What is WYSIWYG and How to Hyperlink, Upload, and Embed

Click on the image for a larger view

I believe the WYSIWYG (What you see is what you get) editor was the greatest breakthroughs in Web 2.0 since it empowered individual with no knowledge in HTML to be able to publish content on the web.  In the picture above you see some of the main features of Blogger's WYSIWYG editor.  

See also:

Add a link (Hyper Link)

Add an image (Upload) 

Add a video (Embed) 

Video: Blogs vs. Wikis

YouTube - Blogs vs. Wikis: A fictional debate between JFK and Richard Nixon on the propriety of using blogs vs. wikis.

One main separation I have heard a lot of educators use for the students and educational purposes, blogs are for opinions, ideas, and journaling whereas, wikis can be used for facts, resources, and projects.

How to Get Started with Google's Blogger

Google worked very hard to make it very easy for anyone to create a free blog in 5 minutes.

Start with the tour walk through by clicking here.

If you want their guide click here

Also check out their video tutorials on the Blogger's youtube channel

How I Ran a Blog Training Workshop

First I shared my blog with some teachers at my school to create a little buzz. Then I invited 3 teacher leaders that I new have the basic tech skills down that would be interested in and willing to give blogs and try to a voluntary 40 minute blog PD before school. I thought it went pretty smooth all of them got their blog up and running by the end of the 40 minutes. Here is how I ran the session:

Google’s Blogger Training: How to Set Up Your Blog

1) show them my blogging resources on my ambrose.edvibes.com blog, so they don’t have to take notes and they can find more info later.

2) Familiarize the structure of blogs using my class blog classofambrose.blogspot.com
-Header
-Sidebar
-Reverse chronology
-Comments
-Labels
-Widgets

3) How to navigate through blogs
-Find a post through the archives
-Find a post through labels

4) Internet Safety & Digital Citizenship
-Share my blog contract

5) Set up a blogger acnt
-Need a google acnt

6) Name your blog and choose an address
-make it kid friendly: easy to remember and spell

7) Choose a background

8 ) Go through settings
*Must change commend moderation ON
*Put an email address to receive comments to moderate

9) Show dashboard navigation

10) Create a new post

11) Show WYSWYG editor
-Compose vs Html mode

12) How to add an image
-from computer
-from web

13) How to embed a youtube video

14) How to hyperlink

15) Adding labels

16) Customizing the layout
-add page elements (labels, link list)

Then I followed up with a support email giving them the link to my post What, How, and Why Blog.

Next time make a handout for them with the agenda and some links so they can take notes and have something to remind them of their blog later.

What, Why, & How to Blog

Blogging 101 - How to get started

What are Blogs?
Definition of a Blog: Here I give you some of the best definitions across the web from google and wikipedia

Video: Blogs in Plain English: Watch this 3 minute video that gives an excellent explanation about blogs

Anatomy of a Blog: Here I found some great diagrams and images that label and explain all the main components of a blog and a post that help you understand how blogs are set up so you can better navigate them.

What Blogs Aren’t: Read about the difference between Blogs and Websites, Discussion Boards, Social Networks, and Wikis

Why Blog?
Blogging Turns 10yrs Old!: This is a voice thread (power point slide with voice comments) that Steve Hargadon set up that celebrates blogging by having educators around the world comment about why they blog

Why I Switched From a Class Website to a Blog: This is a post I wrote explaining my rationale for switching from a class website (web1.0) to a class blog (web2.0).

How to be a Blogger?

How to Get Started with Google's Blogger: Everything you need to get set up and started to create your own free blog in minutes

Blog Rules & Contract: I believe it is very important to clearly set up your expectations and guidelines to make sure blogging is fun and safe for kids, here are my rules and contract

How to Enter the Edublogosphere: Finding Good Edublogs to Read: This is a post I wrote giving tips on how to enter the education blogging community and finding good blogs to read.

How and Why to Comment on this Blog: Is a post I wrote for my students on commenting

Beating Blogger’s Block: Blog Starters & Styles: A slide show explaining the different types of blog posts that help you to get started with writing your blog posts.

Sharing the Path to Building this Blog: This is list of some of more advanced customizations you can make for your blog (Coming Soon)

See Also
I Would Like to Share My Class Blog Now: Here you can check out my first elementary class blog

See all my posts on blogging here

See all my bookmarks and research on blogging here

This has been a part of the following series:

A Teacher's Tour Guide into the New Read/Write Web2.0 Series

What Blogs Aren't

Round 1
Blogs vs Website The biggest confusion. See also this good discussion on this topic and Why I Switched From a Class Website to a Blog

Round 2
Blogs vs Discussion Boards How discussion boards are evolving to live conversations with blog posts and comments

Round 3
Blogs vs Social Networking Too often people confuse the two and blogging gets a bad name from myspace


Round 4
Blog vs Wiki? Best distinction I have heard are Blogs are for opinion and wikis should be for facts

Anatomy of a Blog

If you click on this link you will open a big picture of a screen shot of what a blog looks like where you can zoom in and read all the different labels of the anatomy of a blog. Very helpful! Source marbyonline.org

Next click here for the anatomy of blog post with some key vocab.

