Widgets Revisited

Widgets are small, customizable applications that can be added to your blog to make it more personal, interesting, or visually appealing to viewers.  Edublogs has its own widgets that you can use, however, there are also thousands around the web for you to try.
These are especially important as your students start to use your blog for class assignments!  Think of widgets as the equivalent to a lesson's "hook" --they grab the attention of your students, or in this case, viewers.

Here are some of my favorite widgets outside of Edublogs.  My suggestion is to use a "junk" email when signing up to use some of these!

Feedjit: This is a widget that can be added to blogs and wikis, or personal sites to track viewers and count views.  This is especially motivating for students- they realize they have an authentic audience that is not just their teachers and parents.  It is also helpful to blog owners-- see the visitors of your site! This allows for a great geography mini-lesson.

Clustrmaps: This is a similar widget, but in population map form.  See where your visitors are located...again, another great time for a geography mini-lesson!

BrainPOP: This website also has a few great widgets!  BrainPOP has embeddable videos, and small widgets that can decorate your page.