Blogging

**Why Use Blogs in Education**
//Blogs are used by educators throughout the world. Blogs can provide teachers and students with a wealth of information about endless topics. Blogs also are a tool that you can use to increase communication with parents, students, fellow teachers and others. Also, using a blog allows you to determine when you will update your information without going through a webmaster. You can update from any computer and I really like updating my blog with my feet propped up in my family room!//

[|Will Richardson's Video]

**Excellent Resource**
- Will Richardson' book, pictured below, can be purchased at [|www.corwinpress.com].

**Getting Started**
The best way to get started as a new blogger is by looking at some examples of blogs. This will let you see how other educators are using blogs, view blog sites, and determine your likes and dislikes with regards to blogs. Some great blogs to view are listed below:

[|Will's Blog] [|Math Video Blog] [|Spain Park Digital Photography Blog] [|Alabama Teacher Blogs] April Chamberlain's Blog [|My Blog (Edith Pickens)] [|Jessica Depew's Learning Strategies Blog] [|Crystal Wright's Math Blog] [|Barry Leshinsky's Social Studies Blog] [|Alicia Driskill's English Website and Blog]

Creating a Blog at Edublogs

 * Creating a Blog at Edu blogs //posted by// [[image:http://tappedin.org/tappedin/images/in_text/infoicon.gif align="absBottom" link="http://tappedin.org/tappedin/do/DirectoryAction?ROOM_ID=18099&Username=Sheryln&state=displayProfile"]][|Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach] (CTQ : [[image:http://tappedin.org/tappedin/images/in_text/envelope.gif align="absBottom" link="http://tappedin.org/tappedin/do/DirectoryAction?controller=com.sri.opentap.controller.DiscussionAction&ROOM_ID=18099&Username=Sheryln&state=doMessageUser"]][|Sheryln]) //on Oct 22, 2006, 7:50 PM// ||
 * 1) Go to [|www.edublog.org]
 * 2) Scroll down to Create your edublog.
 * 3) Type in your User Name / Blog name (you can change this later.) / your email address.
 * 4) Click Create!
 * 5) Check your email. You will have a message from edublogs that contains 2 URL's. One is your blog address. YEAH!! One is the login site for editing with your password.
 * 6) Go to the login site and login.
 * 7) Choose Users from the light blue bar and make your password personal. (Who can remember c45h3?)
 * 8) Choose Options from the light blue bar and determine what General (hint: Central Time is -6 hrs) / Writing / Reading / Discussion options you would like.
 * 9) Choose Presentation from the light blue bar and find a theme you like. (The default doesn't give you as much info as you will want.)
 * 10) Choose Write on the light blue bar and you are ready to post. Here you can also add Categories.
 * 11) Choose Manage on the light blue bar to edit/delete posts or comments.
 * 12) Sign Out. (upper right corner)
 * 13) Check out your blog!! ||
 * 1) Check out your blog!! ||

Creatging a Blog at Blogger

 * Create a Blog at Blogger.com //posted by// [[image:http://tappedin.org/tappedin/images/in_text/infoicon.gif align="absBottom" link="http://tappedin.org/tappedin/do/DirectoryAction?ROOM_ID=18099&Username=Sheryln&state=displayProfile"]][|Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach] (CTQ : [[image:http://tappedin.org/tappedin/images/in_text/envelope.gif align="absBottom" link="http://tappedin.org/tappedin/do/DirectoryAction?controller=com.sri.opentap.controller.DiscussionAction&ROOM_ID=18099&Username=Sheryln&state=doMessageUser"]][|Sheryln]) //on Oct 22, 2006, 7:48 PM// ||
 * 1) Go to [|www.blogger.com]
 * 2) Click on "create your blog now" at this link. A new window will open so that you can read the directions and complete the task.
 * 3) Create your account
 * 4) Click on continue
 * 5) Blog Title: use something about learning or blogging
 * 6) Blog Address: something short and intuitive
 * 7) Email yourself your password, login and your blog address!!!!! (the entire URL)
 * 8) Key in the word verification
 * 9) Click continue
 * 10) Click to choose a template (only a minute to do this you can easily change it later)
 * 11) Click on "continue"
 * 12) Click on "Start Posting"
 * 13) Create a title that reflects an introduction.
 * 14) Click Save as Draft. (So you can come back to it later)!
 * 1) Click Save as Draft. (So you can come back to it later)!

Note About Blogger
Use care when completing your profile in blogger. As you list information about yourself, remember that your personal information is available to anyone who accesses your blog. In addition, I innocently listed my hobbies. This linked me to other people who have my same hobbies and then they were linked to others who share their hobbies and so on. It only took a few clicks to get to some people who didn't look like educators! In addition, Blogger adds a feature called "Next Blog." Anyone reading your blog can click on "next blog" and continue exploring blogs. This may lead the reader to adult type sites or undesirable content. Fortunately, it is simple to remove "next blog" from your blog. The following steps will remove "next blog."
 * 1) copy this code
 * 2) log in to your blogger blog
 * 3) click on template
 * 4) scroll down until you see the word with these brackets and not {body} (that is a style code)
 * 5) replace with the code in #1
 * 6) republish your blog.

If you need help setting up your blog, let me know. Edith