New Class Blog for 2009-10

I decided to use blogger (switching from edublogs) to host my class webpage. Here is a link, and let me know any thoughts, suggestions, questions...

I hope to blog daily and include a lesson summary with some class materials linked in (mainly PowerPoints used for notes and Answers to Homework.) I tried unsuccessfully to use a class blog with my ESL classes last year, so I know it is quite challenging, but I am going to give it a go.

Week 1 Reflection via Mail-to-Blogger

What did you learn? I learned how to utilize some of the blogger options I had never heard of and/or played with before. I have used blogger, but I have mainly used edublogs for the class blog I set up last summer. So the mail-to-blogger was pretty interesting for me, as I had trouble getting student participation on the blog last year. I love the "remove next button" video where I learned how to remove the google navigation bar. So lots of new fun stuff to play with in Week 1. How will you use what you have learned? Well, I already have started using what I learned, but I need to start considering Blogger for the class blog. How did you feel about this information? I feel confident that I will utilize all the activities from Week 1, for both my class and personal blogs. Do you feel that comment moderation is a benefit or a detriment? Why? Both possibly. It is obviously a benefit to avoid spam and innappropriate comments, but notifications fill up mailboxes and moderation time takes away from spontaneous and/or real-time chatter. Who did you ask to try the Mail-to-Blogger feature? Did it work? Would you use this with your students? colleagues? I did it myself but hopefully I try to utilize it with some classmates for guest blogging. I really like the idea and I think there are lots of ways to utilize it in the classroom. They love Youtube, and this might be a way for them to contribute class content easily: copy and paste Youtube embed code into an email. Also, students could email answers to test reviews and you could pick a 100% to be a post before the test. Student work is on display... digitally. What do you not want to forget about this week's information? Not to lurk... What questions do you still have about blog settings and templates? None right now.

Mail-to-Blogger Feature

Just checking out the Mail-to-Blogger feature for my professional development course. Here are a couple of family pics to share on the interwebz...