Blogging with Ms. Nichols

I’m an occasional blogger. I aspire to be a more consistant, reliable blogger with a lot of followers. The only way that I’m going to do that is to just sit down and write on a blog every day. I think that some people think that the hardest thing about blogging is figuring out what to write. For me, it’s about figuring out how to say what I want to say without horrifying my mother.

I’ve decided to participate in the free professional development blogging challenge offered here: Teacher Challenge

Here are 10 things that you can do with a blog:

1. Classroom Blog: I think that blogging is a great way to get your students writing. So great, in fact, that I’m doing my graduate research on Blogging Across the Curriulum. Check out my research website and blog. Edublogs.org is a great site for educational blogging but there are others out there too. Kidblog.org is a great site that really makes blogging simple. I find it especially suitable for the elemenatary classroom.

2. Journaling: Use your blog as an online journal! You could even be anonymous if your life is so spicy that you can’t use your real name. Here’s my online journal, which I admittedly neglect:  My Real World

3. Online Scrapbook: Use your blog to make a scrapbook for yourself or your child. Here’s an example of my online scrapbook for my daughter: www.whatsdebidoing.blogspot.com. My daughter Debi is 19 and hates me for this.

4. Hobbys: Blogging is a great way to document your hobby. I like to follow blogs by illustrators. Here’s an example of one blog I follow. Or document your Second Life, if you have one: http://mysterionvichan.blogspot.com/

5. Professional Blog: This blog is an example of a professional blog. Andrea Nichols Nation. I use it soley for the purpose of communicating with other educators. There are lots of other teachers who do this and I follow many of them in my Google Reader.

6. Photo Blog: My sister-in-law has a new camera, a beautiful little boy and a great blog. She posts beautiful pictures and has “linked up” with a lot of similar moms who like to photograph. They compete in friendly challenges each day and publish the results. Check out her blog at: Live Every Moment

7. Humor: I like funny blogs. One of my favorite blogs is Wait in the Van. I follow both her blog and her twitter account. She is equally funny and audiacious, but great reading. Her blog can be found at:

8. Story: Tell your story, everyone’s got one. A blog that I love to follow began with this beautiful, now famous, blog post. I don’t want to tell you any more about it, in fear that I will ruin it for you, but it’s really worth the read. Kelle Hampton

9.  Loose Weight: Last year I lost a bunch of weight by blogging. Seriously. I used the FREE website www.sparkpeople.com. Among other things, this site offers a “sparkpage” where you can socialize with other dieters and also blog, both text blog, or video blog. Here’s a link to my spark page: Spark ME: msnichols39 And here’s a link to one of my video blogs: Squander No More

10. Run the Country: Hey even the President has a blog. www.whitehouse.gov/blog

Blogging isn’t just writing these blog posts, it’s also commenting on other’s blogposts. Here’s a comment prompt:

Have you decided to start a blog? If so, where is it? Give me a link and I’ll come visit your site and comment!

Have you already been blogging? Good for you? I’d love to visit your blog.