Ready or not, here comes the first 'FMS Blogging Challenge." It is our belief that blogging can be fun, addicting, and helpful to our students. We want to help you develop your blogging skills so you feel comfortable blogging with students. Monday, February 28 marks week one of our six week challenge. This week will have four main activities. Please work to complete the following four tasks:
Activity One-"About Me" Page
Most blogs have an "About Me" page. Typically referred to as "About," "About Me," or "My Profile," it is important that you introduce yourself. So, either write or update the page about yourself. Don't give out too much personal information about yourself. Your "About Me" page may become an example for your students if you should ever choose to have students create blogs. If you have already completed this step revisit your page. Update the information, and check for clarity. You might consider adding a photograph of your classroom or yourself.
Directions:
For Blogger: Go to the "Posting" tab. Find "Edit Pages" across the top. Click on "Edit Pages." Click on "New Page" or "Create a Page." Next, give your page a title like, "About Me." Add a paragraph or so about yourself. You might want to include subjects you teach, your hobbies, and other general information about yourself. When finished, click on "Publish Page."
For Class Blogmeister:
Activity Two-"Write a post to answer these questions."
Give your post a unique title.
Question 1-Why blog? Why did you decide to create a blog?
Question 2-Why did you decide to participate in the FMS Blogging Challenge?
Question 3-What do you hope some of the blogging activities include?
Quesiton 4-What do you hope to get out of this challenge?
Blogging involves commenting. Every blog post has a commenting section located near the bottom of the post. Comments are part of blogging. They are as much of an art as creating the post itself. So practice your commenting skills by leaving a comment on this post for us to read.
Activity 3-Create an avatar to represent you.
An avatar is a picture or virtual icon that represents you. Ms. Ward has a photo of herself on her blog. Mrs. Sprinkle has a cartoon figure avatar.
Either use one of your own photographs, or visit some of these websites and create yourself an avatar for your blog.
Build Your Wild Self
The Mini-Mizer
Portrait Avatar Maker
Otaku Avatar Maker
My Avatar Editor
Image Chef
Portrait Illustration Maker
Wimp Yourself-From Diary of a Wimpy Kid
After you have created your avatar, you will need to save it as a jpeg file on your computer.
Follow these directions for uploading your avatar.
For Blogger-Go to your dashboard. Click on "Edit Photo." Upload your photo. Save.
For Edublogs-Go to edublogs.org and log in. Click "Upload New Avatar" to upload your photo.
For Blogmeister-Once logged in, click on Control Panel at the top of the screen. Scroll down to the section that says “Upload images.” Next to personal image - click on “Browse” to find your photo or avatar on your computer, then click “Upload.”
After you have created your avatar, you will need to save it as a jpeg file on your computer.
Follow these directions for uploading your avatar.
For Blogger-Go to your dashboard. Click on "Edit Photo." Upload your photo. Save.
For Edublogs-Go to edublogs.org and log in. Click "Upload New Avatar" to upload your photo.
For Blogmeister-Once logged in, click on Control Panel at the top of the screen. Scroll down to the section that says “Upload images.” Next to personal image - click on “Browse” to find your photo or avatar on your computer, then click “Upload.”
Activity 4-Leave a comment on this post describing one or two ways you could use blogging with your students.
Posts
7 comments:
2 ways- too see their work on line and a tool for parents and kids to communicate about what they have been doing in class.
Ways I can use my blog with students....Oh geez. That's the problem! I created a blog and I don't know what to do with it! I suppose I could use it as a way for students to post and comment on informal homework assignments, like creative vocabulary sentences. I could also use it as a way for students to discuss and comment on novels or stories they are reading in class.
I love to use blogging with my students for: reading responses to novels they've read on their own time, discussion topics such as school uniforms or locker searches (ooh!), posting journals or essays, even doing lit circles on line! The possibilities are endless!
I want to be able to blog with students. I am not good with technology, but I am willing to try. Thanks Heidi for helping me!
I like to call Ms. Ward the "Blogging Queen." She inspires me to do more. She now has her students participating in the blogging challenge. I hope to have one student with their own blog. That's a giant leap for me, Ms. Ward. Oh, and Cortney--small steps with blogging go a long way. The kids really love to see us write and that's part of the process, too. When we write, they don't find writing so boring either. That's just my two cents worth though. Blog on!!!
Thank you, Ms. Ward and Mrs. Sprinkle for offering this challenge. I am so excited about blogging. I was concerned that blogging would be too advanced for me to learn, but your directions have been clear, and I am picking up on blogging fast. I will say this is time consuming, but the more I blog, the easier it gets. :) I thinking blogging will really help my students learn more. I know I have, and I can't wait to use this tool this fall with my students.
I am using the class blog to get students involved in discussing what they are reading, and getting them excited to share their thoughts and ideas. It is a great tool to further learning in the classroom, and inspires them to look at things in new ways.
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