This workbook is taken from one of SimpleK12 s Integrating Technology in the Classroom courses.

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1 I ntegrati ngbl ogs i nthecl assroom Workbook

2 What Is It? The Teacher Learning Community is a membership available for teachers just like you that know integrating technology in the classroom will help their students. When you join you ll get immediate access to a collection of: Over 500 hours of technology how-to tutorials available anytime anywhere LIVE online webinars with today s top experts All the help and support you ll ever need from your very own personal learning network This workbook is taken from one of SimpleK12 s Integrating Technology in the Classroom courses. As a member, you have unlimited access to all of SimpleK12 s Integrating Technology in the Classroom courses. Each course has its own set of downloadable tools with a assessments, checklists, and tips. How To Find This Toolkit Inside The Member s Area View the lessons associated with this workbook by searching for Integrating Blogs in the Classroom inside the learning portal.

3 Workbook - Integrating Blogs in the Classroom Overview: The following lessons and objectives were covered in this course. Feel free to go back and review some or all of them, if necessary: 1. Use Blogs in Collaborative Assignments o Offers some examples of how blogs can be used in collaborative assignments. o Explains how to plan lessons with group projects, incorporating blogs into a variety of subjects. 2. Prepare Substitute Teachers via Blogs o Describes some of the ways that a blog can be used to prepare substitute teachers. o Explains some of the factors that must be considered when creating a blog for substitute teachers. 3. Journal Daily Classroom Activities o Discusses some of the reasons why online blog journals are good substitutes for traditional journals. o Describes the three basic types of journals used in classroom activities. o Explains some ways online blog journals can be used with students. 4. Engage Parents Through a Blog Site o Describes some of the ways that blogs can be used to engage parents. o Explains some factors to consider when using a blog to engage parents. 5. Integrate Blogs in Elementary Education o Explains some ways that existing blogs can be incorporated into elementary school lesson plans. o Offers ideas for creating blogs for use in elementary education. o Explores helping students learn by contributing content to blogs.

4 6. Integrate Blogs in English o Describes how to use blogs in secondary-level English classes. o Gives specific, usable, real-life examples for teachers. 7. Integrate Blogs in Math o Describes how to use blogs in secondary-level math classes. o Gives specific, usable, real-life examples for teachers. 8. Integrate Blogs in Science o Describes how to use blogs in secondary-level science classes. o Gives specific, usable, real-life examples for teachers. 9. Integrate Blogs in Social Studies o Discusses how to use blogs in secondary-level social studies classes. o Provides specific, usable, real-life examples for teachers. 10. Integrate Blogs in Fine Arts o Discusses how to use blogs in secondary-level fine arts classes. o Provides specific, usable, real-life examples for teachers. Real-life Examples: Here are some real-life examples of how the concepts discussed in this course could be used in a classroom, either as a teaching tool or an administrative aid: 1. Meet the Author When reading a work written by a contemporary author, invite the writer to interact with your students using a blog. Ask students to brainstorm and post questions and comments about the text for the author to respond to. Depending on interest and the author's availability, this can range from a one-time week-long Q&A to an activity that extends throughout the time you're reading the text in class. 2. Create a Class Compendium A compendium is a summary or abridgment of a more extensive topic. Have students work in small groups to write and post summaries of content covered in class to build a compendium for content covered over a semester. Entries may be reviewed and edited by all class members. When finished, students will have study guides for exam review.

