Free Resources from the Net for EVERY Learner » Blogging

Tumblr Offers Easy Blogging for ALL Learners

Paul Hamilton — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 05:02:01 +0000

I’ve been test driving a free blog platform that seems ideal for anyone who is new to blogging, or for someone who is unlikely to write a great deal of text. A blog is a powerful and engaging vehicle for learners to express themselves and to show what they know. Blogs also have tremendous potential as digital portfolios that showcase learning.

Tumblr is a free blog hosting service that is quick to learn and easy to use. It’s especially well suited for sharing a photo, video, or piece of art work, accompanied by a brief description or explanation. This can be particularly valuable for learners who struggle with writing.

Setting up an account takes less than a minute. Part of the process is the choice of a URL that ends in tumblr.com. I chose paulhami.tmblr.com for my new tumblr blog. This means that anyone who goes to http://paulhami.tumblr.com will end up at the sample blog I’ve been creating.

It’s almost as easy to create a post in tumblr as it is to set up the account. In tumbler’s “dashboard”, simply click on the button for the desired type of post. This brings up the appropriate template. I’ve illustrated this below with the template for a “Video” post.

Publishing the post so that anyone can view it online is simply a matter of clicking ‘Create Post‘. Of course, you have the option of previewing your post before publishing. You’ll notice that you can write a significant “caption”. A little experimenting indicates that the caption can be as long as you want to make it. The same holds true for captions that accompany photos.

A few points worth noting:

“Text” posts can incorporate images.
The “Quote” template offers space for a quotation, along with a place to include the quote’s source, and again the option of writing a “caption”.
The “Chat” post is designed for the blogger to share dialogue. Many learners I have supported would appreciate this as a place to write jokes!
In an “Audio” post, the user may upload MP3 files up to 10 MB. Again, there is the opportunity to describe the audio.

It is also worth noting that a great deal of customization is available. The tumblr blogger has many ways of making his or her blog unique so that it better reflects the blogger’s personality.

There is considerably more that can be done with tumblr–social networking through “followers”, connections to Twitter and/or Facebook accounts, password-protected blogs, and more. I’ve focused here on the basics. To see examples of some of the possibilities, please check out my sample tumblr blog HERE.

Blogging for a Purpose!

Paul Hamilton — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 14:36:03 +0000

It’s the last day of the year, so I’m feeling reflective. I also love statistics, so I’ve had a look at the 2008 stats for my blog. Among many other things, Google Analytics tells me that my blog has been visited nearly 30,000 times this year, and that those visits have come from 142 countries. Amazing! I think that qualifies as a significant “global audience”.

Sharing resources that are of value to learners has been the purpose of this blog from the outset. It has never been my purpose to try and build as wide a following as possible. Still, it is both gratifying and motivating to know that people actually take a look at what I share. It’s even more gratifying and motivating to receive feedback that lets me know that what I’ve shared has been appreciated and put to use.

I have complete ownership of my blog. It’s all mine, and I write my blog posts because I want to, not because someone else tells me I have to write them. I’m motivated because I’m doing something that matters to me; but I also value anything that boosts my motivation, especially when I’m feeling tired or pressed for time. My global audience and the positive feedback I receive make a huge difference then.

I suspect that I’m no different than the majority of learners in our classrooms. Whenever learners are given opportunities to work on learning activities that they choose and genuinely want to do, the odds are that they’ll be motivated and that they’ll take ownership of the learning. When the learners in our classrooms are also encouraged to share what they learn with a global audience via the internet, and when those learners can receive meaningful feedback from that global audience, motivation can only be enhanced.

A motivated learner, sharing his or her work with a global audience, stands in stark contrast to the traditional student whose learning is owned by the teacher who chooses the learning activity, where the teacher dictates precisely how the assigned work is to be completed, and where the work is undertaken for an audience of only one.

[Photo Credits: MarkyBon; Vern Hart; funkandJazz]

Blogging Lessons (Online Resources)

Paul Hamilton — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 20:18:02 +0000

Since beginning my own journey as a blogger, I’ve become convinced that blogging is a powerful option that can facilitate learning for anyone, especially the children in our classrooms. I recently spent a morning with Jan Smith’s grade 6 class where every student is a blogger. In my six years of teaching grade 6, before the era of blogs, I never saw such high quality writing by so many motivated writers.

I interviewed a few of the grade 6 bloggers, and was tremendously impressed. You can watch the video footage and see for yourself.

I’ve been blogging for about two and a half years. When I started out, I dived in on my own, without any help or advice from anyone. I was just determined to take advantage of an opportunity to share something I was exited about.

At the beginning, there were moments when I wondered if I was going to drown in the vast ocean of the blogosphere; but I’ve kept swimming and somehow managed to stay afloat. I still have much to learn, but when I look back at my earliest posts, I can’t help but notice that I’ve learned a thing or two along the way. In fact, I feel almost embarrassed by those early efforts. On the other hand, comparing now with then is encouraging.

Today I want to share two helpful resources for any teachers who might want to launch the learners in their classrooms as bloggers. Excellent help is now available to anyone who is just starting out on a classroom blogging adventure. There is no need for anyone to swim alone.

Early this month the “21st Century Literacy Specialist” at the International School Bangkok, Kim Cofino, wrote an extensive blog post entitled Blogging is Elementary. Kim outlines 5 lessons for introducing blog writing in an elementary classroom.

Silvia Tolisano is a technology integration facillitator at a school in the US. Silvia has just completed a series of blog posts where she has further fleshed out a set of “Blogging Lesson Plans”

There are other resources available, but the work of Kim and Silvia is a great place to start for anyone who is contemplating classroom blogging in the new year.

Blogging Lesson Plans from Langwitches