Song Playlist Gadget for Blogs

I'm a big fan of using songs in the classroom to teach pronunciation, rhythm, and vocabulary, so I was very excited to discover this gadget to attach to my blog. It comes from Playlist.com and allows the user to put a music player into his/her blog, website, facebook, or just about anywhere else on the internet - and it's free!

I put one of my favorites on the list, Kenny Rogers' 'The Gambler', which I've actually got a lesson plan for on this site. Unfortunately, I couldn't find another popular one for lower level students, called 'Sing' by Karen Carpenter. Nevertheless, check out all the songs and this gadget/widget. You may find that you like it well enough to put it on your own blog.

Working with Widgets

You may recall that in an earlier post last year, I happily announced that I had discovered 'widgets' and had placed a clock on my blog. Now I'm unhappy to report that my clock has disappeared. I'm not sure what happened to it. My unverified explanation is that the site that allowed me to download the clock for free no longer supports that particular widget clock. (It also disappeared from my wiki.) I have, therefore, removed my timepiece and will be searching for a new gadget to replace it.

Cleaning up my blog and adding a clock

There is always a choice when it comes to working on my blog. Being a neophyte at this (thus everything takes me ten times longer than a savvier blogger would), I'm in a constant battle with myself. Should I just focus on content, or should I invest more time now trying to organize what I've already written and make my growing number of entries easier to find and access?

A few weekends ago, I did reorganize my blog, adding a directory and labels to my posts. Another modification was the addition of Twitter, which simply encourages me to make a habit of pausing and taking stock of what I'm thinking or doing.

Today I hid my archive which may bother people trying to find an August 2007 post, for example, but I'm trying to get a handle on best use of the navigation panel space. Since I show five posts per page now, it's easy to see the most recent additions. I haven't learned yet how to show only part of a post so that a reader can choose to read a long entry or move quickly on to the next one.

This year is the first time I've used the calendar with my Cambridge students, and some of the CAE students say it's really nice to have the homework posted here. They've even asked if I could put up homework assignment reminders for their Tues-Thurs teacher (which I now also do).

Today I added a clock to my blog which I hope readers find useful and even thought-provoking. I tend to lose track of time when I'm visiting a site. Our lives these days are so much governed by the clock that perhaps it will give my readers in other parts of the USA and overseas a sense of what time zone I'm living in. Hope you enjoy the new features. As always, user feedback is welcome.

Fun Gadgets for Your Blog

I hope you enjoy the new gadgets I've added to my blog. I do, and here are the links if you'd like to add them to yours. There are two visitor maps: one is a spinning globe (but there are other formats to choose from), and the other is a map of the world which shows red dots to mark where people have logged on from. I put two up because I loved having something move on my page and instantaneously seeing if anyone is looking at my blog. I have no idea if the numbers or locations are real or not, but I like to believe they are.

I've also tried previously to put up a calendar on my blog, but I found Google's calendar difficult to mark and link to this page. The one I've put up is extremely easy for one who's not techno-savvy. Localendar is currently free for me as are the maps.

So, here are the links:
- to get to "localendar.com," open up the calendar on my blog and click on the name "localendar.com" at the bottom of the page, below the displayed calendar
- Spinning Globe
- World Map
Enjoy!