Task+4

Webquest Home

Now that you’ve created your own blog and learned the basics, it’s time to think about how you might involve your students in blogging. In this final task, you will work on your own to create and post to your blog a lesson integrating blogging.
 * Step by Step Directions** **For Classroom Teachers**

4. What resources do you need to provide to scaffold students? 5. How will you assess students’ learning? 6. Now, create a lesson, project, or unit that integrates blogging. Create (or locate and link to) accompanying resources. Post the lessons and resources on your blog. Before beginning, you might want to explore some of the lessons in the links to the left. ||
 * **Sample Blogging Lessons*** __[|Responsible Blogging Lesson Plan]__
 * __[|Blogtopia: Blogging About Your Own Utopia]__
 * __[|The Bird Can Blog: Online Writing with a Twist]__
 * __[|Blogging Lesson Plan]__
 * __[|Solar Energy]__
 * __[|What If There Were an Oil Shortage?]__ || 1. Think about a lesson, unit, or activity you currently teach with your students. * What are the goals of the lesson?
 * What, specifically, should students know and be able to do at the completion of the lesson?
 * How might you teach the lesson in a different way-using blogging?
 * How could students use blogging to master the same content and skills? ||
 * **Teacher Blogs:*** __[|Critical Issues in Literature]__
 * __[|Teacher Lingo]__ (a huge list of teacher blogs)
 * Class Blogs:**
 * __[|Love2Learn Blog]__
 * __[|Room 9]__
 * __[|Liz Keinfeld’s Class Blog]__
 * __[|ArguendoClass: For the Sake of Debate]__
 * __[|The Fischbowl]__ (Check out the teacher and class blogs in right sidebar.)
 * Individual Student Blogs:**
 * __[|iThink]__
 * __[|Peeling the Layers]__
 * __[|Shorewood High School]__ (Check out links on right sidebar.)
 * Helpful Resources**
 * __[|4Teachers.org]__ (This site has a ton of resources and tools-even a rubric maker.)
 * __[|Lesson Plan Template]__
 * Standards**
 * __[|Arkansas Frameworks]__
 * __[|NETS for Students]__ || 3. What type of blog would work best for the lesson? * A teacher blog to which students contribute?
 * A class blog with multiple authors?
 * Individual student blogs?
 * Would a project checklist be helpful?
 * Would a list of links to sources be helpful?
 * Are graphic organizers needed?
 * Do you need to provide a rubric?
 * How will you assess students work throughout the lesson as well as the end product?
 * For Other Educators (Administrators, Curriculum Coordinators, Literacy or Math Specialist, Educational Technologists…)**

__[|Teacher Lingo]__ (Another huge list of categorized educator blogs) Use a blog search to search for blogs in your specific speciality area: 2. Explore at least three of the blogs from the list of blogs at //Support Blogging// or //Teacher Lingo//. As you explore, think about how you might learn from them or modify their methods to suit your purposes. ||
 * __[|Support Blogging]__ (See the sidebar at right where blogs are categorized by type.)
 * __[|Ask Blog Search]__
 * __[|Google Blog Search]__
 * __[|Technorati]__ || # Think about the way you communicate and collaborate with colleagues, parents, other educators.
 * How might you use a blog to improve communication?
 * How might you use a blog to inspire and model best practices?
 * How might you use a blog to collaborate with other educators?
 * ^  || 3. Now, plan one project or activity that allows you to use your blog to help you reach out to others more effectively. ||
 * ^  || 4. Write a post on your blog either explaining your project plan or (if possible within the time limits of this course) create the actual project. ||

Evaluation