Reading blogs online seems a lot like shopping for clothes. Guys may not get this but ladies will. Sometimes you can shop and shop and see things that are sort of what you are looking for but not quite. You see things in other store windows and continue to roam around finding almost but not the perfect outfit. Then there are those times when you walk in and there are multiple items that would be perfect and they are “gasp” all on sale for half price! That’s the feeling I got this morning. I have been searching the internet for resources to put together the quintessential presentation on blogging in education. I want to wow everyone, generate enthusiasm, and have them walking out the door talking excitedly about the plans they have for blogging with their students, already making mental lists of uses that will take them far beyond the starting point I give them!

Presenting to groups is not my strong point. I am better at one-on-one instruction, so I plan to have very clear material and step-by-step instructions as well as some wonderful examples to show to try to make up for that.

This morning I read a post that really shows what the end product can be. Konrad Glogowski has a post about his eighth grade students blogging that shows how an instructor can use blogs to share what they are doing and how students can be blogging as a unique learning and research experience. Read the post to see why I am excited.

The teacher describes how his students are researching separate topics and learning from each other’s research and how it relates to their own. Other students reading and commenting on each other’s blogs created debates and caused each student to build on his own topic.

Instead of students simply responding to a teacher-directed topic they have moved on to become researchers and are motivating each other to continue the learning process. To me this is exactly what we want to see happen. This is my ultimate goal.