Blog Like You Mean It!

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Writing an Effective Blog Post

Yes, this post breaks some of the rules ;-)

Appealing Title

• Include a keyword that applies to your message
• Capitalize the Key Words in Title

Share Your Opinion and Be Honest

• Write what you think, not what you think someone else wants to read
• Do so professionally

Include Links if Applicable

• Point of Reference - article, web site, etc. you are talking about.
• Resources

Make it Easy to Read

• Bullet points
• Short paragraphs - Several short paragraphs are easier to read than long paragraphs
• The first sentence of each paragraph should make your reader want to read the rest.
• Headings
• Avoid overuse of bold, italics, colored text, etc. You don’t want to make it visually uncomfortable to read

Don’t Cut and Paste from MS Word

• Formatting can change and may look different in different browsers

Short Posts are Okay

• Make it easy to read. It isn’t supposed to be an essay

Proofread

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Examples

Practical Theory

The Thinking Stick

Creating Lifelong Learners

So What Do You Think About That?

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Writing an Effective Blog Post Comment

Be Specific

• compliments, questions, adding new information

It’s Okay to Disagree

• It’s OK to be critical, but be respective and constructive about it by offering an alternative

Provide Context

• Explain what part the post you’re responding to

Make a Point

• “Great post”, “Thank you”, and “Well said”  don’t add to the conversation

Keep it Short

Proofread

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Example Blog Posts

Dangerously Irrelevant

Free Technology for Teachers

Edutopia

A Few Last Links for the Year

First, I want to say "Congratulations" to everyone for putting together and presenting some great lessons to end this first year of the project. What a great resource of lessons for everyone to share.

I also wanted to add a few links to your collection.

1. Lesson Writer - This site allows you to input your own text and then create vocabulary, comprehension, writing activities, and more from it.

2. Creating an interactive cloze text - To create a CLOZE activity, you could just delete selected words in a document. This site is a screencast tutorial that shows you how to create a CLOZE activity in Microsoft Word that's interactive.

3. Microsoft PowerPoint SlideFest - This is a humorous set of video tips from Microsoft on how to/how not to create effective PowerPoints. Be sure to preview them carefully. You may not want to use (in their entirety) with kids.

4. History Buff - History Buff has primary source documents showing how events were reported in their time.

5. History Tours - History Tours is a wiki source for Google Earth files. They won't open if you don't have Google Earth installed.

Thanks again for teaching me along the way. I'm looking forward to next year!

Adina

Technology Tools Livebinder Part 2

Foundations of American History – Technology Tools Part 2 – Febr

Technology Tools Livebinder Part 1

Foundations of American History Project – December 3rd/4th 2010

Predictive Writing from Google

There's always something new! Predictive writing software is a great tool that can help writers think of words, choose between words, and spell so that writing becomes simpler and less stressful. It also can help reduce keystrokes so that writing can be faster. Some schools have purchased predictive writing software for their computers, but for those who don't have it, try out Scribe.Google.com. You type your text (English or Spanish) and select suggested words as appropriate. You can then copy and paste the text into a document for final formatting. It takes a little getting used to, but once you do, it's a great option.

Reading Level in Google Results

At the December meeting, we talked about how to use the Google advanced search features as well as using Kids Click.org when you are interested in approximate reading levels. Well now Google has stepped up too and added Reading Level to their advanced search feature. You can choose from beginner, intermediate, or advanced. The results aren't perfect, but they are a start.

Google Earth - Presidents and History Videos+

Here are a couple of new resources I just learned about that you may find useful.  The first is Google Earth - Presidents. Here you can view lots of information about U.S. Presidents using the powerful format of Google Earth. I was able to get Google Earth downloaded on my classroom computers via tech request. The second resource is Have Fun with History.com. There are plenty of resources here, but of special interest is the video section. You may be able to use various resources on this site to present lessons or your students may be able to use information from it in their presentations and reports. Enjoy!