Friday, March 17, 2006 

Welcome To The Playground!

Congratulations! You found the playground!

You had a chance to read some classroom and teacher blogs. Now you can try your hand at writing your own blog post. ;-)

There are three parts to blogging:

  1. Read

  2. Think

  3. Write


Blogging Prompt
You have just read several blogs. Think about what you read. Write a blog post in response to one or more of these prompts:

  • Thinking back to some of the blogs you just looked at which one(s) impressed you the most/least? What was impressive (or not) about it? Be specific.


  • Do you think using a classroom blog can help to enhance your student's learning? If so, how? If not, why not?


  • Do you think you can learn anything from following edublogs? What in particular? Which blogs would you like to follow?


  • Did you read anything that made you think: "Wow! That's cool/amazing/incredibly stupid/(pick an adjective of your choice)?" What was it (include a link to it) and what about it made you think that?


  • What is your personal Muddiest Point about anything you've learned so far this morning? i.e. What are you most confused about? What would you like to learn more about?


  • The latest edition of the NCTM Principles and Standards for School Mathematics includes The Assessment Principle and The Technology Principle. I think blogging will make it easy to meet, and more likely exceed, meeting these standards. Do you? Why or why not? (Actually, I think it will address the goals outlined regarding Equity, Teaching and Learning as well!)


  • Blog about anything you'd like. Read the Blog Writing Tip below first.


Blog Writing Tip
The best blog posts end with a question. The idea is to foster a dialogue with your readers. The best blogs, IMHO, are "thinking out loud" spaces where the writer shares ideas they are wrestling with. The question(s) that ends their posts encourages the reader to think about what they read before they write a thoughtful response. Try to end your post with such a question. Mind you, you have no obligation to do this -- write whatever you feel like writing. If you're passionate about it that will come across. Other people passionate about the same issue will naturally want to comment. ;-)