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Paper Blogging
I love to write. It has not always been the case for me. In fact, I can remember when it was drudgery. I'm not even sure when writing became a joy and an outlet of expression for me. How can we help our students experience the joy of writing rather than the drudgery? What has worked for you and your students? Today's writers have many more advantages than I had when I was a student and I am sure that if I had word processing, blogging, email, wikis and social networks when I was a kid, I may have skipped the drudgery stage. What makes writing on the computer more appealing than paper and pencil? Should computers ever take the place of a handwritten paper? I am of the opinion that we need both. It's easier to make communication and tell our stories when we type them because it goes faster, is simpler to edit and a whole lot neater. However, it is extremely special these days to receive a handwritten note from family or friends. I hope we find and keep the balance of handwritten and digital writing. This "tuesdays" is about the principles of writing that apply to students of all ages. If we get them past the drudgery stage and on the joy of writing at an early age, there's no telling how many great writers we will produce.
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As a member of the DEN (Discovery Educator Network), I was intrigued by Jannita's blog post about a teacher with one of the greatest implementations of blogging, but in paper format. Karen McMillian, 7th grade teacher at Christ the King Catholic School, attended the East Bay CUE Cool Tools mini-conference a few years ago where she was inspired to do paper blogging with her students by the presenter Matt Callison, a teacher in Bloomington, Indiana. Karen McMillian's website, Notes From McTeach, contains some tremendous resources that will inspire you to try paper blogging with your students. Even though her post is two years old, it was the first time I had ever seen anything so logical and simple. What if you are a teacher whose district blocks blogging or perhaps the whole idea of blogging and overseeing student comments sounds overwhelming? Karen McMillian hosts samples of student paper blogs, blogging rules and the art of commenting. It's a masterpiece. Be sure to check out Learning to Blog Using Paper.
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To blog or not to blog, this is the question? The blogosphere is a term that describes the interconnections that people are making on the Internet to communicate their ideas. The blogosphere is made up of all blogs and the communities formed within the Internet. It's an amazing and tremendous form of communication for our students, for our personal learning networks (PLN) and more. I would like to really encourage you to consider blogging. It's free and freeing. No single tool can increase writing skills than the last step in the writing process: Publish. Putting your thoughts "out there" does not have to be scary. In fact, it is empowering. Let's give our students the opportunity to be real publishers with a real audience who can continue the conversation with them. If you are a teacher blogger or your students are blogging, be sure to let me know in a comment on my blog or by emailing me at tuesdayswithkaren@gmail.com. I love to share.
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How do you begin blogging? I think Karen and Matt have the right idea. Begin with paper blogs. Next, find out what your district policies are for blogging. If it is discouraged, open the conversation about why and ask to "beta test" blogging with your students. Please know that if you enter the arena for student blogging, you must commit to be on the blog monitoring comments at all times. Once your students know you are reading and you have set high expectations, they will rise up to them. Also, you have to have something to say. Be passionate. Write about what jazzes you and with the purpose of sharing with others. Finally, determine a minimum amount of entries to your blog you will do a week or month. If your blog's latest post is 2011, people will discontinue following it. On the other hand, be careful about committing to a theme such as "tuesdays with Karen" because Tuesday comes every Tuesday! I have two personal blogs: this one and the 16-9 Movement. It is my passion to encourage, equip and empower teachers with creative technologies and to serve. Happy blogging. Thanks Jannita for bringing this great concept to the front again.
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| What is "tuesdays with Karen"?
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"tuesdays with Karen" is a weekly newsletter/blog designed to encourage, equip and empower teachers to be creative with educational technology. Please add your technology comments to my "tuesdays with Karen" blog. |
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