Here’s the most comprehensive list of libraries using Weblogs that I’ve found yet, and the best part is that each section comes with its own RSS feed. Glad to see that Pat’s library and mine made the list.
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Every now and then my Google News search RSS feed for “school weblog” pops something semi-interesting into my aggregator, and today this is what showed up. It’s less about students blogging for educational purposes as it is about bloggers who happen to be students, but there was one part I thought was kind of relevant:

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi recently reminded Malaysians of the importance of mastering a good command of English for better competitiveness on the international stage. Now, more than ever, improving English language skills is high on the agenda.

While English lessons might a be slog during school time, creative writing in the form of a blog can prove to be a promising and interesting way for students to hone their reading and writing skills.

Some bloggers do not actually feel that blogs contribute at all to the development of English skills. Going back to basics, the blogger of Chong Hwa Lifestyle (chonghwa.blogspot.com) points out that there is no teacher to correct grammar and spelling mistakes.

I think I’m going to have to meet with the World Language teachers and get them blogging with their students in French or German or Spanish…Seems like a great way for them to practice their skills.

(Via JD Lasica) Since I’m immersed in the latest Lessig book “Free Culture,” (which is free for download, by the way,) I thought this piece in the Boston Globe was especially interesting. It’s a total shift to believe that giving your stuff away can actually increase sales of the traditional forms, but it certainly is the case with me. I bought Lessig’s book. And I’ve purchased the CDs of at least a dozen artists who I first heard through some p2p vehicle. Kind of flies in the fact of common sense, but I think for right now, despite the generation of mix and burners that are coming up, books and CDs and the like are just easier. I don’t particularly want to find all the songs, rip the CD, find the lyrics and liner notes, format them, print them, get the case…at some point it just gets easier to drive to my locally owned record shop to buy the darn thing. And even though I spend a large part of my life reading online, I still haven’t been able to replace the feel of a book in my hands, one that can hold all my jottings and ideas. Someday, when it becomes easier to annotate with a computer, I may make the switch. But then what will I do with all those shelves?

Will, I like the tone of this post — you write so well. This blogging-as-addiction concept will get lots of chuckles, some grudging acknowledgement of truth and probably some defensiveness from bloggers. In the four days since my blog’s birthday, I’ve been determined to “step out of the information flow” for a while. I don’t necessarily want to quit blogging outright…I just want to come up with a plan for continuing in a sustainable way, and for the right reasons. For me, that means reducing the time I spend reading and writing, identifying ways to apply the knowledge I’m gathering, and then actually spending more time creating and synthesizing.

Although I’ve managed to avoid posting, I haven’t been able to stay away from Bloglines, which feeds the desire to link and comment. There’s something about seeing new posts popping up in an aggregator that feels similar to getting e-mail from friends — a little thrill of connectedness and importance that simulates the sensation of all of those very smart people writing directly to me. It’s almost a physiological response for people who really value good ideas, want to connect to others with shared interests, and want to have an impact (be heard, be recognized). I’m starting to believe that the sense of community and intellectual stimulation in blogging are both largely artificial sensations. Actually, no, that’s not true — the sensations are as real as the highs in any addiction. I guess I’m just starting to wonder whether the benefits are “real”, and whether they balance out the considerable costs.

I just realized that there was a lesson plan to go along with today’s article in the Times about Weblogs.

In this lesson, students critique three Web logs, each of which offers first-hand accounts, but reflect different points-of-view, on the war in Iraq. They then write a response to one of the entries and analyze what they learned about the war from the blogs.

And I like the follow up questions they ask:

–What makes a “bloggable moment” for you?
–Do you think constant blogging indicates signs of an unhealthy obsession or spirited pastime? Why?
–What makes another person’s blog worth reading?
–By what “rules” do you think fellow bloggers should abide and why?
–Do you think most bloggers intend to have conversations with themselves, or intend to communicate their thoughts widely? Why might that matter to a blogger?

Looks like a great introduction for students and teachers to use in the classroom.

The New York Times takes an in depth look at the psychosis of blogging, and I’m afraid to say that it cuts a little to close to home.

Where some frequent bloggers might label themselves merely ardent, Mr. Pierce is more realistic. “I wouldn’t call it dedicated, I would call it a problem,” he said. “If this were beer, I’d be an alcoholic.”

