Introduction

As educators, we realize the importance of modeling those practices which we'd like our students to utilize in the classroom setting. I'm a big believer in practicing what I preach, and for this reason, I've created this blog to illustrate my point. It is a requirement of this course that you develop a blog, posting a minimum of five entries throughout the semester, though the topics you choose to post about are up to you! (Don't be intimidated by this, I've given you some possible prompts below to get you started in case you prefer structure to open-ended assignments :)

Seeing as this is course is part of a certificate program in Educational Technology, I would assume that the majority of you are familiar with the definition of a blog, its purpose, etc. In case you're not as aware of the wide world of blogging, I chose Blogger as my blog's host site in part for this very reason: The text you will be utilizing for this course (Richardson, 2010) has an excellent description of what blogs are, what they entail, and posting recommendations to develop one to the best of your ability, specifically tailored to the "Blogger" format (see Chapters 2 and 3). This webpage also does an excellent job of explaining what a blog is really all about!

Now, mind you, as a result of participation in this course, I don't expect everyone to become the next Perez Hilton (one of the most popular entertainment blogs to date). For the record, while Hilton's team does infuse some traits of academic blogs (hyperlinking, for one), this is not the sort of blog you'll be developing. For some stellar examples of the sorts of Weblogs that are geared towards the education professional setting, feel free to check out the Edublogs Award site or click here!

The purpose of this assignment is to expose you to a venue in which you can communicate with your colleagues, be it to share classroom anecdotes, lesson plans, creative pedagogical approaches, technology implementation, or just good old fashioned venting (NCLB, administration, budget concerns, to name a few "hot topics"). Depending on restrictions determined by your district's administration, you may have the opportunity to develop a classroom blog. Be it for your parents to see the latest updates, from homework to field trips, or for posting star student work, projects, etc., you can easily use this venue to improve your classroom practice. While blogs are typically labeled as journalistic, teachers throughout the United States and throughout the world are utilizing blogs to connect on a global scale.