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About
Weblogs
What
is a weblog?
Viewing
weblogs
Deciding
what kind of weblog you want to
create?
Starting
a weblog
Using
weblog hosting tools to create your own
weblog
Articles
of Interest
The
Art of Blogging
George Siemens
Writing
with Weblogs
Kristen Kennedy
Weblogs
for Use with ESL Classes
Aaron Campbell
Creating
a Writing Course Using Class and Student
Blogs
Andrew Johnson
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What kind
of weblog (blog) do you want to
create?
Planning
how to use a weblog is the most important part of
the process. To help you decide what kind of weblog
you want to create, here are some ideas.
You
might want to use a blog to create links to
relevant sites on the Internet.
- If
you have created a list of favorite web sites
that you often use, you might like to use your
blog as a kind of storage space that allows you
to access them quickly and easily.
- You
can provide links to useful online learning
resources for your students such as links to
interactive grammar quizzes, vocabulary
activities, listening sites, and readings
related to what they are learning in class.
- If
you are teaching a content-based, or
theme-based, English class, you can make links
to useful content sites that are pertinent to
what the students are learning.
You
could create a blog for a class you are currently
teaching and make it an integral part of that
class. When creating a class weblog, consider
questions such as...
- What
kinds of information and links will you provide
for your students, and what weblog-based
learning tasks will you ask them to do?
- Will
you focus on one particular skill such as
reading or writing? or, on one particular area
such as drama, culture, or the arts?
- How
exactly would you like to involve your
students? Will
this be an interactive site, involving input
from both you and your students, or will it
basically be a teacher weblog to guide
students?
- Will
it serve as a kind of online class bulletin
board on which you post the syllabus,
assignments, announcements, and other relevant
classroom activities?
- Would
you like to document a class project on a
weblog?
- Do
you want to include good examples of student
writing?
- You
might consider showing your students how to set
up their own student blogs and having them use
these blogs to react to readings, complete
writing assignments, journal over time, or
create online portfolios of their work.
- Why
not make use of the commenting feature to have
students express their ideas and opinions about
topics discussed in class?
- Read
Aaron Campbell's article Weblogs
for Use with ESL
Classes
for more ideas about class weblogs.
You might want to create a reflective blog to
blog about...
- your
classroom teaching experiences, reflecting on
what has worked in your classes and what hasn't
(the learning process going on in your
classroom)
- your
ideas on approaches to teaching
- your
teaching and cultural experiences in another
country
- teacher-training
experiences
- what
you have learned from colleagues
You
could use a blog to share ideas and techniques with
ESL/EFL colleagues, blogging about...
- your
favorite teaching techniques
- tips
for using technology in language learning
- a
description of a specific teaching unit
- ways
to teach vocabulary or pronunciation
- ideas
for using poetry in the classroom
- techniques
for using drama in the classroom
- some
of your own (original) ice breaker activities or
language learning games
You
can create a shared blog for collaborative work
with colleagues or have your students create shared
weblogs...
- Teachers
from two different classes within the same
school or program or from two different schools
or programs in different locations could jointly
carry out a project and publish what their
students create on a shared weblog.
- Small
groups of students could create group weblogs to
publish the products of a project they worked on
together.
- ESL
programs or teams of ESL programs could create
shared literature circles or book clubs.
What
will be the purpose of your blog?
Take time to think about the kind of weblog you
want to create. It's important to plan a weblog
carefully before you begin the process of creating
one.
Name that blog!
You should also have a good name in mind for
your blog before you start creating
it because the weblog software will ask you to name
your blog on the spot! Make sure the name reflects
the purpose of your blog and is not too long.
To
learn how to create your blog, go to Part 4
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Using
weblog hosting tools to create your own
weblog
Creating
ESL/EFL Weblogs - TOPICS CALL Pages -
©2003-2008
- Created by Sandy
Peters
- topics.mag@gmail.com
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