Blogs

= = Blogs are web publishing tools than can be used by teachers and students as a means of creating and sharing ideas and assignments. It is a cooperative and collaborative way of learning as well as integrating individual participation in the classroom. Educational benefits, in addition to enabling communication between teachers and students, blogs have many different educational benefits. Blogs can serve four basic functions, those of which being Classroom Management, Collaboration, Discussions and Student Portfolios. > This is how you can start your own blog as provided by [|Blogging Basics] > [|Youtube-Blogs for Education]This video explains what blogs are, who uses them, and how they can be used in the classroom along with much more information.
 * For those who usually don;t participate in person in the classroom, blogs can be highly motivational. Allowing each student to speak their mind.
 * Opportunities for students to read and write and use these strategies for possible future careers or jobs.
 * Great organization for discussions and collaborative learning.
 * Some tools enable scaffolding and mentoring to happen.
 * Classroom Management.
 * Can inform students of class assignments, homework assignments, notices, news, post handouts or can act as a question and answer post. Can post dates to remember, when projects are due, and even grades.
 * Collaboration.
 * Blogs can be places where students and teachers interact with each other to work on skills such as reading, writing, and working together as a group to complete an objective. As a teacher gives an instruction, the students can practice strategies and work with other students to develop interaction and group working skills. For example if one student knows how to complete an assignment and one doesn't, they can work together with out taking away class time or having to meet somewhere to study.
 * Discussions.
 * Students can discuss things that happen outside of school. It could relate to what has been discussed in class, or can just be a way to stay in contact with each other. Blogs give each and every student equal opportunities to share and publish their opinions and ideas. Teachers can also participate to gather a group of excelled individuals or those with certain interests and discuss.
 * Student Portfolios.
 * Knowing that work will be published can give students more motivation for creation. Blogs organize and present data along with saving it to create an individual portfolio or folder in other words for students. As they submit more information, they can look back on older information and see how they have grown and developed in many ares to improve. Advice from other students and teachers can also help students and leave them open to improvement.
 * Go to Blogger.
 * Click **Start Here** or **Learn more about it** and then click to begin.
 * Type in your username, password, name, and e-mail account.
 * Fill in a title and description for your blogging Web page.
 * Keep the circle by "Host at…."
 * Type an address for your blog.
 * Click to accept terms of service, and then click Next.
 * Select a template and click Finish.
 * Type an entry. (Maybe something like, "This is my first blog entry.")
 * Choose different formatting if you wish (to bold, italic, etc.).
 * Hit Post and Publish.
 * Wait a few seconds and then hit View Web Page.