and also...

I would also like to remind everyone about Tom Daccord's blog, Teaching Humanities with Technology. This, I think, is a great resource!-

blogs in education

I have just spent a couple of hours trying to decide what to talk about this evening in class as a possible presentation of my blog; asice from a few very interesting articles that I have found lately, I have also located another source, following the recommendations of one of those articles: I went to Google, and simply searched for "blogs AND education", which led to a pretty long list of results. One of these results I thought was very interesting, "Blogs in Education", which in turn lists a number of blogs related to academia, with a couple created and maintained by librarians; one of these, by a librarian from Michigan is quite interesting, so I would recommend visiting it (lorenzen.blogspot.com)
One can also visit weblog-ed, created and maintained by Will Richardson, whose articles and resources I find really interesting.

again mr. richardson

Yet another great article by Will Richardson in THE Journal; Jun2005, Vol 32 Issue 11, p.40, titled "New Jersey High School Learns the ABCs of Blogging". Not only does Mr. Richardson describe a project around the reading of "The Secret Life of Bees" in a NJ highschool in which a dialog was created around the book with literary weblogs, but he also mentions a project in which students learning about the Holocaust establish some sort of dialog with students from Warsaw, Poland - another great application of this type of technology. I would love to learn more about the concrete ways in which these two projects were implemented, so if anyone has any ideas, please let us all know!

some more recommendations

I recently posted ideas about how to start a blog in a school library setting (starting small and maybe focusing on recent reads, inviting people's input, etc.) In an article published in the American School Board journal (Jul2005; Vol 192; Issue 7), Craig Colgan suggests first reviewing any school policy regarding this issue, as well as consulting the IT department that you work with - I guess for everyone to participate in your library blog, many must first participate in its creation...
By the way, the title of the article is "What's in a BLO", with an inset on "How to become a blogger"

about blogomania

In re-reading the article published by Eric Oatman," Blogomania!", in School Library Journal, Aug. 2005, Vol 51, Issue 8, it dawned on me how helpful his advice was; in view of what I have been reading about the small amount of librarians that are implementing this type of tool in their work, it is great to read his recommendation: start small. One blog, If a teacher wants to do his or her usual lesson in the library, put that lesson on the Web. See what happens next. Subscribe to other librarian blogs...hook up with your local National Writing Project site, etc. Will Richardson is also quoted as recommending simply using an initial blog to talk about what's going on in the library, for example, inviting people to comment on new books - all this is extremely helpful to people like myself who are intimidated enough by the prospect of working in this field, without even thinking about the pace at which technology evolves.

a different opinion

In his article "Blogs A Tool For Teaching", Steven Krause writes about having used blogs in the classes he teaches (graduate school level courses in writing) and the how little success he has had in using them as "a collaborative and interactive writing and teaching tool"; Mr. Krause considers that the comparison between blogging and journalism and to writing in a diary or journal is quite accurate, and in the case of his students, the interaction he was hoping for was pretty limited; this in turn leads Mr. Krause to think of e-mail messages or bulletin board discussions as a better option.
Mr. Krause has had, on the other hand, success in the use of blogs by students as a journal (a very common method in writing classes) in which individual students can complete assignments given in class, linking materials that are relevant to these assignments, and on occasion, commenting on each others work. He ends on a positive/hopeful note: blogging is a tool that is constantly evolving and changing, offering the user more and more possibilities that many educators are taking advantage of.
The article was published in Chronicle of Higher Education, 6/24/05, Vol. 51, Issue 42.
It is interesting to me to find the opinion of someone who describes a situation that though somewhat frustrating is also helpful and possibly constructive (we all learn from experiences both positive and not so fruitful); I can well imagine someone trying to use something, blogs in this case, that everyone raves about, and finding that maybe, well, they are not for everyone...

the real educated blogger

THWT Edublogger, or Teaching Humanities With Technology, is absolutely fabulous! This is, without a doubt, a blog worth visiting for just about anyone interested in teaching, blogging, and just (I know, "just") bringing the use of technology into the classroom. Although it does not (or rather, I have not found it)include any information specifically geared towards the library environment, I found this to be an enormously helpful and constructive approach to the use of blogging. By the way, one of the postings was dedicated to the use of Google by teachers; the logic behind this is that if students are going to use Google, teachers might as well learn and teach how to use it to the users advantage.
http://thwt.typepad.com/thwtedublogger/

An absolute must...

I just finished reading an article by Mary Ellen Flannery, "New Kids on the Blog", published on NEA Today, Oct. 2005, Vol 24, Issue 2 in which she discusses different ways in which teachers take advantage of the possibilities afforded by blogs. While it is interesting to read about the enthusiasm with which students write on blogs, and how it hardly seems like work to them (she points out to some ways in which one teacher in particular makes sure her students do not divulge any personal information about themselves), what most interested me was a blog she mentioned which I found absolutely wonderful:
http://www.weblogg-ed.com/ by a Will Richardson. It is incredibly informative and insightful, so I highly recommend it, and plan to explore it more in depth.