• 7 Things You Should Know About Blogs
• Blogging in Plain English

But why blog?

Especially, why blog if you’re an educator? Ed Technologist Martin Weller of Britain’s Open University says that blogging leads to “Increased reflection – keeping a regular blog seems to encourage a degree of reflection and critical analysis as you comment on conferences, workshops, research, etc.” I would add that the simple commitment of writing something–anything–helps us remember the joys (and frustrations) of writing, just as our students must.

Who blogs?

Just about anyone and everyone seems to blog. Because “blog” tends to be a term that includes any number of ways of tracking one’s life online, whether through a traditional blog or through a service like Facebook or MySpace or Twitter, there’s a whole lotta blogging going on.

What’s the “genre” of the blog?

Take a look at some of the blogs below. See if you can make some suppositions about who blogs,  why they blog, and what characterizes a blog.

• A Shrewdness of Apes
• Wil Wheaton in Exile
• Kevin’s Meandering Mind
• Jalopnik
• Huffington Post
• Rate Your Students
• Nathan Bransford – Literary Agent
• Shakesquill
• NCWP’s Summer Institute ’08 Blog
• Plastic and Plush
• Hegemony Rules
• English Education Professor
• When Cameron was in Egypt’s Land
• So Blessed I Could Scream
• Leg Before Wicket

Creating Your Own Blog

While any number of places online will host a blog for you, the Northern California Writing Project‘s blog hosting service may be a convenient option. It’s free. It’s easy. It’s powerful. It’s customizable.

Follow the picture guide to create your blog.

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