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10 ways to a killer blog is a great slide-show that has 15 very handy and very simple tips for creating an effective blog. It is nice to read something that gives such simple and easy to understand tips. I liked number 5 Admit Your Mistakes-it is so important for your blog to be truthful as well as reflective.

What really struck me was the last slide;

The future belongs to the geeks-no one else wants it!

It is so true that today there can be a tendency in the classroom for those who understand technology to be consider geeky and uncool, but i think we can all recognise that this is the way of the future. It is teachers job to make all their children ‘geeks’, to help them become tech-savvy and computer literate. Being a geek implies that students are comfortable around technology, they feel free to experiment and understand the basics. When they leave school there is no doubt most of them will be required to use computers or technology in their jobs and in their life. Those who are comfortable in this medium will certainly go far.

I know I have already posted some blogs on why it is useful for students to blog and the research supporting the use of blogs.  Now I have some real peoples experience I want to add.  I have just read Twittering with Sue Walters and wanted to read why other teachers blog. I have shamelessly admitted that I only started this blog as an assignment, but lo and behold I may have really gotten something out of it! In Share your blog experince bloggers were asked the following questions

• Where you blog and how long you have been blogging for?
• Why you blog? How does it benefit you or your work?
• How blogging has helped your students and how long have you been blogging with students (if applicable)
• Why you feel blogging is important
• What are the 3 most important tips you would share with a new blogger?

I was amazed at the diversity of answers especially to question two and three. The final question was of course the most informative. Many bloggers expressed the need to be yourself and let blogs flow naturally. They stressed that your blog voice will evolve, I can’t believe how much easier blogging has become with time and I wish I read these tips when I first started blogging. Another common tip was consistency and keeping the blogs flowing. Many thought it was more important to have short, frequent blogs .

I have just read Hayley’s very insightful post on the benefits of students using blogs. She explained that students could use blogs to publish their work and express their thoughts and feelings. Blogs can also be thought of as the 21st century answer to the journal and could be a valuable way of students to learn computer and literacy  skills and to express their thoughts and opinions. Blogging can be a valuable way for all students to think creatively and can help students reach a global audience and develop a greater sense of pride and recognition in all area of school. 

I then listened to a podcast from edna education which talked about how educators and adults can use blogs. While there was a huge variety of reasons for this it seems  most educators are using blogs to connect and devleop a sense of community, share ideas, support each other & to voice opinions.