Week 2:
Task 1:
Just a quick review to start the next step of our blogging journey
Considering some of the reasons for using blogs in ELT given by the article you have read by Stanley, I would like to ask those of you who have had a try at creating your own blogs to share with us the purpose you had in mind when doing so by writing a comment in our blog at:
http://learning-with-computers.blogspot.com/
I also want you to post the blog address to the group so that we can visit it and see how it fits your goals.
If you have not created your own blog yet, start by taking a tour through those already created and see if you can dicover both the purpose and target audience of the creator.
Hope to read your comments soon
Silvana
21 comments:
HI Silvana
I'm looking forward to this week with you!
Your question is a very good one. When I was taking an online course, the section on blogging had us looking at blogs and the ones I saw were rather demotivating (very unlike the fine examples I've seen from this group:-D)
I was interested in how the multiple intelligences could be encorporated in online teaching and started a blog for this purpose. http://mi-onlinestudy.blogspot.com/
This is a very reflective blog - more of a chance to play around with the different possibilities, but I've also encouraged the reader to contribute through comments. It formed a basis for my final paper, and I have to admit that I've been less active since then (although the topic is still of interest).
I then tried a class blog
http://illyasenglish.blogspot.com/
Which didn't work. It died before it had even had a chance to live :-(
Why? One reason was certainly because the learners weren't well enough prepared for it technically, another was that not enough importance was attached to it in class. Perhaps you will find other reasons.
Then there is a third blog of which I am particularly proud, even though it isn't mine. My husband took his class to Prague. Beforehand, I talked him into taking the time to produce a class blog and explained the benefits and possibilites. After much skepsis he made the blog, and the kids really liked it! It's in German, but I'm sure a few of you will understand a little bit, and the pictures are pretty good.
www.fms1b.blogspot.com
I am looking forward to the next class blog and see that failure plays an important part in moving towards success as long as you can learn from your mistakes.
:-D Illya
My old old blog was created as a voice for reflecting my feelings about belonging to a group that I am so proud to be a member of,with some information about my country for other members!
I wonder if the objective fits the blog!!
Here is the link:
http://webheadsheaven.blogspot.com/
QI: tried to change the clock's position and put a new one,but I couldn't!
Q2:There is some scattered letters under"PreviousPosts(Items> <$>
# " ="<).How can I delete them?
Q3:What is the difference between republish index only and republish entire blog?Is it on the help section/I didn't look threre,sorry for being lazy!I just thought of asking now!!
Dear Hala,
In the following weeks I'll be in charge of helping you (or at least trying to, or getting somebody to help you) customize your blog templates. So you'll be Nº 1 on my list!
All the best,
Claudia
Dear Illya,
I agree that failure is positive provided we can learn from it.From the moment you can see why someof yourblogs weremore successful than others, you can design an action plan to make your future blogs more motivating and successful. Lack of knowledge as regards technology use can be a key factor but if we guide students in class,you can get good results.
It is true that as soon as your interest in a blog decays,the blog is condemned to decay, too because as the ship needs the captain,the blog needs its author.
Thanks for sharing your blogs with us.
Silvana
Dear Halla,
I'm sure that when the moment of sharing our week with Claudia comes,you will have a master in the design of blog templates.I am eager to work under her guidance,too
Silvana
Dear Illya,
I guess that the factors you pointed out for the success of blogging in the classroom are really essential (technical skills, teacher's own motivation, good advertisement in the classroom...) and let's not forget the kind of interaction you're boosting in each message. As I pointed out before, if you don't tease students, provoke them with a question, a personal story...How could you ask them to be interactive?
That's the biggest lesson I've learned in blogging.
Beijos,
Carla
Dear Maria Claudia,
We are eager to learn more with you about templates!
Beijos,
Carla
Dear Hala,
I guess you can have any objective for a blog, and certainly sharing your feelings towards the Webheads is a strong one!
Beijos,
Carla
Dear Silvana,
Last week I posted the addresses of some of my blogs and gave a general idea of what was going on with them and exchanged some interesting ideas with Carla and Erica. Mainly, they are tutor blogs, but as I saw that students didn’t access them at home, I started to post activities for them to work on in pairs at the lab. That’s why you’ll see that some entries are a bit impersonal. However, for the second semester I’m planning to change that approach, mainly by personalizing it more and encouraging students to participate actively. This is my 6th year blog: http://www.6thyear.edublogs.org/ .