Well, maybe not that close to home. I mean I did manage to go for three whole days without posting when I was on my wet and rainy outdoor adventure last weekend. And I swear I was only shaking from the chill, not withdrawal. Really. I’m serious.

A couple of people have asked me recently how much time I spend doing this stuff and I sheepishly mumble something like “more than I should” or “too much.” But I also take comfort in the fact that there ain’t too much navel gazing going on here, and that every now and then someone lands in my in-box sharing their classroom blogging experiences or asking questions. I doubt that would happen if I was writing about the way it’s taken two weeks to clear the Wild Rose and weeds off this pitched slope behind our house and how it took four truckloads of mulch to prep it for planting this ground cover stuff that looks like a bad haircut and…you get the idea. And frankly, I don’t really get the blog as personal journal/daily travails thing anyway. I still like paper for that stuff.

But golly, you read the Times piece and you’d think that we’re all a bunch of self-obsessed geeks who climb into our closets with our laptops for a regular fix at the expense of our families, colleagues and even countrymen.

I really take exception to the last one.

Note: This seems to be one of those flaky Manila posts where comments don’t work. Click here to read Jeremy’s response.
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Ken’s getting requests for blog training. I’d say he’s worried.

Will there be a special circle of hell for those who teach others how to blog? What would the punishment be? I’m guessing that one would sit in front of a screen every waking moment and only see entries like this one on every site one visited: If you only read one post about llamas this year, read this one.

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(via Jeremy) I’m happy to see Helen Barrett has started a Weblog. She is one of the best resources for e-portfolios out there, and I’m hoping her interest in blogs might lead her to explore how the two might work together.

Welcome to my first entry into the world of blogging. I’m not sure I can get into the habit of posting to a web log on a regular basis, but I want to give it a try, since this looks like a technology that is being used in reflective portfolios.

I had a sabbatical leave a few years ago to study electronic student portfolios and she was very helpful in my research. I’m going to have to add her to my Bloglines list, which by the way, has been growing much too quickly lately…I’m up to 80 edubloggers. May need to do some paring down at some point…
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So this is good news…right?

Gates called blogging and the RSS Web content syndication service a “very interesting phenomenon.” He suggested that by using RSS as notification system, customers can “get the information you want when you want it.”

Substitute “parents,” “teachers,” “students” etc. for “customers” and at least Weblogs as school communications tool looks promising.

Tom has been reading the end of the year wrap ups from blogging teachers and the reports are obviously not good.

It is a little painful reading the trickle of end of semester recap posts coming the self-selected early adopters of classroom weblogging. It’ll get very interesting when the trickle becomes a flood. Will the negative cases overwhelm the positive? Will we collectively learn or just get discouraged?

Will the trickle become a flood? Are we just barking up the wrong tree with all of this? Will we still be at it in two years? Five? Ten?

Last year I was thinking blogs in the classroom were at the tipping point. But Joe Luft, who was one of the early adopters of Weblogs, was a bit more even headed in suggesting this was going to be a long road, one that faced a number of hurdles; access, time, risk averse teachers and students…and more. Pat Delaney, one of the earliest adopters, has really reigned in his enthusiasm as well, saying “the bloom is off the blog” at one point. And my own results this year have been a mixture of some really great moments and a majority of fairly average experiences.

But the thing is there have been enough moments to keep me interested. And I have a handful of teachers who are interested too because their students are showing signs of learning more effectively with the use of Weblogs. They articulate argument in writing, they synthesize what they have read and discussed, and they research more effectively when they are asked to annotate sources and information. Not that any of that can’t be done with a Weblog, and not that it’s happening across the board. But the dynamic has changed enough to be significant, and they want to continue to experiment. None of them have given up. That’s a good sign.

And then there’s Anne, who sees successes every day with her younger kids. Is she wrong when she says “The building of a community through weblogs is exhilarating. It’s truly the best way to learn.” And that’s the thing. For Anne, and for me, this has become one of our greatest learning experiences. And that in itself is motivation enough to keep looking at ways to make this work in the classroom. Will it work for enough teachers and students to make it worth continuing our collective efforts? I guess we’ll see. But I do know that a) there is a great deal of untested potential left in these tools, b) it’s still relatively early in the blogs in schools narrative, and c) I’m still learning.

