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====**The purpose of this wiki is to give teachers information on how to create a blog and tools they can use. I am creating it to use with a presentation I am giving on blogging at Springboards on March 30, 2009.**==== =  = = = =Workshop Description = This workshop is for teachers interested in creating a classroom or personal blog. I will share my classroom blog with you and give you some examples of free web 2.0 tools that you can use on a blog.

=About Me= I am a lifelong learner. I love learning about technology and am very excited to have a classroom blog. I am excited to be able to share my experiences and my blog with you. I hope to inspire you to try one out for yourself. Take baby steps and try some web 2.0 tools. =My Journey = Starting the Journey
 * Learning what I needed to when I needed it
 * Discovering other peoples blogs - commenting - learning from them and making connections - The most important part of blogging is the conversations you begin and follow up on
 * Not one right way to do it
 * Take baby steps

My first step into technology was registering my class in a project called Alphabet Adventure Gallery. My Grade 2 class were given [|letter I]and l[|etter K.] This was in the fall of 2007. Previously, I had joined a project with LEARN-Cefrio. This ABC Alphabet Adventure Gallery can be found on the [|LEARN Quebec Home Page] site. Find Preschool and Elementary Students Home Page and then click on Cool Projects and then Kindergarten. It can be more than a Kindergarten activity. We had the grade 2s write a sentence instead of just a single word.

Next, I learned about [|Voicethread] which is a Web 2.0 tool that you can use for so many projects.

We had been reading all kinds of Folk Tales (March/April 2008) and as a class we decided to research about real animals ( from Folk Tales). In teams of 3 students chose an animal to research. We mostly used books to do our research. When it came to sharing what we learned I chose Voicethread as it was a way for our projects to be shared outside of our classroom and other people could make comments on it. Click on[| Voicethread Animal Projects] to see them. It was great to get comments not only from some parents but also from other teachers.. media type="custom" key="3486396"

Another Voicethread Project we did was for Father's Day. We drew pictures of our Dad and then wrote about what made him special. Click on [|Happy Father's Day] to see this example. media type="custom" key="3486408"

You don't need to have a blog to do or share a Voicethread. This might be a great way to get your feet wet. =Why did I start a Blog?= For me, after I finished the Animal Project Voicethread I wanted a place that I could share with the parents what I was doing in the classroom. I wanted to go beyond the classroom walls to share our projects. I went to[|Edublogs.org]and signed up for a free blog. I had a purpose for learning more about blogging. I looked at the tutorial videos, found other blogs online and just experimented with edublogs, trying different templates, etc. I found that the blog was the perfect place for sharing what we do in class. It allows me to tell the story behind the projects, to explain and introduce things. One bit of advice... when you write a post you need to type it in the posting box. You can't cut and paste from other documents.

A bit of advice - when you start registering for these tools - use the same name. At first I was nervous about using my name on the internet but as you do this you want people to recognize you. I've started using my whole name. All these places want an email address and password. I recommend using the same one and keep them in a book or something all together - in case you forget.

The next thing I did was join Classroom 2.0. Go to[| www.classroom20.com] It was in one of the Forums that Jane Kraus, author of Reinventing Project Based Learning , asked if anyone was growing butterflies. She had a class in Portland, Oregon that wanted to share their learning through videoconferencing with skype. Well, I responded that I'd like to try. We did some planning on skype together first. I had my students get into groups of 4 and think of questions we could ask. We talked about how to introduce ourselves and what we wanted them to know about us. We brainstormed what kinds of things we wanted to know about them. We came up with questions about the weather, what kinds of things they liked to do, and we talked about butterflies, too. I can tell you when the day arrived we were all very excited. There is a video clip of this call that you can watch. So, I had a purpose to learn about using skype, another web 2.0 tool. The kids loved it and they learned so much. They learned that the kids 3, 000 miles away were very much like themselves. They were into webkins, too. They learned that the time was different. Someone in my class did their animal project on leatherback turtles and he had learned that they could be found in the Pacific Ocean so he asked if anyone had seen one. There was a teacher that had. Cedric was very excited to hear that.

Here is my blog,,, [|Look What's Happening in Room 102!]

The most important things I have learned about blogging is to read a lot of blogs and leave comments. It's the conversations that we start and follow up with that can lead to collaborative projects. When reading other blogs and you find something interesting and want to share it on your blog you can make links to these blogs on your blog.

=How have I benefited from the blog=

I love technology and am a lifelong learner. I am enjoying blogging because I can be creative with projects with the kids and share them with parents and beyond the classroom walls. People from all over the world visit the blog and make comments. I can then email them or comment below their comment. We can start a conversation that can continue and may lead to further learning - a collaboration on something or a skype call. So, I have started making connections with other teachers (my PLN - personal learning network) and am enjoying the back and forth communication. I have 2 purposes for my blog 1. It is a story/ record of my class' year/ learning. 2. It is a journal of my own learning. =How have the kids benefited= The kids love technology and anything to do with the computer. They love to see themselves on the computer, on the screen. They love the website links on the blog and enjoy playing the educational games - especially [|Peep and the Big Wide World.] They learn how to do things on the computer very quickly and are able to teach each other. They are becoming quite independent. They are very motivated to learn, too. The kids have an authentic audience when they do projects that will be put on the blog. They try harder. Their confidence in their abilities improve. When we made the [|Father's Day Voicethread] last year you can hear the confidence in the kid's voices. Parents made comments on the voicethread so kids got positive feedback from not only their parents but other people, as well. There is an increased opportunity to receive feedback on a project when you have a blog - not just from your teacher but from parents,teachers and other students from around the world. =How has the administration/parents benefited= The Parents benefit because they have an inside view of the classroom. They can see the projects that their kids are participating in. They can view pictures taken of their child at school on the blog. I use flickr so they can upload images they like to their own computer. A few of the parents make comments. I don't think most of them are comfortable with commenting but that's ok. I know from what the kids say they do go to the site. Only a few don't have access to a computer. My Vice Principal, Colleen Lauzier has made comments on the blog and I know that she appreciates it.

=Reflections= I started out wanting to start a blog so I could share with parents what we are doing in the classroom. Now, I want to try the next step - giving my students more responsibility in what we post and share on our blog. I'd like them to reflect more on their learning.

