Edvibes Blog

Are you looking for another class from around the world to set up a pen pal like relationship with?

Go to http://edvibes.wikispaces.com/Class+Blog+Pen+Pal+Link+Up

then edit to sign up and link up with another class.

See also http://youngwriters07.wikispaces.com/

Update: Thanks to the classroom2.0 network I found another great resource to connect with other classroom epals.com 

I have been stuck for a couple months on the easiest and safest way to share class pictures on the web. I started with flickr but found it just isn’t very easy for new users to pick up on and learn how to use. So recently I decided to try Google Picasa’s Web Albums with their public and private unlisted albums feature. (read more about What’s the difference between public albums and those that are unlisted? from Google’s FAQ Help section) I really liked the flexibility with their privacy options and it is very user friendly. I also especially like their easy to use embeddable slideshow feature.

Note: I make the decision on whether to publish and share pictures publicly by the following criteria.

*Is the photo appropriate and have an educational value?

*Does the photo reveal the complete identity of a student face?

See how we used picasa to share our some of our photos from our YMCA Camping trip from our class blog here.

First I shared my blog with some teachers at my school to create a little buzz. Then I invited 3 teacher leaders that I new have the basic tech skills down that would be interested in and willing to give blogs and try to a voluntary 40 minute blog PD before school. I thought it went pretty smooth all of them got their blog up and running by the end of the 40 minutes. Here is how I ran the session:

Google’s Blogger Training: How to Set Up Your Blog

1) show them my blogging resources on my ambrose.edvibes.com blog, so they don’t have to take notes and they can find more info later.

2) Familiarize the structure of blogs using my class blog classofambrose.blogspot.com
-Header
-Sidebar
-Reverse chronology
-Comments
-Labels
-Widgets

3) How to navigate through blogs
-Find a post through the archives
-Find a post through labels

4) Internet Safety & Digital Citizenship
-Share my blog contract

5) Set up a blogger acnt
-Need a google acnt

6) Name your blog and choose an address
-make it kid friendly: easy to remember and spell

7) Choose a background

8 ) Go through settings
*Must change commend moderation ON
*Put an email address to receive comments to moderate

9) Show dashboard navigation

10) Create a new post

11) Show WYSWYG editor
-Compose vs Html mode

12) How to add an image
-from computer
-from web

13) How to embed a youtube video

14) How to hyperlink

15) Adding labels

16) Customizing the layout
-add page elements (labels, link list)

Then I followed up with a support email giving them the link to my post What, How, and Why Blog.

Next time make a handout for them with the agenda and some links so they can take notes and have something to remind them of their blog later.

Blogging 101 - How to get started

What are Blogs?
Definition of a Blog: Here I give you some of the best definitions across the web from google and wikipedia

Video: Blogs in Plain English: Watch this 3 minute video that gives an excellent explanation about blogs

Anatomy of a Blog: Here I found some great diagrams and images that label and explain all the main components of a blog and a post that help you understand how blogs are set up so you can better navigate them.

What Blogs Aren’t: Read about the difference between Blogs and Websites, Discussion Boards, Social Networks, and Wikis

Why Blog?
Blogging Turns 10yrs Old!:This is a voice thread (power point slide with voice comments) that Steve Hargadon set up that celebrates blogging by having educators around the world comment about why they blog

Why I Switched From a Class Website to a Blog: This is a post I wrote explaining my rationale for switching from a class website (web1.0) to a class blog (web2.0).

How to be a Blogger?
Blog Rules & Contract: I believe it is very important to clearly set up your expectations and guidelines to make sure blogging is fun and safe for kids, here are my rules and contract

How to Enter the Edublogosphere: Finding Good Edublogs to Read: This is a post I wrote giving tips on how to enter the education blogging community and finding good blogs to read.

How and Why to Comment on this Blog: Is a post I wrote for my students on commenting

Beating Blogger’s Block: Blog Starters & Styles: A slide show explaining the different types of blog posts that help you to get started with writing your blog posts.

