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Why should I use EduBlogs in my classroom?

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Why should I use EduBlogs in my classroom?

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A short video that explains various features and benefits EduBlogs has to offer.

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The World's most popular education blogging service... Edublogs lets you easily create & manage student & teacher blogs, quickly customize designs and include videos, photos & podcasts - it's safe, easy and secure so try out an Edublog today!

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EduBlogs has an app available for free on iTunes that can be used on iPhones or iPads

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EduBlogs has an app available for free on iTunes that can be used on iPhones or iPads

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Your students can literally blog from anywhere and at anytime.

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1.  Share materials, news, downloads, links, and more
2.  Facilitate online discussions and collaborations
3.  Create a class publication that students can easily publish to and you can easily edit
4.  Replace your newsletter and stay in touch with parents about what is going on in class
5.  Get your students blogging so that they can share their work and thoughts
6.  Share your lesson plans
7.  Integrate videos, podcasts, and other media
8.  Create blogs for clubs, student groups, events, sports teams, or just about any type of group
9.  Get feedback or gather information
10.  Create a fully functional website

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Step by step YouTube video on how to get started.

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A quick tutorial showing how to create an Edublogs account and start a blog. It's quick, easy, and free - go ahead and give it a try! This tutorial is featured on EmergingEdTech.com, in the post: "Two easy ways for educators and students to start a blog (for free)" [URL: http://www.emergingedtech.com/2010/09/two-easy-ways-for-educators-and-students-to-start-a-blog-for-free/].

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Click Here To Create Your EduBlog Account

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Click Here To Create Your EduBlog Account

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The link below can be assessed for a desktop version.  Click the link to set up a free account or go to edublogs.org

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Share, collaborate, build, and learn.

Teacher Friendly

Use our easy invite codes and class management tools to get started. And most importantly, it's free!

Student
Safe

Our content filters, moderation options, and multiple privacy tools keep everyone safe.

Learning Centered

Leave private teacher feedback, easily embed videos and other work, and build community.

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Share, collaborate, build, and learn. Use our easy invite codes and class management tools to get started. And most importantly, it's free! Our content filters, moderation options, and multiple privacy tools keep everyone safe. Leave private teacher feedback, easily embed videos and other work, and build community.

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Edudemic includes EduBlogs as one of the best interactive web tools available for educators.

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Edudemic includes EduBlogs as one of the best interactive web tools available for educators.

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Another Awesome Example of EduBlogs At Work

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Another Awesome Example of EduBlogs At Work

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Mr. Bailey is a high school American Literature teacher.  He has a wonderful example to follow.

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Directions: answer each of the three constructed response prompts below. Be sure to use specific examples and to cite textual evidence.

Prompt 1
In literature, as in life, the death of an individual profoundly affects the livesof others. From the novels, short stories, full-length plays, and poems you have read, choose a work in which a character's death has a profound effect on another character. Identify both the character who dies and the character who is deeply affected by the death, but focus your constructed response on the surviving character. Using specific references to the work, explain how the surviving character reacts to the death, the way he or she changes as a result of this loss, and the importance of the character's death to the overall work.

Prompt 2

If you could spend a day with a person you have read about or seen in a movie, who would that person be? How would you spend your day with that person?
Write a coonstructed response in which you explain how you would spend your day with this person and why it would be so special. Include detailed descriptions and explanations to support your ideas.

Prompt 3

American voter turnout is often less than 50% on national elections. How would you explain this low turnout and what would you do to reverse this trend? Write a constructed response that addresses both parts of this prompt.

Argumentative Essay

Currently, there is a global debate about the competing claims to rightful ownership of many ancient artifacts and treasures. Many times, for a variety of reasons, such objects are housed in museums in countries other than the country where the treasures were discovered or made. If the country of origin decides that it wants a museum to return these treasures, does a museum ever have a right to refuse that request? Some people feel that refusing such a request is truly cultural theft. Others, however, argue that there are cases when the museum, not the nation, has a stronger right to ownership.
Weigh the claims on both sides, and then write an argumentative essay, in your own words, supporting one side of the debate in which you argue EITHER that museums must return cultural treasures to their country of origin if that country requests it OR that museums do sometimes have a right to deny those requests.

