Session4

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Ustream.tv
Once again, this will be a live-stream session, and then later I will embed the recorded video. I will live-stream the whole thing, but only record the part about blogs. media type="custom" key="642169" media type="custom" key="642035"

Google Docs
I just want to see if anyone has any questions about Google Docs. Any questions? I will be using Google Docs to collaborate with a teacher in Clackamas, OR. The students will be writing poems in Google Docs, and then they will read them together over Skype. They are called two-voice poems.

Quicksilver
Quicksilver lost the vote last week, but for those who are daring, here is the link to download the file. Click [|here] and it will start downloading the file. You will need to open the DMG when it finished downloading. Then go [|here] for more information about how Quicksilver works. There is a lot you can do with Quicksilver, and it is worth trying out.

Blogs
This year, I integrated a calendar system for my class, which can be found here. I am going to introduce blogging as a VERY easy way for you to keep your students and their parents informed about what is happening in class. This is certainly not the only use of blogs, but it is incredibly beneficial for us.

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Our first example is Ms. Lesueur's blog: http://mlesueur.wordpress.com I used blogs last year as a way for students to blog themselves, but my inexperience led to some frustration. This is my [|blog post] about it. I should have saved some posts from the students, but I didn't. Mandy at Midvale Middle does have students blogging, and you can see them in action here: http://msgeorgeswritingcenter.blogspot.com/ She has had a much better experience with student bloggers than I did last year. Those are two main reasons why teachers would set up blogs: communicate with students and their parents, and give students an opportunity to write.

So, let's get started on learning how to set up a blog.

We have already signed up for a Google account, so we just head to Blogger.com, which is owned by Google. You need to head to this page, and sign in with your Gmail username and your Gmail password.

This is your first step. Choose your display name and accept the Terms of Service

Your next step is to choose a name. This is important because you want it to be something easy fo rht estudents to be able to access. Click Check Availability" and you can see if your name is correct. I chose mrjones.blogspot.com, but it was taken, so I changed it tomrjonesla.blogspot.com.

Next, you will a template. Choose something that looks good to you. You can change this later, and there are many sitest aht offer Blogger templates.

Next, a screen will inform you that a blog has been created.

Once you click "Start Blogging" you will be directed here. We will do our first post about what your students did in class today. if you teach more than one subject, just put them both on there for now. You can add homework assignments, links, change the font and color, and and add pictures and videos. Give it a shot. When you have finished, click "Publish Post" and you will be able to see your post as anyone who views your blog would.

You can see in the top right a link called "Dashboard" which will take you to the page that looks like the one below. That is a quick intro to a blog. You can subscribe to your own blog by clicking the RSS link in your address bar the subscribe to link at the bottom of your posts.



Survey
Please take the survey for this session. https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?key=pz7asWMHcnng0710v-W5KQA

Teacher Blogs
[|Mrs. Clegg] [|Mr. Shake] [|Mrs. Hartman] [|Mrs. Kennedy] [|Mrs. Ponder]