5 3. Blog-Pals Enlist a teacher at another school who is willing to have students blog with your class. Identify an instructional unit or activity you'll be teaching at the same time such as a weather study or reading a specific book. Take turns posting activities that students from both classes respond to online. Encourage students to comment on posts from other students. 4. Web Site Links In addition to the static and dynamic information you post on the blog, adding links to content areas or research Web sites can be helpful. Make a list of the sites you want substitutes to use and add them to the links area of your blog. 5. Create a Departmental or Grade Level Blog for Substitute Teachers You've decided to create a blog for substitute teachers, but you would like to collaborate with one or more other teachers on staff while building the blog. Propose creating a grade level or departmental substitute teacher blog. Not only will this increase collaboration with your peers, but will also support consistency in grade level or departmental expectations for those days when teachers are absent. 6. Test Drive your Blog Once you've created your substitute teacher blog, avoid potential problems by sharing the URL with colleagues or one or more substitute teachers you know. Ask for feedback about ease of use, organization, and clarity of directions. Review comments and make appropriate changes. 7. Blog Daily Language and Math Activities Teachers frequently ask students to keep a personal journal where they complete short, daily activities such as proofreading several sentences or solving review math problems. These activities can be taken online by posting them as prompts in a group blog and then having students post their work as replies. 8. Collaborate to Create an Online Study Guide Students can work collaboratively to build an online study guide using a group dialectical blog journal. Frequent posts to the blog build documentation that serves as a reference when it's time to prepare for a quiz or exam. As you cover material, post prompts that ask students to explore important concepts. Then redirect students to earlier prompts and group comments when it's time to review material. 9. Challenge Students to Write Prompts Once students have journaled for a period of time and are familiar with the kinds of prompts you provide, invite them to create prompts for the class and use these prompts whenever possible. 10. Outline Online Etiquette Invite parents and students to help you develop a list of guidelines for online etiquette when using a blog. Compile the top 10 ideas and post them on your blog.

6 11. Create a Blog Tutorial Challenge your students to write, record, and post an online tutorial explaining to their parents how to use the blog. Use free tools such as Wink ( or VoiceThread.com to create the tutorial. 12. Conduct an Online Survey The next time you need to survey parents, use a free online survey such as SurveyMonkey.com or Polls (zoho.com) to create the survey and link it to your blog. This encourages parents to visit the blog and allows you to collect, tabulate, and report survey results online. 13. Collaborate to Create a Classroom News Blog Create a blog for communicating general classroom news. Work with students to identify the kinds of information they'd like to share with parents, then engage them in writing and posting daily or weekly news updates. 14. Create a Blog for Problem Solving Assess and monitor your upper elementary students' problem-solving skills using a special blog you create for this purpose. Post a weekly challenge, like a riddle or brainteaser, that requires your students to think creatively in order to find a solution. Ask students to post their solutions on the blog, then discuss the solutions with the whole class at the end of the week. Each week's post and comments will be saved in the blog archive for later reference. Expand this activity by inviting students to find and share challenges with the rest of the class. This special purpose blog can be linked to your general classroom blog for easy access. 15. Illustrate an Activity Parents of younger children are often at a loss at how to help their child with hands-on projects or activities. Use a blog to post written directions and illustrations parents can use as a guide. For example, folding an origami bat is easy--if you know the steps. Take and post digital photos that show how to fold a bat. When it's time to complete the assignment, send home the paper to fold and the Web address for the directions you've posted on the blog. Encourage parents and students to post questions or comments as they work at home. 16. Create a Collection of Reviews Partner with other teachers or the school s media specialist to create a blog where students write and post reviews of books, movies, concerts, or other kinds of entertainment. Keep student interest high by occasionally awarding small prizes to the best reviews. Make the reviews available school wide. 17. Create Group Study Notes As students read a novel, play, or other text, assign a series of blog prompts for them to respond to. Design the prompts to demonstrate comprehension by asking students to paraphrase the ideas they are reading and to connect them to related content. Encourage students to refer to these responses when studying for an exam covering the material.

7 18. Examine Informational Materials Teach students the structure and format of workplace documents, such as business letters, memos, and s. Post various documents using a blog and ask students to analyze them. For example, ask students to look at graphics or headers to explain how the author of the document uses those features to achieve a purpose. You could also ask students to post explanations of how they would change the document to make it more effective. 19. Assign a Stock Market Project Have the students start a stock market project. The students start with a given amount of money and get to invest it in different stocks that you hand-pick for this project. Use your blog to create daily or weekly newspapers for the students about the prices of their stock and extra information that they may need to make buy/sell decisions. Have them read the articles each week, and then they can choose to buy or sell and track their earnings. 20. Create "The Diary of a Math Student" As a meta-cognition activity, have students work on writing a personal blog about mathspecific trials, tribulations, and triumphs in their class experience. Tell them to make it as specific as possible, actually discussing problems that they have had trouble with and any revelations that they have had. 21. Expand Your Resources Collaborate with all of the math teachers at your school. Assign everyone a day of the week to contribute to a blog. Each person should write a math tip for the current curriculum that may help students, teachers, and parents who read it. By collaborating on this, it allows a great deal of work to get done without it weighing on any one person too much. 22. Conduct a Blog Debate Use a class blog to conduct a debate about a current science topic, such as whether Pluto should be considered a planet. Ask students to blog their opinions for or against it. They should include facts to back up their opinions whenever possible. Make sure that you moderate the comments and keep the discussion focused on the topic. 23. Utilize Existing Blogs Ask students to read several existing blogs about a topic, such as water conservation. They should make notes about things they agree with, disagree with, or find interesting. Once they have gathered information from varying sources, ask that they post their own blog entry about the topic. Put students in small groups to read each other's blogs and give feedback. 24. Subscribe to a Daily Blog Find a science blog of interest and subscribe to it. Choose a site that will send you fun science facts or trivia about your particular subject area, such as chemistry or life science. Share the daily blog with students by posting it on the whiteboard or on your own blog. From time to time, include the fact or question on a quiz or test as extra credit.

