Blogging in the Classroom Presented by : Donna Carroll

Agenda: 1. Welcome and introduction of grade levels represented ( 10 min) 2. Review agenda and objectives ( 10 min) 3. Explain blogs and show examples of blogs. Watch Video ( 20 min) 5. Break (10 min) Participants can ask any clarifying questions or explore other blogs. 6. Adding text and links to blogs ( 20 min) 7. Participants will write a short statement about teaching as a profession for practice and add their school's web page as link. (20 min) 8. How to add graphics to the blog ( 30 min) 9. Participants will find some images that relate to teaching and add to blog. ( 20 min) 10. Break ( 20 min) Participants will be able to ask clarifying questions. 11. How to add video to a blog (20 min) 12. Participants will find a video and add to their blog ( 20 min.) 13. Participants will be given a rubric and told the directions for the project ( 10 min) 14. Participants are put into grade level groups ( 10 min) 15. Participants will work collaboratively to create their own blog with all the multimedia aspects discussed. ( 1 hour) 16. Closing and sharing of blogs ( 30 min)

Benefits:

Please now open your Wordpress blog page you created before this class began. We will now begin working on our blogs.

We are now going to learn how to add text to our blogs. Step 1: Log into your blog and go to your dashboard. Click on New Post. Step 2: Give your blog a title. Next you will begin typing in the text box like you would any word document. As you can see the highlighted areas are very similar to a word document. You can change the font, bold or italicize text. You can also add a link to another website by cutting and pasting the link.

We will now take a few minutes for you to add text and a link to your blog. Add a few lines about teaching as a profession and a link to your school’s web page.

Multimedia the combined use of text, graphics, animation, pictures, video, and sound. Asia Pacific Conference on Education ( 2003) Retrieved from: Can this be achieved through a blog?

We are now going to add some images and graphics to our blogs Step 1: Go back to your dashboard. At the top you will see a series of images like below. The first icon is the one we will use for adding an image.

Now take a minute to locate an image that relates to teaching. Save it in a file. Now we will locate the picture and select it and click open.

Once image is selected you will be able to choose from a variety of choices like the placement of the image and its size. You will then click insert into post. It should look similar to below.

Now on to something a little bit harder

You need to begin by finding a video that is relevant for your post at the time. I have used You Tube to find a video but Teacher Tube is also a good place. Embedding video in WordPress is very simple Go back to the dashboard where you are editing or composing a blog and then paste the URL on a separate line. 5. The URL will still be in code on your editing page but once you click preview or publish it will the screencast of the video that can be played from the blog. Copy the video URL

Find a video from YouTube and insert it into the blog you are creating.

By having a variety of multimedia in a blog you are able to tap into the learning modalities of several of your students. Many of the students from this generation are digital and would rather learn in the same way. They are from a Facebook and Instant Message Society. Having a blog that allows them to interact and learn at the same time will keep your students interested.

Now you will work with your grade group collaborative team and design a blog based on an academic skill you teach. Please refer to the handout of the rubric to see what will need to be included in the blog. Most of all HAVE FUN!!!!!!!

Collaboration10 points (5 point each All participants worked to complete a blog Blog was relevant to the grade level and could be used by all participants Multimedia15 points (5 points each) Blog contained at least one graphic Blog contained a video Blog contained a link to another site Presentation10 points (5 points each) All participants presented aspects of the blog. Participants had fun!!!!! Rubric for Multimedia Blog

Thank you for participating. I hope that you have learned some new skills that you can take back to your students to keep them active and engages in the learning process. Please take an evaluation and fill it out before leaving today.