Blogs

=Blogs=

[[image:blogactionday.jpg align="left" link="http://http//blogactionday.org"]]
Proficient readers spontaneously and purposefully create mental images rich in detail as they read (Keene and Zimmerman). Tap into a the potential of a blog to communicate unique interpretations of text and to socially negotiate meaning.

A blog is a personal space to record and communicate thoughts, discoveries, and understandings. A blogger observes their experience, reflects on it, and then provides a written response. As the written commentary has a global audience, others are able to read your reflections and respond from their perspectives by commenting or writing their own blog article. Learning, therefore, becomes socially negotiable, as reading the varying perspectives cause one to analyze and possible refine their viewpoints.

A post from the [|Eide Neurolearning Blog][|,] the [|Brain of the Blogger,] outlines five benefits of blogging:
 * 1) Blogs can promote critical and analytical thinking.
 * 2) Blogging can be a powerful promoter of creative, intuitive, and associational thinking.
 * 3) Blogs promote analogical thinking.
 * 4) Blogging is a powerful medium for increasing access and exposure to quality information.
 * 5) Blogging combines the best of solitary reflection and social interaction.

Explore
There are several free online hosting services:
 * [|Blogger] - Suitable for a professional blog
 * [|Wordpress] - Suitable for a professional blog
 * [|Edublogs] - Works well for scribing and central blogs with older students
 * [|ClassBlogmeister] //- A// good choice for elementary teachers

Research

 * [|Ten Ways to Use your Edublog to Teach]
 * [|Blogs in Plain English]
 * [|Alice Yucht's List of Librarian Blogs]
 * WebTools4U2Use on Blogs