8 25. Use the Britannica Blog as a Resource Find posts on that apply to topics you're teaching, such as international affairs. Ask students to read one or more related posts in class, then discuss how this information relates to the content you are covering. For extra credit or as homework, ask students to write a comment on the post that might be uploaded to the blog as a reply. 26. Create a Compendium of Class Notes Divide the class into five groups, one for each day of the school week. Assign each group the responsibility for capturing the material covered in class one day every week. Groups must work collaboratively to synthesize the material and get it into a format that can be posted, such as text, a podcast, or a Web-based presentation. Finally, post the material on the class blog. 27. Report Current Events Bring current-events assignments online by asking students to find a link to an article about the assigned topic. Each week, post a current-events prompt in the class blog. Have students post the link to the article they selected and then write a summary of the article and explain how its content meets the criteria you ve set for choosing articles. Provide time for students to review and comment on other students contributions or assign this activity as homework. 28. Hang a Virtual Exhibit Art and photography students can extend their viewing audiences by using a blog to create a virtual gallery exhibit. Once the artwork is ready for display, take digital photos for uploading. Photography students may need to digitize their photographs as well. Post the digital photos along with brief descriptions, and then invite fellow students and educators, parents, and community members to view the exhibit. 29. Set the Stage for Viewing a Performance Before your next school drama or dance production, help your audience get prepared to appreciate what they re about to see. Have your students research elements of the performance and use digital photography, video, audio files, and text to create a blog for audience members to experience before seeing the performance. 30. Create an Archive of Performance Clips Even when they see a performance in person, parents and students often wish they could capture quick clips to revisit later or share with friends and family who could not attend. Whether it s a play, a dance performance, a concert, or a half-time show, fine arts teachers at your school can collaborate to create and maintain a blog where brief audio and video clips, as well as photos, are posted as an archive of student work in fine arts.

9 Exercises: If you would like additional practice or review of the concepts covered in this course, try the following exercise(s) at your convenience: 1. Review your current substitute folder. If you do not have a formal substitute file, think about the materials you assembled last time you prepared for a substitute teacher. Which of the items there could be added to a blog for substitute teachers? Which would need to remain offline? Why? Based on your review, make a list of the items you would include if you build a blog for substitute teachers. 2. For an upcoming field trip, create a plan for documenting the trip in a online blog journal using some of the ideas discussed. Be sure to include use of photography and student writing. How will you share this blog with parents or other classrooms? Include additional technologies you might also use. 3. We've reviewed reasons why parents would benefit from using a blog to increase engagement in their child's education. However, you need to find ways to encourage parents to return to the blog on a regular basis for it to make a difference. Think about strategies you might use to encourage parents to regularly visit a blog. 4. Suggest your technology coordinator or department head create a blog for you to use in conjunction with other math teachers at your school to give yourselves a forum for discussing math initiatives or teaching suggestions. 5. Think of one or two ways you could use a blog in each of the following social studies disciplines: geography, economics, law, anthropology, archaeology, and sociology. Choose one of your ideas and write a plan for creating and using a blog while teaching this concept. 6. When writing lesson plans, search for and bookmark blog sites that contain material you might use in your lessons. Next time you teach those lessons, incorporate the blogs into the activities and document changes in levels of student engagement.