New girl on the blogging block

I’d heard about blogs – I’d been to conferences where blogging had been a focus of particular lectures but I’d never really got into them. I had an idea that they were some kind of online diary – which is possibly true for some but not all

… and now I’m hooked

So what won me over?

Well first my colleague Nicky showed me how to create an account on Blogger.com – which is a free blog space. It was easy, instantly satisfying and I was inspired to want to create a blog of my own. Though not immediately clear what that blog should be or do.

Next I re-read Alan Parkinson’s article in Teaching Geography which helped me to understand a little more about what blogs are and how they can support geography. I then clicked onto his website:

http://www.geoblogs.blogspot.com/

and began to look at the recommended sites that Alan has included on his website.

I particularly liked:

Geography: My Place and Yours

… in which secondary head of geography, Val Vannett, talks to her students through her Blog.

http://gmpay.blogspot.com/


I liked the personal and chatty style and the choice of activities/ places on the web that she suggests her pupils might undertake or visit.

I thought that many primary teachers would get lots of ideas for creative approaches to geography from this blogsite and that it might provide inspiration for things to try in a primary classroom.