Blogging is work. Despite its relative ease of use, it’s still a challenge because of all of the reasons and shifts we talk about in this community almost every day. We don’t have time. We don’t all like the transparency that blogs create. Early adoption is a risk. And on and on. But there’s nothing different here than with any other new technology or process. If Tom had comments, I’d ask him if he’s going to give up on all those programs that he’s struggling with, that he sees potential for but that rise up and kick him in the butt from time to time. It’s messy by its very nature. But by blogging his failures he’s making the chances of success greater since he’s sharing what he has learned. Teachers are doing that too. And I think on some level our collective experience is translating into greater learning for our students.

No, not me. I’ve learned to take it slowly at my school as that’s what is required. But Gil Chapman of Galloway Township (NJ) Schools has some major Manila plans.

Judging by the response so far we should have about a thousand blogs up and running by mid-point of next year. This will really prove to be an interesting experiment.

Sounds like me last year. I wish him luck, and it will be interesting to see if the realities of public school implementation play out differently for him. I keep watching Pat too as he slowly builds his school sites. From what I know now, I think the adoption by request model combined with some gentle nudging has gotten better results.

For instance, I’m going to go around to our sending districts this summer and train all the Social Studies teachers how to use the articulation site we’ve been building. (It needs a little sprucing up, I know.) And our work on our Website continues which, when completed, will hopefully get even more teachers involved. It’s a slower process than I would have liked, but it’s moving forward, and that’s what’s important at this juncture.
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I’ll be out of blog for the next few days as I join a bunch of my college buddies for a three-day, two night float down the Saco River in Maine. The weather is iffy, the mosquitoes are probably going to be nasty, and this morning it was 39 degrees…paradise awaits. (BTW, we do have a blog for this event, but I would surely lose every ounce of respect I may have by linking it here…) Back on Tuesday, with any luck.
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(via Ray Schroeder) In light of my weekend at I-Law, I’m not surprised at the news that 53 percent of kids admit to downloading music even though 88 percent of them know its protected by copyright. But what did surprise even me was this:

But only 18 percent of the students surveyed said they learned about copyright law from a teacher or other educator.

That’s just amazing. And as I said the other day, it’s indicative of the changes that we need to make in our classrooms when it comes to helping kids understand and manage everything that the Internet means, from research to news gathering to p2p to community. In my perfect school, it’s a mandatory course on Information and Internet Literacy covering media and blogs and p2p and all that stuff. But that means that more and more teachers need to become literate in these areas too, and in turn, they need to model effective an appropriate use. This quote could have come out of my mouth, too:

“I believe students understand the concept of copyright, but have few models of appropriate behavior to follow,” said Jim Hirsch, associate superintendent for technology at the Plano Independent School District in Texas. “Xeroxing of printed works, videotaping, ‘TiVo’-ing, ripping CDs, scanning, et cetera, are all techniques used in the workplace and at home by adults–which provides the illusion of appropriate use.”

Maybe it’s a course kids could take WITH their parents…

Had a visit from Jeff Jarvis yesterday, blogger extraordinaire and Blogger Con alum, and we threw around some ideas about using my school’s communications program and some local entities to create a framework for producing local news and feature content for the Web. It’s a great idea, and if it works, it’ll give me a chance to do some blogvangelism to my own physical community, which would be very cool. And, I’ve been talking about local blogging ideas with Warren Buckleitner who is the editor of the Children’s Software Review and the founder of Mediatech, which is a local walk-in computer center above our public library. (He’s got the coolest project running tomorrow and Saturday, by the way…a 33-hour flight sim to commemorate the 77th anniversary of Lindbergh’s trip across the Atlantic “piloted” by a group of local students.)

There are so many possibilities for getting people involved in this that it’s mind boggling. I would be too much fun to work with Jeff and Warren and others to create a real local blogging, videoblogging, moblogging, whateverelseblogging community out here in beautiful (and I mean that) western New Jersey. Now, if I could just find where they keep the “I can make it on three hours of sleep a night” formula…
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Time, ESPN, E-mail…what could be next to make it to the feed trough? Actually, that’s probably something I don’t want to think about too long…

Most interesting in all of this to me is the “Top Rated Time Covers” feed. Like, how often is that going to change???
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