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Directions: answer each of the three constructed response prompts below. Be sure to use specific examples and to cite textual evidence. Prompt 1 In literature, as in life, the death of an individual profoundly affects the livesof others.

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As a new secondary education ELA teacher, I am looking for the best opportunities to encourage my students to write, write, and write some more!!! Social media forums, such as Facebook and Twitter, have basically made blogging second nature for our students. EduBlogs is a Web 2.0 Tool that allows you to create a forum that can be used for just your own class, the entire school, or as public/private as you would like to make it.

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Mrs. McNally is a high school ELA teacher that puts use to EduBlogs.  Check out how she has used the Web 2.0 Tool.

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Holy, cow! It's already November. It feels like only a few weeks ago I was beginning this crazy journey at Beaver Local High School. The 2015-2016 school year marks my seventh year as a public school teacher, but eighth total year teaching. I thought that by year seven, I had found my groove, but switching from WV to Ohio has been enough to push me out of my groove and into orbit. That's not necessarily a bad thing, as I am still totally out of my comfort zone (see my last post about the goal of breaking out of the comfort zone). But I am feeling a lot like the hamster on the week. My little legs are pumping and pumping, but I'm not always getting ahead of the rat race.

I haven't taught the literature I am teaching to my students this year since 2008 during my student teaching. We have come a long way since 2008, so I don't really have anything from then and I have been creating everything I'm using from scratch. This material creation has been exhausting, but so worth while. I have been pushing myself to think creatively on every single assignment. I have been pushing myself out of the box and I'm really enjoying the results I'm seeing from my students.

My sophomores just finished reading Antigone and my Seniors are about half way through with Beowulf. The first time I taught these difficult texts, my students really struggled. I remember teaching these the way my advising teacher did during my student teaching, and the students were checked out. This time around, I have worked hard to bring the text to life and it shows in the knowledge, understanding, and appreciation my students have shown of these texts. A coworker showed me the website Kahoot It. I have been using that to help us review. A student actually asked to take the test last week because he was so confident in his understanding of Antigone. That's something that has never happened in my career. I know when I give these kids the formal test, they're going to nail it because of the hard work I put into the planning stages of teaching. I typically revamp and create some new material as I go along, but I haven't started from scratch like this since my first year. I challenge you to throw your old material out and start fresh. It will bring a new and great perspective to the classroom.

My new school has a 1-1 initiative. Every kid has an iPad. Some take their iPads home, and some keep them in their 7th period teacher's room. Because of this initiative, I'm so excited to start blogging this week. We will begin by student creation on Thursday of this week. I plan to let the students create and experiment with their blog on Thursday and Friday. By Friday they will have to have an About Me Section on their page.

Stop back and check out our blogs next week! I'm so excited to get my kids writing and blogging.

Categories: Uncategorized

We are all guilty of over enjoying the comforts in life. We want the most comfortable bed, shoes, clothes, and car. We equate comfort with quality of life. When I first heard the idea that the greatest things in life happen outside of your comfort zone, I was a bit confused. Don't we work our whole lives to achieve comfort? Why would great things happen when I'm uncomfortable? I didn't really get it, but I'm not typically a risk taker. I've never climbed the face of a cliff. I panic at the thought of purging my material items and living in a trendy "tiny house." I don't have the need for speed, and I picked my car for safety and comfort over style ad fashion. Leave me in my comfortable bed while you risk life and limb in search of magic. I'll like your dangerous-feet-hanging-out-of-the-airplane picture on Instagram while snuggling with my puppy and sipping chamomile tea.

Then I started thinking about risks and comfort zones within the classroom, and I realized I'm actually a risk taker! Stacy McNally may fear the risks in life, but Mrs. McNally will do anything it takes to improve and make learning fun. Mind. Blown. I'm not afraid to stand on a desk and sing a song I wrote about properly answering text dependent questions. I'm not afraid to send my kids on a scavenger hunt throughout the school for pieces of a puzzle to create the perfect thesis. I'm not afraid to start blogging with my students when all the other teachers in my building are still writing traditional essays. I'm not afraid to dress like a puritan woman and walk through the halls during class change to get my kids excited about what we are doing in class. I have certainly failed when taking risks. When I dress in costume and walk with (okay, maybe chase) my students down the hallway, they are mortified to know me. They call me crazy, but they are excited to come to class.

