Have You Thought About Blogging with Students Like This?

Blogs are a great venue for sharing information and creating a venue for an ongoing dialog. I'd love to see teachers using blogs in this way (the way we do in this "class") with their students. In fact, studies are starting to show that the real power of blogging in the classroom is when a teacher regularly posts questions or content for students to respond to--much like I do here for you.

If I were using a blog with students like this, I'd regularly require participants to go back and revisit earlier thinking as well as comment on the thinking of their peers. I love how this format allows us (and students) to contribute to each others' learning without needing to be in the same room. Of course, teaching students good online communication through commenting on blogs is an added plus. Here's how one teacher does it: Notes from McTeach: Learning to Blog Using Paper. If you're interested in exploring the potential of starting a teacher blog for your students to respond to, let me know--I'd be happy to come by and help you get set up.

Your Assignment
Your job is to go back and revisit at least two previous posts (you'll find links to older posts along the right hand side of this blog), see what folks said, and reply to someone's comment. Or, perhaps you have an update to something you previously posted--now would be a good time to add that to the conversation. When you're done, come back here and post a comment regarding your thoughts about blogging (like this) in the classroom.

Now WATCH This!

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then what about a moving picture? The plethora of short (and sometimes long) videos available in the internet is staggering. Of course, not everything is worth viewing, but enough of it is that we're featuring some online videos you may not already be familiar with in this week's post. (Yes, I know I'm a day late. Sorry.)

For this week's assignment, we want you to complete one of the options below and report back.

Option 1: A Video that could impact the way you work with kids

Robert Talbert, Assistant Principal at CRMS, turned me on to this video from the author's of Change Anything. The video is 8:22 long, and could easily be used with students. In fact, Robert is having success showing it to students who need to change their behavior or else they are going end up in his office.

ASSIGNMENT for Option 1: After viewing this video, explain how you could incorporate it into work with students.

Option 2: Your own life-long learning with TED Talks
Anyone who knows me well (and even not so well) knows that I love TED Talks. The annual TED Conference invites leading thinkers to give "the talk of their lives" in 18 minutes or less. When I first discovered them (they are available online and in video and audio format on iTunes), I listened to them while I worked out, while I gardened, while I drove to work--basically I couldn't get enough of them! The TED Talk site offers a collection of fascinating topics ranging from education, science, music, and more. No matter the topic, I'm always left with something interesting to think about. I know that if I were still in the classroom I would figure out a way to incorporate some of them into my classroom. However, I think our own life-long learning is nearly as important as the learning we inspire in our classroom. Here are a few of my favorites:

Ken Robinson Says Schools Kill Creativity
Dan Gilbert Asks Why Are We Happy
Benjamin Zander on Music and Passion

ASSIGNMENT for Option 2: Watch one of the TED Talks above OR find visit the TED site and find one that interests you. Come back here and tell us what you think about TED.

Option 3: One of the coolest things I've seen lately

I stumbled upon this video a couple months ago. The content of the talk (changing paradigms in education) is fascinating, but almost even more appealing is the way the information is rendered--graphically. Basically, this hour-long talk is condensed to its highlights (11 minutes) and then rendered with what appears to be real-time (but probably isn't) drawing. It's amazing. Go watch it. Now.

ASSIGNMENT for Option 3: Watch the video then come back here and offer a comment about the content of the talk. What ideas most resonated with you?

LiveBinder: An Online 3-Ring Binder That Holds Websites, Media, and More

You may have already seen LiveBinders. it was featured last year on the weekly Featured Sites section of the Teachers First website. (If you click the Featured Sites link above and scroll down, you can read the Teachers First review.)  Also, lately it's been getting a bit of buzz in ed tech blogs. I can image a whole host of ways teachers (and students over 13 years old) might be able to use this tool. But let's hear from you: Visit LiveBinders, watch the 90 second video overview and check out some of the sample notebooks.
A couple gems I found:
Instructional Technology Support
Google
Facebook Privacy

After exploring LiveBinders, come back here and tell us what you found and how you think it could be useful to you and your students. Extra credit if you make a binder and share the link with us. :) (Don't forget, if you want to earn clock hours, make sure to include your first and last name AND (CH) after your name so we give you credit.)