11/3/2008

SPRING RIVER VALLEY CONFERENC

E

A BLOG! A BLOG! A KINGDOM FOR ADVANCED BLOGGING -

BLOG!

Professional Development Day | Larry Neuburger Miller High School

Introduction - Why Blog?

As the demand for technologically savvy students rapidly increases, more and more schools scramble to integrate technology to meet the demand. According to Wolsey and Grisham, Indeed, if students are to become adept at using technology for their learning and in their lives, schools have a responsibility to teach those technology skills and new literacies necessary for students to succeed, regardless of their access to technology outside the school.(p.30) However, research indicates that schools do a fairly good job finding money to buy more computers, but fail miserably when giving established teachers the training on how to integrate technology beyond the basic word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation software. On top of this, teachers in core classes become resistant to using new teaching methods if they have found success with state standardized testing. Furthermore, Wolsey and Grisham state, Technology in the hands of capable teachers has the potential to assist them as they work with students to connect with those in the world around them through proficiency with the written word mediated by thoughtfully chosen technologiesteacher candidates who know that the power of technology is less reliant on the technology and more so on the ways that people use it are likely to be the successful teachers of the 21st century.(p.35) One method of using technology to tap into these new literacies occurs through the use of weblogs or blogs. The primary use of blogs when they first appeared was as an online personal diary. However, within a short period of time blogs could be opened to the public and authors could invite others to join in on conversations. With the advent of Web 2.0, blogs also became a place for storing all sorts of digital content. I use blogs for several reasons but the primary reason is because students writing fluency increases almost immediately when they know peers will be reading what they write. It can be hard to get students to write, so, I also appreciate the fact that students seem to enjoy engaging their peers online. It is easy to monitor students writing on a blog, and the need for paper is greatly reduced. I am not the most technologically savvy person you will meet. For me to engage something technological, it must be a relatively simple process. Setting up a blog is really as easy as 1, 2, 3. Citation: Wolsey, Thomas D., and Dana l. Grisham. "Adolescents and the New Literacies:." Action in Teacher Education 29.2 (2007): 29-38.

Agenda for Today

Insert pictures into a blog post Editing Html in a blog post Create and embed a slide show into a post Embedding video in blogs Embedding presentations into a blog

Using the sidebar if we have time.

Step by Step Processes Inserting Pictures into a Blog Post

There two different ways to insert pictures into a blog post. You can insert from either a web site or a file on your computer. Inserting pictures from the web can be tricky if you dont follow a simple rule. Do not insert picture from a search page. For example, say want a picture of a bird and you do an image search for birds. Your search engine displays a page of bird pictures. Make sure you open the image in its full size before inserting from the web. If you dont, youll get less than desirable results. 1. Start a New Post in your blog. 2. Next to the spellchecker icon is the Add Image icon. Click on it. 3. Open up a new tab for your browser and type fall color into a search engine and click enter. Convert to an image search as needed. 4. Select a picture and click on it. 5. Click on See full-size image. 6. You can do one of two things. You can either save the image to your hard drive and insert from your computer or copy the url

link and paste it into the appropriate box on the add image page for the blog. 7. Choose your image size and layout. I always use none for a layout because it gives me more freedom to manipulate the picture if Blogger puts it somewhere where I dont like it. 8. Click Upload Image and look to see if the picture is where you want it or not. 9. If it is, you done. If it isnt you can manipulate it by editing the html code.

Editing Html in a Blog Post

Although editing html code may sound really scary, it is really quite easy. 10.Look for the Edit Html tab in the post creator and select. 11.Your pictures html code should be easily identifiable. 12.Copy and paste the html where you want it. This is trial and error.

Create and Embed a Slideshow into a Blog Post

13.Open another tab for your web browser and type in Slide.com into the address bar. Select enter. 14.Create a Slide account. 15.Click on Make a Slideshow. 16.Go back to your Fall Color web search and find and download two or three pictures to your desktop. 17.On the Slide page and under the UPLOAD your own images banner click on Browse. 18.Navigate to the fall color pics you downloaded and select them for upload. Click on Open. 19.Scroll to the middle of the page and select the design from the Customize your Design: section. Revolver and Sliding are my favorites.

20.You can add captions and name the slideshow below the image upload section. 21.Click on Save(get code) 22.Copy the code and paste it into your blog post.

Embedding Video
There are a several place to find or get video embedding codes for blogs. I use Google Video because it is not blocked by school filters like site like YouTube. 23.Type this link into the address bar of a new browser page: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4926138510435270886 24.Look for the Embed video video link and select it. 25.Copy and pate the embed code into a blog post and publish to your blog.

Embedding Presentations into a Blog

26.Type the following into a new browser window: http://www.scribd.com/doc/7511995/Blogging-the-HolocaustDemo 27.Above the document there is an Embed tab. Click on it. 28.Click on the Copy button and paste into a blog post.

The Blogger Icon

When I first started with blogs, I found it sometimes difficult to find my way back to my dashboard where I could start over if I got lost or stuck. There is a very easy way, I discovered, to get to your dashboard. If you are logged into Google, you can click on the blogger icon from anywhere and it will take you to your dashboard. So, if you get stuck or lost, click on one of these: