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Helping students to cultivate the skills needed for writing is often about cultivating a love of writing. Every student needs to be able to express themselves clearly, concisely and intelligently, whatever they are going to end up doing in later life. "The best way to help them develop those skills is to make writing personal and give them a vested interest in communication. Blogs have become one of the most popular website formats in recent years. Blogging websites have become the essential ways for many people to broadcast their personal stories, challenges and insights. This has created both a new generation of budding writers as well as a generation with a keen interest in the stories of others. Blogging offers an immersive experience. Students are simply encouraged to begin a blog chronicling their life story or a subject that ignites their interest. That's when the skills are picked up and developed as a matter of course. The initial blogging assignment should be simple, but at the same time offer a bit of a challenge." Post offers some useful advice about blogging.

While there are still some educators who dispute the importance of technology in the classroom, there is no dispute over the fact that technology is here to stay in schools. Whether you are one of those tech-savvy teachers who can't get enough of technology news and ideas or you are a teacher just learning to embrace technology in the classroom, these blogs offer a wealth of information straight from teachers and other professionals in the education field themselves.

Blogging with students - stepping it up to blogging-commenting

This site was nominated for an Edublog Award. Has very specific entries that are relevant for the classroom teacher. Focus may be for primary students but concepts seem easy to transform for Years 7 - 10 students.

LANGWITCHES' Blog contains thoughts, ideas and projects on my journey as a Technology Integration Facillitator. My name is Silvia Tolisano. I was born in Germany, raised in Argentina and am living in the United States. I hold a Bachelor's Degree in Spanish with a Minor in International Studies and a Masters in Education with an emphasis in Instructional Technology. My areas of interest include technology in the classroom and multicultural and global education.

Technology tools are being brought into classroom to enhance learning experiences and engage students. All teachers need expand on the set of rules to their classroom to help students understand appropriate behaviors and use of these technologies. The rules suggested in this post give students the freedom to use these new tools without abusing the privilege.

Post from @medkh9 "Digital citizenship is a key component of the technology and media literacy. We should not only teach our students how to be  good citizens in the real physical world  but how they can be good netizens of the online world  as well.Today's learning requires alot of use of technology and most imprtant of all, our students are using technology on a daily basis- text messaging, blogging, Facebooking, Twittering, watching videos, gaming and networking. They live in two different but interconnected worlds. What they do online can have a severe repercussions on their real life if not properly instructed on digital safety issues and this is where digital citizenship fits in."

@kathleen_morris post "There is no denying that students get a lot more out of blogging when they receive comments. Comments provide feedback, encouragement, advice, positive reinforcement, learning, conversation and new ways of thinking among other things. I have been blogging with my class and I have learnt that there are some tips for attracting comments to your blog.."

From the Educational Technology & Mobile Learning blog "Enokson has created for us a kind of road map containing all the major critical thinking skills we need to know about. He put these skills into an image that you can download from Flicker. Here his image has been turned it into an infographic-like embeddable HTML code to use on your website or blog. Check the code below if you want to embed it on your blog but please if you are to use this link anywhere else online make sure to pay credit to Enokson.

Some universities are beginning to focus on a big-picture view of technology: making learning resources available in multimedia, integrating technology from design to delivery, using mobile technologies, and increased focus on network pedagogy. Blackboard (and LMS' in general) have been able to present the message that "you need an LMS to do blended and online learning". To counter this view, the edupunk/DIY approach to learning has produced an emphasis on personal learning environments and networks.

"Even if the technological progress gap between 2000 and 2010 was enormous, there is almost zero evidence that it has made an impact on education. Yeah, I know. "Blogging changed your life. Your PLN saved you from social isolation…" Social media just doesn't feel that new to me and I challenge you to argue that it has had more than an infinitesimal impact on classroom practice."

Nice blog article that reflects on the past decade, without getting lost in the next.

A review of free technology resources and how teachers can use them. Ideas for technology integration in education.

Article summarizing recent finding that shows students using technology especially for writing have better core literacy skills. "Children who blog, text or use social networking websites are more confident about their writing skills: - The National Literacy Trust.

Piece about how the "new, free and shiny technologies are like catnip to educators. An almost-tangible frisson of excitement cascades through Twitter, Facebook and subsequently staff rooms and TeachMeets in the hours, days and months following announcements of such products and services". However "It's the considered and sustainable use of technologies that make a difference".

blog meant to help teachers create and maintain paperless classrooms. In addition, our community regularly posts and comments on all aspects of paperless, digital, and technological culture as it relates to education.

Blogging is relatively new, with little research to support its academic benefits, so Bachenheimer's study is an eye-opener.

"Students created short movies to address particular behaviors, emphasizing the importance of correcting those behaviors. This video is a compilation of their work to educate everyone on technology etiquette."

This video has may be worth showing to Middle School students in terms of Etiquette and the use of some technologies.

This presentation is simply designed to remove the mysteries associated with recently developed Internet technologies such as blogging, wikis, swickis and podcasting. the presentation will also explore current trends in read~write technologies such as "mashups".

websites are good for providing a static resource of information, blogs are good for frequent updates and communication, and a wiki is great for collaborating on the creation of a reference site. For the teacher who wants to create a website, here are ten good platforms to try.

"Creating Digital Comics has been one of my favorite thing to do with students when trying to integrate technology. While this can be done with any number of applications, such as Comic Life or Toon Boom, there are many online alternatives (mostly free) that offer a nice solution as well."

From Tips, Tools and Technology for Educators blog