blogs_english

=Blogging in the English Classroom=

What's a blog?
A blog is a web log. It's kind of like an online diary that others can read and comment on. This is a great video that explains blogging:

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Useful blogs to read:
[|Ask the English Teacher] [|The English Teacher Blog] [|ICT in English] This blog is for teachers of English in New Zealand. You can read what other teachers are doing in their classrooms, and if you would like to, you too can publish what you are doing to this blog. If you have a classroom blog that you are wishing to promote - say you would like other teachers or students to comment on something you are doing - this would be the place to do so.

Blogs belonging to other English classrooms:
[|English Language @ SFX] [|Mr Heald's GCSE English Class] this is a 'retired' blog - but it is a very good example of a classroom blog and how powerful the comments feature is in generating discussion [|English@KKC] this is a blog for English students and teachers at Katikati college. There are links to heaps of fantastic English resources, and also some funnies to keep people wanting to return. However, the real power of this blog is the way that it is used to promote student work - students have an authentic audience that they are producing for. You could showcase creative or formal writing, videos of students giving speeches or images of student static images. The possibilities are endless!

What sort of blog???
There are a few different ways to set up your blog(s) - depending on the purpose you wish to achieve. Blogs are useful in the way that they generate discussion through the comment feature. While they are a good place to store information (notes, slideshows etc.) the fact that the content is constantly changing as it is updated means that possibly a wiki may be a better solution.

Blogs are good for generating discussion about current information.

Blog Setup: Department or school wide blog adminstered by the HOD or teachers on which students are invited to comment. Teacher blog as main blog and then each student has their own blog which links to this (edublogs provides a very easy solution for doing this) Teacher blog for all classes Teacher blog for individual classes Individual student blogs

The options are endless, and the beauty of web2.0 (blogging) is the ability to tailor it to whatever your specific class' needs are.

Why Blog?
Share information Gather information Put ideas in to writing

Where to Blog
Both the software you use to create the blog and the place your blog is hosted are free - although sometimes you do have to put up with a bit of advertising. Have a look around and decide which blogging platform suits your needs best. Here are three to get you started:

[|21classes] [|Edublogs] [|Blogger]

Both the software you use to create a blog and where it is hosted is free