Sharing the Path to Building this Blog: This is list of some of more advanced customizations you can make for your blog

See Also
I Would Like to Share My Class Blog Now: Here you can check out my first elementary class blog

See all my posts on blogging here

See all my bookmarks and research on blogging here

This has been a part of the following series:

A Teacher’s Tour Guide into the New Read/Write Web2.0 - 11 Part Series

Part 1: Visual Definitions of Web2.0

Part 2: What is RSS: How and Why to Subscribe

Part 3: Setting Up your New Home(page) in the New Web

Part 4: What is Folksonomy - How & Why to Tag

Part 5: Social Bookmarking & News

Round 1
Blogs vs Website The biggest confusion. See also this good discussion on this topic and Why I Switched From a Class Website to a Blog

Round 2
Blogs vs Discussion Boards How discussion boards are evolving to live conversations with blog posts and comments

Round 3
Blogs vs Social Networking Too often people confuse the two and blogging gets a bad name from myspace

Round 4
Blog vs Wiki? Best distinction I have heard are Blogs are for opinion and wikis should be for facts

If you click on this link you will open a big picture of a screen shot of what a blog looks like where you can zoom in and read all the different labels of the anatomy of a blog. Very helpful! Source marbyonline.org

Next click here for the anatomy of blog post with some key vocab.

Today, December 17, 2007, blogging turns 10yrs old. Check out this voice thread that Steve Haragdon started. Hit the play button to listen and watch others reflections on blogging.

I have noticed when introducing blogs to my education colleagues one of the first good questions they ask is how can I find some good examples of edublogs to read. So here are a few tips.

1) Know the terminology: an edublog is an educationally related blogs and edublogosphere is the community of edubloggers. (see also Definition of a Blog)

2) Read efficiently. Learn what RSS is, get an aggregator (I love Google Reader), and start subscribing to and tracking a few blogs (see Part 2: What is RSS - How and Why to Subscribe)

3) Look for awards. Check out the annual Edublogs Awards to see who the readers decide are the best. (However the award is still new and gain credibility but it is a start) Every November nominations go up and voting starts and the winners are usually announced in mid December. Click here to see the current 2007 nominations and vote if you haven’t yet. See also Top 100 Education Blogs

4) Check the directories and search.  The Support Blogging Wiki has a good directory list of edublogs. Here is a current ranking of the top 100 blogs on the web from technorati - one of the biggest blog directory and search engine.

5) Look for blogrolls in the sidebar margins of blogs you like to read (I have shared my blogroll form google reader in the right margin under My Shared Stuff “My Personal Learning Network Blog Roll”. A blogroll is simply a list of blogs that one reads and follows. It is common practice of bloggers to share what they read so others can read and to create that edublogosphere community.

My final advice is don’t spend all your time just reading blogs or waiting to long to join in on the blogging.  When I first started, I spent way too long on the sidelines just observing were I should have been participating.  So start commenting on other people’s blog posts and start writing your own right away.

This blog thing is finally started to catch on and spread with some other teachers at my school so, I have decided to backtrack and log some of the big customizations I had done to set up this blog in order to leave a path to make it easier for some of the newbie bloggers to follow. (Note: I am not going to get into super detail on how to go through each step, rather I am pointing you in a direction for you to focus on)

1) Learn on how to upload and install themes and pluggins (for wordpress) Hint: do a google on these keywords “Screencast” and “How to Install Themes and Plugins” and “Wordpress”

2) Then Change your theme

3) Try to install a plugin (ok here is one link How to Install Plugins in Wordpress ) by installing my favorite gotta have plugin: Wordpress Widgets trust me it will make your life so much easier

4) Install your first widget with everyone’s favorite Clustrmap

5) Start the site counters and trackers right away, I swear by Google Analytics

6) Burn a feed for your blog at Feedburner so that readers can subcribe and keep up with your blog via RSS or email updates. I also used the chicklet rss button maker widget and got the email subscribition code and drop into into my wordpress widget sidebar.
7) Register your blog with atleast Technorati and Mybloglog and drop their tracking/pinging code into your blog

8 ) Add your network badges and build your profile. What I did was my LinkedIn with a picture

9) Share stuff. Add your Delicious bookmarks Google Reader Blogroll and Google Reader Shared Items (Hint get a google reader account)

I hope this saved you some time get started. Have a question or suggestion, please comment below.