Thing+3

[[image:read_my_blog.jpg width="273" height="300" align="right" caption=""at least someone reads my blog..." by dishevld" link="http://www.flickr.com/photos/98194978@N00/389534530/"]]
= Thing 3: Blogging Begins with Reading =

**Introduction**
Like other Web 2.0 technologies, blogging **connects people and ideas**. There are, of course, blogs addressing pretty much every topic imaginable: Personal interests and family, education, politics, news, entertainment, arts, culture, sports, lifestyle, hobbies, social causes, technology, business, self-help, etc... **Blogpluse is currently tracking over 153 million (and still counting).** If you can think of it, someone's most certainly blogging about it.

**Blogging is more than writing.**
====Blogging is //reading, reflecting, questioning, researching, synthesizing, linking, conversing, teaching, sharing and expressing ideas.// Blogging is about writing, [|but blogging begins with reading]**.**====

Discovery Exercises: Voices in the Blogosphere
Read __at least five__ of the blog posts below. They are intended to give you just a **tiny sampling** of a **few voices** and **blogging styles** (BY NO MEANS EVEN REMOTELY REPRESENTATIVE OF ALL THAT IS OUT THERE!) of **teachers and students** in the **"EduBlogosphere,"** which is the category encompassing education-related bloggers and blogs. Take some time to read the comments as well, as commenting is one of the most significant aspects of blogging. Next week, you will set up your RSS reader and subscribe to a few blogs that spark your interest.

As you read, consider the following questions (feel free to adapt and expand on any of these or add your own):
 * What do you notice about the genre of blog writing in general?
 * (How) is blog reading different from other types of reading? How is it similar?
 * (How) is blog writing different from other types of writing? How is it similar?
 * How does commenting contribute to the writing and meaning-making?
 * Is there a "blogging literacy?" How does blogging affect the way we read and write?
 * (How) can blogging facilitate learning?

>> There are 143 comments and trackbacks (comment showing when another person has linked to this post in their own blog) on this post as of September 1, 2008. You don't have to read them all - says something about the provocativeness of the post, though! >> A third grade teacher describes a "new" kind of Sustained Silent Reading. >> This is an example of a "[|Scribe Post]," as "invented" by calculus teacher Darren Kuropatwa, in which a student (8th grader in this case) reviews the classroom learning for the day or week. The teacher sets guidelines for the quality of work and students who exceed the requirements have an opportunity to be nominated into the "[|Scribe Hall of Fame]." >> Vicki Davis talks about the realities of teaching in a society where every cell phone is a recording device. Vicki Davis is someone you want to know about! >> Classroom blog of a high school biology teacher in an Atlanta-area private school. Students post about different topics related to the study of biology. This is the most-read post on the blog. Check out the comments in response to the student's question at the end of her post. >> Anne Davis, an edublogging pioneer from Georgia State University, has been blogging with elementary school students since 2002. In this post, she enumerates her reasons for blogging with students. >> A proposal for getting beyond the tools to the teaching and learning. >> The author of this post is a fourteen-year-old. The [|Students2oh] blog is collaboratively written by a group of high schoolers from across the U.S. and beyond. These outspoken, articulate students have garnered a huge following in just a few weeks of publishing. >> High school librarian Joyce Valenza shares highlights from her presentation for senior English classes on how to stop making miserable PowerPoint presentations.Good points and good resources. >> This post was written by an at-risk fifth grader who struggled with writing and school success in general. Anne Davis shares it as an example of the importance of comments in blogging. >> Prolific edublogger Will Richardson shares some questions he hopes his children might be able to answer about their school experiences. >> Andy Carvin responds to a nerve-striking "humor" article in Wired Magazine. >> An argument about the ways in which the current education system and adolescent culture discourage creative thought. (If this interests you, you may want to view Sir Ken Robinson's TED Talk: [|Do Schools Kill Creativity?]). >> Award-winning elementary blog about an unexpected guest. Be sure to click the duck to read the students' stories. >> Bob Sprankle's post that explores the "switch" from analog to digital in television and the possibility of such an occurance in education. >> This post won "most influentual" post of 2007, scroll a bit past the announcement of the award information to begin reading the post. Don't forget to go through the comments, too. >> Jeff explores the idea of reflection in our professional practice. We give our students time to reflect, but do we take time for the same? >> A high school teacher talks about a powerful third grade writing project -- sending thank you letters to relief workers in /haiti that really touched her heart. >> On December 1, 2007, ten-year-old Laura Stockman decided to honor her grandfather's memory by helping to make a difference in the world every day for twenty five days. She did "little things that kids can do." And she blogged about her efforts. More than a year later, Laura's message and blog have inspired thousands of people to make a difference every day. If you are not convinced that blogs and other social media have the potential to change the world (and to empower our students), I hope you will take time to explore Laura's site. >> Teachers often make the assumption that our students, who have "grown up digital" are technologically fluent. It's not necessarily true. (This is a post that's particularly resonant for me, and one I think every teacher should read). >> A middle school social studies lesson beginning with an online "energy" game evolves into an opportunity for students to think deeply and critically about bias in the media they consume and in their own lives.
 * Sample Blog Posts** (Select Five)
 * 1) **dy/dan (Mr. Meyer):** [|Why I Don’t Assign Homework]
 * 1) **Mrs. Edmison's Class:** [|Questions for One of Our Favorite Authors: Grace Lin]Third grade students receive a special blog comment from a beloved author answering their questions about writing.
 * 2) **Mark’s Edtech Blog: **[|Is this SSR 2.0?]
 * 1) **SP-817 Math Blog:** [|Boeun's Scribe for December 4th]
 * 1) **CoolCatTeacher (Vicki Davis):** [|Spies Like Us]
 * 1) **Extreme Biology:** [|Imagine Turning On the Faucet and Nothing Coming Out]
 * 1) **EduBlog Insights (Anne Davis): **[|A Rationale for Educational Blogging]
 * 1) **Discourse About Discourse ):** [|The Ripe Environment]
 * 1) **Students 2.0:** [|Teaching Brevity]
 * 1) **NeverEnding Search:** [|PowerPoint Reform - A First Chapter]
 * 1) **Patrick's Update**: [|5th Grade]
 * 1) **Weblogg-ed (Will Richardson):** [|What Did You Create Today?]
 * 1) **Andy Carvin / Learning NOW**: [|An Open Letter About Cyberbullying]
 * 1) **Wandering Ink:** [|How To Prevent Another Leonardo Da Vinci]
 * 1) **Duck with a Blog:** [|Second graders Write About Our Missing Duck]
 * 1) **The Thinking Stick:** [|Evaluating Technology Use in the Classroom]Jeff looks at a series of four statements by Mark Prensky and turns them into questions that could assist administrators when assessing technology use in the classroom. Great article for teachers as well as it points out the differences in "using" technology versus true "integration".
 * 2) **Connected Principals:** An Open Letter to Administrators George Couros explains how he learns from administrators he has never met and encourages others to connect.
 * 3) **Bit by Bit:** [|The Time is Now]
 * 1) **The Fischbowl:** [|Is It Okay To Be A Technology Illiterate Teacher?]
 * 1) **The Thinking Stick:** [|Do you give yourself permission to reflect?]
 * 1) **Two Writing Teachers:** Letters of Gratitude
 * 1) **Twenty-Five Days to Make a Difference (Laura Stockman):** [|It Doesn't Matter if You're 6 or 26 or 106]
 * 1) **Betchablog (Chris Betcher):** [|The Myth of the Digital Native]
 * 1) **Remote Access (Clarence Fischer):** [|Bias in the Classroom]
 * 1) **Creating Lifelong Learners (Mathew Needleman):** [|Energize Your Classroom: How Jim Cramer Made Me a Better Teacher...]Teachers can make challenging concepts "engaging and comprehensible" to students by applying techniques gleaned from CNBC's "Mad Money," with wacky, high-energy host Jim Cramer.

