My 2nd Project - A Class Blog

PROJECT SELECTION CHOICE
When considering what I wanted to do for my second project, I was torn between a PowerPoint presentation and something more with Blogger. I chose to learn more about Blogger because I have created a number of PowerPoints, and I really couldn't think of a PowerPoint presentation to make that I haven't already made. I don't want to be the teacher that uses PowerPoint every single day, so I figured it would be best if I tried something a little different. This is not to say that I wasn't somewhat familiar with Blogger, after all I started a blog last year that didn't work out for me and we have to blog for this class, but I wanted to find a true function for blogging in my classroom. As an English teacher, I like the thought of my students blogging regularly because that means they are thinking of our lessons outside of class and they are writing about them and discussing them with one another. This is of primary importance to me, considering most of the students I have do some form of online writing every night... but it's all on either MySpace, Facebook, or Twitter. Blogging is like forming a bridge between these social networking sites and the educational environment. Blogging proves that even kids who don't want to participate in class still have a lot to say and a voice to be heard. Blogging is the new way of the educational world, and I'm glad to be jumping into this community.

My intended audience is my students, but I do hope to get parents interested in reading their child's posts and comments. The typical eighth grader comes home from school and answers the standard, "What did you do in school today?" question with "NOTHING!" even though that's far from the truth. Even if some students refuse to talk with their parents about their daily learning, parents could see their growth on blogger if they choose to check the site out on their own.


PROJECT RESEARCH
The second article I read for this class was about using blogs in the classroom. I really liked this article because it introduced me to an informative video, interesting facts, and informational pieces about blogging on About.com. I am going to use the tutorial video in my class the way the teacher in the article did, so that students understand blogging before they are thrown into it. Chris also gave me a PDF file about using blogs for journalistic purposes which I found particularly fascinating because I am becoming more and more fascinated with the thought of getting paid to blog or doing it regularly with a large following. I also referenced his blog page on his Wiki, which had a couple more cool videos (another one of those British teachers.tv videos like the ones we had to watch for our Testing and Grading course... I love their accents!) that I may share with my students as well. Chris has so much information on blogging, including resources for safe blogging and how to find cool blogs that other teachers and students are doing, so I encourage everyone to check out his blog page on his Wiki.


CONTENT DESIGN
Since I want this site to be the home blog for my classes, I set it up so that when I ask questions they will respond to me through comments on this page. Once the students get their own blogs set up, I am going to have them all become followers of my page. This will be good for them because they will get updates about my blog, but it will also be good for me because then the links to their image and blogs will be right on my page and I can keep all of my students organized in this fashion. The students will post their own blogs on their individual sites and they will comment on their classmates sites as well. I am hoping for the students to have a sort of theme for their blogs, like the students in this video. The students at this school had a lot of pride for their blogs, because they knew people around the world were looking at them. I also included a few fun polls for my students and some links to other sites, such as my website, and a few games they can play to make their stay at my blog more enjoyable.


MEDIA DESIGN
Considering the fact that everyone in our class already had a really cool looking blog, I wanted to find a couple of additions that would allow for mine to be a bit more developed than theirs. It's not like I was trying to "beat them" in some competition, but I figured if this was going to be one of my projects then I should learn more about it so I could teach them how to make their pages even cooler. The first thing I wanted to do was add a tracker, but I had some trouble with finding one. I did a little "field research" and asked a couple friend of mine who write posts every day. The husband was able to lead me to the code for the tracker, and I figured out how to keep it from tracking my IP address so it doesn't look like one hundred people have viewed the page when it really has just been me. Ultimately, I want to get as realistic of a count as I possibly can. Another addition to my page came from Scrapblog.com, a really fun website for scrapbookers like myself. I am super excited about finding this page, because I want to blog once baby comes so my family can stay updated on what's going on with baby and I loved all of their little templates. For this project, I chose one that was school-based and I really like the way it turned out. There are countless templates on this site and more are being created and added every minute, so no matter what your blog's theme is, there is a scrapblog page for you!


LEARNING
Well, I thought I learned that you couldn't copy and paste posts from a Word Document, but apparently I am wrong about that. I'm very glad that I'm wrong though, since I like to write posts in a word document before the textbox. I learned how to add a tracker and a scrapblog page, and I also learned that you can change your name that you want to have when you are commenting on some one's site. I hope my students don't figure that out, because the last thing I need is for them to have an alias for their alias and start harassing someone in the class. I want to be aware of all of their online identities so I can track their progress. I also learned a lot about the Internet safety policy and I am going to make sure my students do not include any personal information on their blogs.


FUTURE IMPROVEMENTS
The idea occurred to me earlier this week that I could have a blog just for my parents. This could be a place where parents ask me questions or talk with other parents about situations they may be concerned about. Now, I'm not sure how this would all pan out and the last thing I want is to create some sort of gripe website (especially if they all start griping/ganging up on me!!!) but I'm still playing around with the idea of how I could blogs with parents. Maybe it would be neat if the parents and students could comment on each other's blogs. As I mentioned in class, my Dad got a Facebook account because my youngest brother will not open up to him so it's the only way they communicate. My Dad can also see what my brother is doing online, who his friends are, what kind of interests he has, and what he talks about. This is pretty much the same thing as blogging. The students who get really into blogging set up their profiles with pictures and list their favorite music, movies, etc. As a future parent, I am going to be very involved with my child's online life, and I think if the parents were somehow interacting with our class blog it would be a really great tool for me to use and an excellent way for the parents and their teenager to relate to one another.

Creating this blog has been such a Godsend, because I am extremely nervous about all the work I'll have to do once school starts with maternity plans and Master's work in addition to our countless home projects and baby projects, so I'm so thankful Chris allowed me to get a jump start on my school year. It is a HUGE relief knowing this is one less thing I need to do once school starts, because let's be honest ... learning new forms of technology is always the one thing that gets pushed back when we as teachers become overloaded with work to do. I feel confident going into my 5th year with my new website and blog, and I look forward to what my colleagues, parents, and students have to say about my two new additions! Unfortunately, I think I'm getting a little too addicted to this online stuff. I need to take a few days AWAY from the computer and enjoy some time outdoors, but it's so tempting to make a new scrapblog page or movie (that was tons of fun!) or start working on my Wiki. Ok, maybe I'll just take ONE day off and then get back to work. I don't want to forget everything I've learned in this class. Thanks, Chris, for all the resources you have given us. They are truly invaluable to teachers. This class has been a pleasure! :-)