I spent the last six years of my career teaching in West Virginia. When we added twin baby boys to our family, being away from home didn't feel right to my husband or me any more. We needed our children to be raised with family. My husband started his job search first to bring us home. He was a police officer, so we thought he would have a tougher time finding the right job. We thought wrong. Within a month, my husband had landed an amazing job and was set to begin at the start of the year. It was one thing to talk about making this huge jump and moving back to my hometown. It was another to actually do it! I started getting my portfolio ready to present to a future employer. I filed my paperwork for Ohio certification, and eventually I had an interview at my dream school. I was hired and I will start teaching at Beaver Local High School in a few weeks. They have a 1-1 initiative which will allow each student to have their own iPad. Their new K-12 School is the most innovative school in the state (and I would venture to say country). I am so excited to begin this new journey.

Since beginning this transition to come back home, I have told myself over and over, "The magic happens outside of your comfort zone." I have taken this risk in uprooting my family and career with the faith that magic will happen. I am confident that my new school will allow me to blossom into a greater teacher than I could ever have imagined. I'm determined to continue to push myself until I am making magic in my students' lives every single day. I believe it will happen. If you're interested in seeing my journey to the magic, subscribe. I will keep you posted on the highs and lows of teaching outside of my comfort zone.

Categories: Tags: Life Lessons, Blogging, comfort zone, costumes, magic, risk taking, singing, teaching, text dependent questions Teaching

This morning, after dropping my twins off at the babysitter's, I was walking to my car when a neighbor was walking past with his dog. He was frowning and didn't look very happy to be out and about at 7am. He glanced over at me and I greeted him with a smile and a bright, "Good morning!" I didn't think much of it, as it's a pretty standard procedure for me to greet anyone I see. As I pulled out of the driveway and went along my way, I had to drive past the man. This time, I noticed he was smiling from ear to year. A few moments before that, he had looked miserable. Had my smile and words changed his perspective?

I attended a small college of national distinction in the hills of West Virginia- Bethany. What struck me about Bethany when I toured as a high school senior was that everyone seemed so happy. Professors welcomed us into their classes to show us experiments they were working on (I still remember the fruit flies and how the professor explained their breeding habits although I have long forgotten his name). Students smiled and said hello as we passed through the corridors of Old Main. Everyone made eye contact and greeted you with a smile as you passed. I actually wondered out loud if they had placed these people just for the tour, but our guide assured me that was just how people acted in that cheery little town. People were just generally nice and kind. Although this wasn't my only reason for choosing to attend Bethany College, it did influence my decision. Bethany's outlook on strangers also changed the way I went about my day for the rest of my life.

I always say hello and good morning when I pass colleagues in the halls. It's funny to me how many people will put their head down and not acknowledge someone passing just feet away from them. I'm as guilty as anyone for getting caught up in my own troubles and problems, but sometimes one little interaction can change your whole perspective. If I'm having a rough morning, a bright greeting from a colleague may change my mood and leave me walking away with a smile. It's only fair that I give that back whenever I can.

I try to greet as many of my students as I can by name in the hallways with a hello, a smile, and a question about how their English class is going this semester. Some of my students seem mortified that their teacher spoke to them in front of friends, but most leave walking away with a big smile. I hope they pass that smile and kindness on to someone else as they go. I really believe that a kind word can change a day for the better, like a harsh word can send a day into a downward spiral. I believe niceness matters.

I really have no idea if it was my words that perked the man up this morning, or if he was just amused by something his dog did. But it really made me remember that a simple greeting and a smile can change a person's world.

Categories: Tags: Life Lessons kindness, life, niceness, smile

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Holy, cow! It's already November. It feels like only a few weeks ago I was beginning this crazy journey at Beaver Local High School. The 2015-2016 school year marks my seventh year as a public school teacher, but eighth total year teaching.