Why Teachers Should Blog?

There are many advantages to using a blog platform for teachers and students. For one it helps enforce good digital citizenship skills, e-literacy and is a multi-media platform for knowledge sharing and showcasing examples of work to show understanding.

One of the advantages of blogs for me as a teacher is the ability to re-use content course to course and frees me up to refine my processes and details.

I also enjoy the flexibility of the platform, which allows me to mold the page to my liking. For instance, you can:

Embed Videos from different sources:




Embed scratch programs like this Mandelbrot Set explorer:




Embed a Scientific Calculator in a page:


And more of course...

Support Student Learning Through E-Literacy

So What is this blog thing anyway?

TL;DR Guide to Setting Up Your Own Blog

Hello All, below is an overly detailed walk through for signing up and creating/customizing and posting to your blog.

How to set up a Blogger Blog:

Step 1: Go to http://www.blogger.com and sign up for a blog

• At the start page for blogger, click on the orange arrow that says "create your blog"
• Blogger now is part of Google, so if you have a Google account (which allows for things like gmail) you should use that to set up your new blogger account. If you don't have a Google account, now is a pretty good chance to set one up. Otherwise, it is just a matter of following the instructions on this page.
• Save your username and password some place. In fact, I would encourage you to write it down some place. Don't lose this!
• When you're done, click on the orange "continue" button, which will take you to another page. If you did something wrong or you supplied a username or password that doesn't work, Blogger will stop you from proceeding until you fix the error.
• The "Blog Title" will be what appears in the title portion of your blog. I recommend you keep it something simple like "My English 328 Blog" or whatever you want.
• The title and address are not connected but they can be. You can title your blog anything but it cannot share the same address as another blog. You may need to get creative to find one that isn't taken yet.
• The "word verification" section is a security set-up the blogger folks have; simply type in the word you see in the funky font into the provided box. Click "continue" when you're done.
• You can choose any template you want for your blog, and you can also change the template later if you would like. Click continue when you're done.
• After waiting a few moments, you should get a screen that says your blog has been created. Good for you! Click on the "start posting" arrow and get to work!

Step 2: Get posting!

• The posting screen for blogger is pretty straight-forward. Give your entries a title, type in the appropriate window, and use the editing tools for your blog entry as you want. We'll talk about more advanced options for your posting later, but if you know any basic html, you can incorporate most of that code into your blog posts.
• To post or "publish" your post, click the button at the bottom of the screen "Publish Post." If you start writing something but you don't want to post it until later, click where it says "Save as Draft."
• When you publish your post, blogger will process the information and then, if everything worked (and it usually does), it will give you the option to "view blog." Take a look at it to see your page and post.

Step 3: Don't feed the trolls/spammers

Comment sections can be openings for spam/abuse. Please change your blog settings to block comments and set all comments to be moderated always. Have all students complete the same setup to provide protections from online harassment.

Your comment settings should look like the one shown here...

:

• Log into your blog
• Click on the "design" tab
• Go to "settings" and then "posts and comments" and change your settings to the example above
• Save your settings before finishing

Step 4: Now What?

• When you are logged in, the front page will display a "New Post" button so you can begin blogging quickly.
• Customize your site functionality with "Widgets" to provide link lists, stats, etc
• Customize the look, font, background image, colors, width and other features to customize your site.
• Embed photo's, video, slideshows, documents to enhance your posts. Add links to share information.
• Create your blog as a learning resource to benefit students and help deliver instruction!

Trouble-shooting...

• Some bugs do exist. If an error occurs try a different web browser. Safari can be problematic, as will older or out of date browsers.
• Posts don't appear on front page: Make sure you pressed the "Publish" button as opposed to "save as draft". Once "Publish" is pressed it should appear on the front page
• Problem signing up on blogger platform: If too many accounts attempt to sign up at once, anti-spam measures can cause problems. This sometimes occurs in large groups. Have students keep trying or try from home as a homework assignment when appropriate.

Good luck and have fun customizing your own corner of the web!

- Mr.W