Video: Blogs in Plain In English

Blogs in Plain English

Length: 2:58

Blogging Turns 10yrs Old!

Today, December 17, 2007, blogging turns 10yrs old. Check out this voice thread that Steve Hargdon started. Hit the play button to listen and watch others reflections on blogging.

How to Enter the Edublogosphere: Finding Good Edublogs to Read

I have noticed when introducing blogs to my education colleagues one of the first good questions they ask is how can I find some good examples of edublogs to read. So here are a few tips.

1) Know the terminology: an edublog is an educationally related blogs and edublogosphere is the community of edubloggers. (see also Definition of a Blog)

2) Read efficiently. Learn what RSS is, get an aggregator (I love Google Reader), and start subscribing to and tracking a few blogs (see What, Why, & How to RSS and Subscribe)

3) Go to Alltop.com (a great list of all the top blogs in all areas) look at the education feeds but don't limit yourself to people in education.


4) Look for awards. Check out the annual Edublogs Awards to see who the readers decide are the best. (However the award is still new and gain credibility but it is a start) Every November nominations go up and voting starts and the winners are usually announced in mid December. Click here to see the current 2007 nominations and vote if you haven't yet.

*See also Top 100 Education Blogs and 100 Most Inspiring Innovative Educator Blogs and Podcasts

4) Check the directories and search. The Support Blogging Wiki has a good directory list of edublogs. Here is a current ranking of the top 100 blogs on the web from technorati - one of the biggest blog directory and search engine.

5) Look for blogrolls in the sidebar margins of blogs you like to read (I have shared my blogroll form google reader in the right margin under My Shared Stuff "My Personal Learning Network Blog Roll". A blogroll is simply a list of blogs that one reads and follows. It is common practice of bloggers to share what they read so others can read and to create that edublogosphere community.

My final advice is don't spend all your time just reading blogs or waiting to long to join in on the blogging. When I first started, I spent way too long on the sidelines just observing were I should have been participating. So start commenting on other people's blog posts and start writing your own right away.

I Would Like to Share My Class Blog Now

This is my first year blogging with my class. I think I am finally ready to share my 5th grade Detroit Elementary blog. So let me know what you think. What suggestions and recommendations do you have? I am also interested in setting up a blog pen pal with another class. Please contact/comment if you are interested.

Well here it is: http://classofambrose.blogspot.com

Why I Switched From a Class Website to a Blog

Last year I started a class website. I was the one doing all the writing and the only one reading. The website wasn't being utilized. I noticed that class websites rely heavily on students and parents remembering to check back with the website on a regular basis to see if there are any updates throughout the different pages and forum threads. The problem was they didn't know when and what was being updated. This was one of the primary reason why I switched to blogs. Since blogs are arranged in chronological order, what ever is current is on top of the main page. A class blog allows the students to contribute turning it into read an write web instead of just reading what the teacher writes. Blogging gives the students instant publishing to a larger audience. Blogs also can be utilized as "eportfolios, collaborative classwork, online journaling, discussion or problem-based learning or good old social constructivism".

In addition, blogs also give readers the option of subscribing to the website so when it is updated the content is sent to the readers. The two ways you can use subscribe are through RSS and aggregrators or email subscriptions.

Beating Blogger's Block: Blog Starters & Styles

Here is a link collection of some useful blog posts about blogging when you got the blogger's block:

The 25 Basic Styles of Blogging... And When to Use Each One Slideshow


Blogging Tips - 29 Topics and Sentence Starters for Your Next Blog Prompt List

The 5 Types of Blogs That Experts Write

Educators See Also:

Transparency and constructivism, etc. (Or five good reasons to blog the research process)

ResearchLogTemplate shows a great example how one could use the category features to work and organize your research into.

Blog Rules & Contract

Update: I created our Class Blogger's Contract thanks to all of the help below

This year I will be starting my first elementary class blog. I want to make sure I am starting this up the safe and . I am currently doing some research on Blog Rules and Contracts for students.

Here is a list of some of my research:

*Blog Rules from a Mrs.Bizzel's 5th grade GT class

*A nice student/teacher Blog Contract from Mark's Edtechblog

* Colorado teacher Bud Hunt created a student's blogging guide

*Class Blogmeister, a blogging service, has a blogger’s pledge that you download here

*A Middle School Blog Contract example

Definition of a Blog

I decided to stop torturing myself with weeks of writers block to try to tackle the daunting task of coming up with my own synthesized definition of blogs. But then I remembered the "define: " keyword that you can plug into google search which lets google scrap the web of the best definitions. To save you a step click here to see the web's best definitions of a blog.

See Also:

*Wikipedia's def of a blog and their great list of blogging terms.

* I Blog, Therefore…

Video: RSS in Plain English

DESCRIPTION:
The best and fastest introduction to what RSS is and how it works, done with a marker board and a hand.

TAGS & CATEGORIES:
rss video

LENGTH:
3.5 minutes

VIDEO:

Understanding RSS is foundational to empowering digital immigrants into the new Read/Write Web2.0

OVERALL GRADE:
A+

AUTHOR & SOURCE:
by leelefever
http://www.commoncraft.com/rss_plain_english