Viewing Other Blogs

Blog Number One: http://raigmore.edublogs.org/



Likes: Green color bars with a black font that serves as headlines for new topics gave this blog an appealing appearance. The blog looks like a newsletter....brief, but informative to parents and students. I loved the photo display of a class that made bridges. Students themselves contributed blogs. Great!

Dislike: It took awhile to load the student artwork, but it wonderful to see! The blog format did not vary. The older posts looked just like the current ones.





Blog Number Two: http://blog.whps.org/mack



Likes: What a great way to communicate to students and parents about upcoming assignments, long term projects, and post student work! I appreciated the eye catching colored text used to emphasize important features. I was really impressed with the side bar that had numerous links to related social studies topics as well as student work.


Dislike: There were no student posts. This blog was strictly used by the classroom teacher to post her assignments and grading expectations.




Blog Number Three: http://misterb.globalstudent.org.au/about-mr-b


Likes: I enjoyed reading a blog from Australia! The teacher wrote a simple bio about himself and a nice invitation to other classrooms around the world to communicate with his class through blogs. I read several of those blogs, too, mostly from students.


Dislikes: This teacher had a lot of links to sites that supported his curriculum, but some were a little more time consuming to get into than others. I had to take time to type my name, e-mail address, and a password. I appreciated that he let his class contribute to the site with their own blogs, but some were very lengthy, it was difficult to read the color font they chose, and some of the graphics were extremely large.



Blog Number Four: http://areallydifferentplace.org/



Like: I enjoyed a few of the links, especially in the area of archeology. I discovered a nice one that I will be able to use in my class this year.

Dislikes: This blog did not keep my attention. The teacher wrote all of the blogs and the wording was long winded. Some of her posts were about topics that did not interest me, like what color of paint to choose to paint a room in her house. As far as the appearance of the blog page, it was plain. The background was white with a black font. There was no attempt to make it visually appealing. I noticed advertisements in the side bar. Is this common? It was distracting to me.



Blog Number Five: http://blogit.globalteacher.org.au

Likes: This blog is a great opportunity for students to expand their understanding of the world beyond the classroom walls and experience, to some degree, different cultures. I loved the student artwork depecting a Japanese emperor and princess!

Dislikes: It was difficult for me to read this blog. The teacher selected a light tan background, the font was a light color, and a very small font was used. The side bars had helpful links, but a mixture of large and extremely small fonts were used in one sentence. This made it very distracting to read. I also found it very difficult to scroll down the page. It advanced very slowly.