Defining terms

There are a number of terms that teachers need to be able to recognize and use when teaching in a modern classroom. Here are just a few:

2 cents worth: The phrase "two cents worth" refers to something that is of only small value, which is to say an individual's opinion. It is somewhat intentionally deprecating and using the phrase is usually intended to let listeners know that the speaker is not too self-important.

Blogging: Blogs, a word that is short for "weblogs," are publicly accessible online journals kept by individuals. Others can read and comment on the entries, or posts, on the blog. Twitter, which adds a live component to the process, refers to itself as "microblogging" because of the limit of available characters in each post, or tweet. Maintaining a blog can be time-consuming and can provide readers with tremendous amounts of information about the topic covered in the blog. It can also be something to which the writer returns only occasionally. It depends on the writer's interest and the subject matter being addressed.

Blogger: A blogger is the author of a blog, the person who maintains it and is also responsible for its content. www.blogger.com is also a popular website that hosts free blogs. Users sign up, choose a user name and password, and select from templates for their design.

Feed reader: A feed reader, sometimes called an RSS reader, is a website or an app that tracks websites or blogs chosen by the user and notifies the user when there is new content. So a user can select a website and enter its URL into the feed reader. Then the feed reader will track that site and any others chosen and notify the user, via email or a desktop or mobile application or through its own website, whenever there is new content.