I’d really appreciate your feedback on it.
Thanks for helping us out.
Best regards,
Carla
Sorry, just a question.
How can I make the address appear as a link in the comment?
Hi, interesting ideas have been shared her.Let me tell you about mine.
I used blogs in my courses last term: class and students blogs. For class information I set up yahoo groups to update sts.
The first blog was included in an ELT research seminar for students reflecting on their research(this was partly achieved since we couldn't use the lab fir this, and they had to work on their own)On the side bar you can see the participant's blog roll
This is the link (copy and paste)
http://researchipc.wordpress.com/
The second blog was for a "Reading and writing" course. I still have to analize the results of this experience.But again, the main problem was that we couldn't work in class with them.In the link you'll find a previous blog I had opened for this, and asked some advanced students to give some advice. Then it takes you to the class blog where you find links to sts blogs.
To access them, you just click on "nam" -which is in blue- on top of this comment.
Wao, this was looooong.
Regards,
Nahir.
Hello Carla R.
I was taking a look at your class blog and I was curious to know the students level of English. I mean; they seem to be advanced students.
I noticed that they liked to comment on the topic House and Home more than on the topic Immigration. Maybe this happened because when talking about house they were expressing their tastes and preferences and students love to do that, right? Keeping the topic personal really encourages them to blog.
As regards making the address a link in a blog commnet, you have to use some basic html tags in your post, like this one below
the text
In the place of "the text" you can write the title of the link or a short description. Example: My Class Blog
Claudia will talk about that later...
Hugs
Erika
Sorry Carla and LWCers
I was trying to show Carla how to insert a link in a post and I made my example into a link so she can't see the html tag behind it. Oh, I feel so stupid!
Well, let me try again.
Check out this page that has some basic html tags and look for "links to someone else's page"
html tags
Sorry for the mess!
Erika
Dear Erika,
Thanks a lot! Let's see if it works.
6th year_Blog
As regards my class, they are adult students at an upper-intermediate level. As I mentioned before, I posted these activities and took them to the lab to work on them in pairs. The day I took them to do the one on immigration there was no Internet connection and they couldn't do it. Besides, I wanted to use it as an introduction to a brief exchange with international students (immigrants)at the Language Institute I attendended when I was in Texas. Unfortunately, the teachers I contacted are not used to working with this tools and didn't join the project. Anyway, as the topic is in the course syllabus I was planning to deal with the cativity in the second semester. In fact, this could be a good place to find a partner. The idea was for students to interact with people who have immigrated to the US and ask them about the life there and the differences and similarities they found with their own countries. Would anybody be interested?
Thanks again for this interesting discussion.
Let's keep it going.
Carla R.
Dear Nahir,
I have the same problems as you in relation to the lack of opportunity to work with blogs in class but I try to assign tasks for students to work in the blogs as an extension of the class.
Silvana
Dear erika,
Thanks for helping with the question of links.I'm not an expert in this topic. Don't worry for having made a mistake,the good thing is the fact that in the end you were able to help another LWCer out.
Thanks for your usual useful contributions
Silvana
Dear LWC members,
I took an attempt to create my blog devoted to collaborating of HAWAII-Tesol and TESOL-Ukraine sister affiliates. Though, I have some problems with Blogging. I really don't know how to manage with frames inside the blog. I managed to add Bubble share of this Summer Institute and our TESOL-Ukraine Convention successfully.
Take a look at http://tesol-ua.blogspot.com/
Anyone can help?Thanks in advance,
Nina
Hey Carla R! You got it! I'm so happy! Anyway, let me tell you a secret... I never memorize html codes, so I usually google to find the correct code for what I want to do; then I copy and paste it into my blog, web page, online quiz etc
BTW, I was once an exchange student in the US. Can I contribute with your discussion about immigrants? You are in the right place to find partners. If you post it to the group, I am sure lots of people will be willing to interact with your students!
Hello everyone,
I had never tried making a blog so this was my first try. I wanted to create a blog in which students and fellow teachers could read things that would make them think about learning. Of course I know that the way I use the blog will change with time. This semester I´d like to try to make a class blog but first of all I have to get familiar with this tool.
This is me again. The blog I´ve just created is www.lifefeast.blogspot.com
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