A few of classrooms in District 57 have dipped their toes into the world of blogging. We even had an author involved with a book discussion. The http://classblogmeister.com service hosted by David Warlick's Landmark Project, offered a great and protected platform for teachers and students to have a virtual discussion about the novels they read in class. 
 
See  
http://classblogmeister.com/blog.php?blogger_id=94606 
and  
http://classblogmeister.com/blog.php?blogger_id=87755. 
 
Thanks to these teachers for being trail blazers. 

Posted by: bfurst

A great Administrator's Academy in Lombard, Ill yesterday. 
http://willrichardson.wikispaces.com/ 
 
The one thing I brought back is the HOW and WHY of blogging: 
 
1)Read alot  
2)Synthesize for importance and relevance for you and/or your organization 
3)Provide links and other social networking techniques in your writings.  

Posted by: bfurst

A Public Library in North Carolina constructed a learning activity for its staff: 
http://plcmclearning.blogspot.com/ 
23 Things to expand your knowledge of the Internet and Web 2.0. This, in fact, is a 9 week course for the library staff, but seems very appropriate as a staff development activity. 
 

Posted by: bfurst

What is the real value in publishing your thoughts and expertise to the world. There is a great article from a business perspective 
http://www.corporateblogging.info/basics/what/default.asp 
that sounds a lot like the 6 traits of good writing with a weblog twist: 
1)The Personality 
2)The Voice 
3)The Links 
4)The Conversations 
5)The Frequency 
6)The Feed 
 
It may hit home for you...  
 

Posted by: bfurst

If you are not ready to go public yet, you may wish to limit your viewsership. One caveat is that the viewsers need to have an account on this server.  
 
Once you have logged in, use the settings link in the calendar panel on the right, and you will see a box to enter a list of userIDs that will be allowed to see your weblog.  
 
Please use the comments link below to add your thoughts, worries, or questions.  

Posted by: bfurst

AHHH... the evolving English language... you gotta love it. Google viewser .... 
 
One interesting item is at  
http://www.journalism.ubc.ca/thunderbird/archives/2001.12/summit.html 
Let's keep an eye on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viewser to see how long it takes for someone to make an entry for viewser in the wikipedia. 

Posted by: bfurst

Depending on the number of your varied interests, you may wish to create categories to better organize your writings. Then as you create new entries, you may assign them to a category. Viewsers (ie Users who are viewing your weblog) then have the option to see only your postings for a particular category. 
 
For instance, an Asst. Supt. of Curriculum and Instruction may wish to have a category for each curriculum area - i.e. Language Arts, math, Science, Social Studies. An Asst Supt. of Special Services may blog in the categories of Asst Tech, Gifted, Reading Support, etc. 
 
Please use the comments link below to add your thoughts, worries, or questions.  

Posted by: bfurst

Today we started the weblog service. This could be a great way to communicate important topics in place of paper and even email.  
 
Ok let's get started: 
Point your browser to http://dist57.org:8081/weblog/. Now, of course, you must have a UserID(UID) and password (PW), so your UID and PW is the same as your email address. There is a place to type in your UID on the above page. You will then be challenged for a PW -- and viola, you have now started your very own weblog.  
After you produce your first article, anyone in the world (well maybe not if you read Lesson #2 - limiting your viewsers) can see your weblog at http://dist57.org:8081/weblog/UID/ where UID is your UserID -- i.e. this weblog is at http://dist57.org:8081/weblog/bfurst/ . 
 
housekeeping items: 
•Firefox 2.x is best to use... it has built in spell check. 
•Be aware when you save, this is a public document. However, you do have the opportunity to limit your viewsers (Viewers who use your weblog).  
•Saving is not your last chance, there is a chance to edit and delete. 
 
 
Please use the comments link below to add your thoughts, worries, or questions. 
 
 
 

Posted by: bfurst