What is a BLOG?
Wikipedia defines a blog as a "Web log". It is a website, maintained by an individual, with entries of commentary, descriptions of events, and other materials such as graphics or videos. It is a kind of common-place journal or diary kept on the web. Several features distinguish blogs from other forms on the web: they are frequently updated; they include lots of links to other sites; and most maintain a personal tone. Many celebrate blogs for opening the web up to voices the mainstream media often neglect.
Jorn Barger on December 17 1997 used the term "weblog".
The shortened from "blog'' came from Peter Merholz. He broke the word weblog into the phrase we blog on his own blog Peterme.com in the spring of 1999.
Evan Williams from Pyra Labs decided to use "blog" as both a noun and verb. To blog means to edit one's weblog or to post on someone elses blog.
The first edublogs were seen in 2001 on edublog.com. According to wikipedia an edublog is a blog written by someone with an interest or topic in education.
Communication and Documentation - Mrs. Cabrera, a language arts teacher at a middle school, used her blog to document her student’s progress on a project and to communicate instructions and commendations with them.
http://mrscabrera.wordpress.com/
Sharing and Highlighting - Mr. Chamberlain, a 5th grade teacher in Missouri, practices incorporating a variety of technologies into his classroom.
http://mrcsclassblog.blogspot.com/
Student Writing Progress - Ms. Boyd, a first grade teacher in New Zealand, uses part of her blog to chart the students’ growth as writers over the course of the school year. She says that “Each day a child will post their writing here; they will do their best with spelling, punctuation, grammar, etc. Hopefully you will be able to see a huge improvement over the year in our writing.”
Creating a Blog:
Blogger is a free service that many teachers use because it is user friendly and customizable.
Learn more about blogging - Edublogs is a free site that helps teachers and their students start blogging. The site offers video tutorials that teach you how to create and manage, and moderate student blogs.
Sample blog - made for lesson
Blogging tips - 50 useful blogging tools for teachers at Teaching Tips.com to get started, enhance your experience, or bring the students into the fun.
http://www.teachingtips.com/blog/2008/07/21/50-useful-blogging-tools-for-teachers/
Industry Blogs - Industry periodicals like Education Week offers a variety of blogs written by experts on topics like digital education, special education and school law.
http://www.edweek.org/ew/section/blogs/index.html
George Mason University’s History News Network (HNN) - HNN is committed to the scholarly discussion of issues in a timely manner.
http://hnn.us/articles/1572.html
Learning in Hand- Learning in Hand is an educator's resource for using some of the coolest technologies with students.
http://learninginhand.com/blog/
Teacher Lingo - Teacher Lingo is an educational community to connect teachers from every level.
The Cool Cat Teacher Blog - Teaching content with new tools, enthusiasm, and the belief that teaching is a noble calling.
http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/
Brain POP - BrainPOP allows you to team up with colleagues and stay up to date with growing collections of lesson plans, video tutorials, answer keys to activity pages, graphic organizers, and more.