroom: Stimulating Students to State Their Opinions What is a Blog? A blog (short for “web log”), is a website that features regular commentaries, descriptions of events, or opinions about a variety of topics What are the main reasons that people have blogs? posting commentary on a variety of subjects online “diary” of daily events in a person’s life

Effective Use of Blogs in Examples of the Effective Use of Blogs in the Classroom: Miller’s English 10 Classroom Blog http://millersenglish10.blogspot.com/ A blog created by a 10th grade English teacher that features information about assignments and homework prompts related to the students’ classwork Ms. Myer’s Class Blog http://mrsmyersmath.blogspot.com/ An eighth grade math teacher’s blog that serves both as a resource site for her students as well as an online diary of her daily events relating to school

How Can Blogs Improve the Quality of Instruction in Your Class? The use of blogs in the classroom promotes an “inquiry-oriented” approach to learning Source: “Blogging in the Classroom” http://myweb.sabanciuniv.edu/slblog/ 2009/04/13/blogging-in-the-classroom/ Awakens students’ curiousity and encourages them to express themselves creatively How Can Blogs Be Used in a Classroom? used as online writing journals provides a forum for students to express their opinions on a variety of subjects allows students to respond to the writings and opinions of their peers in a moderated forum

Where Can I Find a Free Blog Hosting Site? Wordpress http://www.wordpress.com Blogger http://www.blogger.com Blog http://www.blog.com

In this case, we will create a blog using Wordpress.com. When you begin registering for your account, you will be asked to create a username, password, Your e-mail address, and to agree to the site’s terms.

As you create username and passwords, the site will “advise” you on the strength of each word you enter.

The site will then display the blog domain name for your new blog. It also shows the blog title. You can also change the language the blog will be displayed in.

The site will then send an e-mail in order for you to confirm the registration of your blogsite. You will be prompted to update your profile on this page.

Once you have confirmed the registration of your blog, you will be led to the log-in page to your blog. Type in your username and password.

In order to begin posting on your blog, This page will appear. In order to begin posting on your blog, Click on the link along the top of the screen titled “My Dashboard”

of the different features On the right side of “My Dashboard”, You can choose to compost your first post through the “QuickPress” option On “My Dashboard”, you can manage all of the different features of your blog at a glance

You will notice that there is a generic initial post that appears on the blog’s dashboard. You can choose to edit that first post and update its content with your own composition.

The first thing you will edit on the blog posting will be the title.

Then you can edit and change the content that appears in the text box

After you’ve entered your content for your blog post, click the “Update” button on the right side of the screen. To view your post on your blog site, click on the link at the top of the screen labeled “Visit Site”

This is what your blog site will appear like once you have entered your first posting. You will be able to change its appearance if you want.

Back on “My Dashboard”, you can see how many posts, pages, categories, and tags that appear on your blog. You can designate each post you create into different categories if you want.

If you click the “Categories” link on your Dashboard, you will be able to add categories to your blog that you can place your postings into

You can change the name of each category, and select the “category parent”. For example, if you have a category for posts about music, you can create categories for “jazz” or “rock” that you can file under your “music” category

You can choose these options by clicking on Along the top of your Dashboard, you can choose what features will be able to be seen on the screen, such as recent comments, “what’s hot”, as well as how many columns that your blog will be laid out in. You can choose these options by clicking on “Screen Options”

You can also choose to import media files, such as images, music files, or movie files into your blog. When editing a blog post, you can upload a file to the blog from your computer. Once you click the link for that option, this screen will appear. You will be asked to select which files to upload.

Browse to the directory that the file you want to upload is located, click on the file, and click the “Open” button on the “Select File” window

Once you have selected the file, you will be given the opportunity to enter information concerning the file’s title, alt text for the file, a description of the file, and the alignment of the file on the screen

One popular use for the use of blogs by teachers is to start discussion threads based on readings from the curriculum. You can do this in the same way that you created your initial post.

The post for the Discussion Thread will appear like this on your blog site. Remember, you are able to change the appearance of your blog if you wish.

Another popular purpose of blogs is to include links to other internet sites that the poster wants to call attention to. To do so, when creating a blog post, type in a URL address for a website you want the readers of your blog to navigate to.

Highlight the URL address with your cursor Click on the icon on your formatting bar to create a hyperlink to that website Highlight the URL address with your cursor

You can view your blog site to see your blog post. The hyperlink you’ve created will be active and will lead to the other website when you click on it.

Along the side of “My Dashboard”, you will see a number of options that allow you to alter the features of your blog. You can click on the option labeled “Appearance” to change how your blog looks online.

A number of options will appear, including the option of “Themes”. You can browse through the different formats that you can select that your blog can follow.

In this case, I will choose the “ChaosTheory” theme and click the “Activate” link to apply the theme to our blog.

On “My Dashboard”, you will see the current theme of your blog. Click the “Visit Site” link to view the blog as it appears to the public.

This is how your blog appears with its new theme.

There are several other settings that you can adjust to your liking, including “Writing”, “Reading”, “Discussion”, “Media”, and more.

After you have made your adjustments to your blog’s settings, click the button labeled “Save Changes”