Learn to Teach With the E-Edition. It's Easy!
The Palm Beach Post e-edition is educational, efficient, and easy to use. It makes learning fun for students by reaching them where they live - in an increasingly digital world. And, it can be easy and fun for you, too. Check out our online teacher tutorial. It gives you step-by-step directions for using the e-edition tools. We'll even give you suggestions for learning activities that meet state standards. Easy! Educational! Efficient! A triple winner!
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Bloggers may get a health boost, researchers say
Writing entries for an Internet blog may be similar to taking a vitamin or exercising, in a sense. Evidence supporting that belief is being explored by researchers who see therapeutic value from blogging or posting an online journal. "Writing about personal experiences, thoughts and feelings . . .improves memory and sleep, boosts immune cell activity and reduces viral load in AIDS patients, and even speeds healing after surgery," says a recent article in Scientific American magazine. Explanations include the possibility that blogging brings an "endorphin rush" from the release of natural chemicals such as serotonin and dopamine - also produced by strenuous exercise and pleasurable experiences, such as listening to music or viewing art. Bloggers also may get a mental and physical lift from positive feedback comments, which create a feeling of connection and common ground. Even the stimulation of online debates with critics can be healthy - a form of brain workout. A medical journal study published this year says cancer patients who did expressive writing of any kind just before treatment "felt markedly better, mentally and physically, as compared with patients who did not." In response to the new findings, some hospitals are developing programs that include blogging as a supportive care tool.
Front Page Talking Points is written by
Felix Grabowski and Alan Stamm for NIEonline.com, Copyright 2013
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Most newspaper websites have blogs by staff members and sometimes by outside writers. Does yours?
How does writing for a newspaper differ from writing for a blog? Which source would you be more likely to use for a school project -- and why?
Start a discussion of advantages and drawbacks to blogging for a newspaper versus posting on your own. Consider exposure, audience size and other factors.
Blogger says: "I certainly feel better after I blog. For me it is a form of mental exercise, like sit-ups or push-ups. Blogging is how I exhale my mental carbon dioxide." - Tom Abate, journalist in San Leandro, Calif.