Chapter three is just what I have been waiting for … the nitty gritty of how to create an educational blog and the reminder to start small, acclimate, then build up (p. 44). While we’ve already covered a lot of the basics in class, I like having Richardson’s additional set of directions as well as the list of resources at the end of the chapter that we can reference to help us build our own classroom blogs. After looking at several, I have a clearer idea of how clean and uncluttered yet inviting sites should look. I like David Warlock’s use of graphics and how cleanly he set up categories (http://davidwarlick.com/2cents/). I also like how Jeff Utecht hooks his readers in with interesting “headlines” (http://www.thethinkingstick.com/). In fact, there is something from just about every site I looked into that I admire and can see experiment incorporating into my own blog site in order to make the information in it accessible and interesting to my students.
I was also glad to find some very specific ways in which to help keep blogging as safe as possible for students. In particular, I found Bud Hunt’s site (http://www.tinyurl.com/5y919n) packed with links for all types of relevant topics for teachers trying to incorporate blogging into his/her classroom (p.47). I am sooooooo very thankful that there are many pioneers out there who are willing to share their expertise (true bloggers that they are!) so that more of us can join in and utilize blogging more effectively sooner rather than later. In addition, his insights into assessing blogs makes sense to me. Like Richardson, I don’t see how one can grade every single post, but do see the wisdom in having a rubric that “evaluates the level of participation, the intellectual depth of the posts, the effectiveness of the writing, the level of reflection regarding the ideas expressed, and the willingness to contribute to and collaborate with the work of others” (p. 47).
No comments:
Post a Comment