Technology Medley

Chances are excellent that if you’re reading this, you don’t need to read this! However, since I sometimes get questions from teachers about now to navigate a blog, I created a document with general instructions that I shared with the folks in my schools. I am well aware of how difficult it is for educators to keep with a multitude of papers and other resources they are given along with their very busy schedules, so I’m going to repost the information here. Hopefully, someone out there in cyberspace will find this helpful.

What is a blog? It started out simply as a log that was posted to the web. So, if you say “web log” quickly, it sounds like “blog.” I’m using my blog to communicate with the teachers in my 2 schools. You no longer need to try to keep up with emails or handouts that contain information you may need later on. You can just return to my blog page (http://blog.pamelgin.net) and search through the posts until you find the one you need

A blog is a very simple web page, but the readers can interact with the author by posting comments after any of the blog entries. Sometimes, whole conversations take place within these comment sections. Don’t hesitate to leave comments on any of my posts. I have this set so I have to approve comments before they actually show up though, so you may not see your comment immediately. You can also click on the comments links to see what other people have said.

To link to a blog, or to save it to your favorites, just choose the main blog address. For example, mine is http://blog.pamelgin.net. When you go to this web address, you will see the most recent post at the top. If you scroll down the page, you will see several other posts as well. But what if you want to see something that was written a few months ago? There are a couple of options in this case. In the right sidebar, you will see a list of categories. If you click on one of these categories, a page will appear that shows all of the posts that have been written about that particular category. So, for example, if you need some information about Accelerated Reader, you would click on the AR link. Underneath the Categories, you will see an Archives section. If you want to see what was posted earlier in the year, you click on one of the months and you’ll be taken to posts that were written in that particular month.

People add all sorts of extra things in the sidebars of their blogs called widgets. The blue box that contains handouts is an example of a widget. It actually links to another website where these handouts are stored

There is usually a Blogroll which is a list of links to other blogs that most likely are similar to the blog you are reading. There is often a Search textbox that allows you to search through all of the posts for a particular subject.

That’s about all there is to it! Blogs are very easy to create and maintain. If you’d like to create your own, let me know and I’ll help you get started!