Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Are you ready for a blogging challenge?




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.”


Activity 4-Leave a comment on this post describing one or two ways you could use blogging with your students.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Blogging Challenge


Photo Source: What no one ever tells you about blogging by AndyP


Where is that blogging challenge you say? Ms. Ward and Mrs. Sprinkle are currently planning the teacher blog challenge. We will update you as soon as we finalize our plans. For now, try to update your blog with a new post. Check out our blog roll and visit several other blogs to get ideas for yours.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

FMS Blogging Challenge-2009

Are you interested in a challenge? Ms. Ward and Mrs. Sprinkle would like to encourage you to learn more about the blog you are creating in our strategy workshop session. We will be offering a six week challenge that will help build both your knowledge and your comfort level about blogging before your blog goes live with your students. Please begin exploring your new blog.

Welcome to our FMS blog!

Today, you will join other FMS teachers on a new adventure--the wonderful world of blogging. Our goal is for you to leave today with your very own class blog. Please feel free to email Mrs. Ward or Mrs. Sprinkle with any questions or concerns as we are here to help. As the world of learning changes, so must teachers, and blogging is one way to reach our 21st century learners. We hope you will have fun creating and learning more about blogging and other forms of technology that can assist our students with their learning.