**PART 1:**
Create a blog post in response to the exploratory reading and questions listed above. Feel free to reflect on anything that struck you about the posts themselves or the genre of blogging in general.


 * Be sure to include a link to any post(s) you refer to ( see tutorial below you can't just copy and paste the link) ** and include " **Thing 3** " in your post title.

**¤** **IMPORTANT** **NOTE:** When linking to a blog post, you need to use the post's **Permalink**. Because blogs are frequently updated, as posts "get older" they are pushed to the "front page" into the archives. **What?? Fear not**: each post has a unique URL (web address), called a **Permalink**, typically containing the post, title, and date, or a unique post number.


 * Examples:**
 * Will Richardson's Blog**
 * [|http://weblogg-ed.com] = the main address (URL) of Will Richardson's blog
 * [] = the **permalink** to his Febuary 3, 2009 post titled "Working Together to Make a Difference."


 * Dan Meyer's Blog**
 * [|http://blog.mrmeyer.com] = the main address of Day Meyer's blog
 * [] = the **permalink** to his May 3, 2007 post titled "Graphing Stories."

Each link above is a **permalink**, so you can simply copy the URL from your browser's address bar when using it in your post.

**¤ EQUALLY IMPORTANT NOTE:** unlike email or Word, simply pasting a URL into your post won't make it a link. You meed to use the "Insert Link" button. See "How to add a link" video below for help.

** HELP Video: **[|How to locate a blog post permalink] (Important!) (2:28) The Permalink is the direct link to a specific blog post. It will include the date and title of the post, or a post number. **You must** **use the Permalink when linking to a blog post -- you can't just link to the main address of a** **blog.** ** HELP Video: **[|How to add a link to your blogpost] (2:49) Please make sure you are clear on this. It's not difficult, but you **cannot just copy and paste a link** like you do in email or Word. ** HELP Video: **[|How to leave a comment on someone's blog] (4:03)

**PART 2:**
Visit the blogs of **two participants** in our CMS 23 Things group (listed on our Google tracking spreadsheet) and **contribute a comment** in response to one of their posts.

Try to include **specifics** in your comment, relate to your own experiences and **even ask questions**. Writers value your comments, but leaving "good", substantive comments can sometimes be difficult. What is a good comment? For pointers, read through Silvia Tolisano's blog post, [|"Day 23: What Makes a Great Comment?"] and Cool Cat Teacher's (Vicki Davis) blog post [|"How to Comment"]

Early finishers may have to **check back later in the week** to find blogs to comment on.