CREATING

BLOGS GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT BLOGS A blog (short for weblog) is a journal that's available on the web. The activity of updating a blog is called blogging, and someone who keeps a blog is a blogger. Frequently, blogs are updated using software that allows people to post materials to the web without having to know HTML, web architecture, or server location. Postings on a blog are almost always arranged in chronological order, with the most recent additions featured near the top of the page. Simply stated, a blog is a website that you can update easily and contribute to from anywhere you have an Internet connection. Using a blog as a communication tool in your classroom can increase the amount of offline communication between students and may greatly reduce the number of classroom-related email messages you receive. Students will be more inclined to read your blog postings and provide feedback comments; other students may view this feedback and use it to solve problems on their own, or may contact the originator of a comment for assistance. Blogs help you to publish thoughts, ideas, and assignments, while creating engaging online communities that are simple to update on the web. Using blogs in the classroom can be a challenging task. There are two basic strategies for implementing blogs in the classroom: The instructor blogs and the students respond to that blog via the comments section. All students create blogs, and the instructor subscribes to each, aggregating them with a tool such as Google Reader. Blogs can be beneficial to learning in three ways: Engaging learners in an active online community by using comments or student blogs. Easily edited, web-based communication without all the drawbacks of email. Simple web editing; knowledge of HTML is not necessary. FOR ON LINE TIPS ABOUT BLOGGING AND STUDENT MODELS see http://drslickchildrensadlit.blogspot.com/

CREATING A BLOG USING BLOGSPOT (GOOGLE) When you have a Google Account you can make a Blogspot.com Blog very easily. Sign into to your Google Account. Select the More tab at the top, and in the drop down menu select even more. This will bring you to the following page.

From this screen you can choose Blogger. You will be taken to this page to create a Blog

 Choose Create a Blog and you will be taken to this page.

You will enter your gmail account address, retype it, enter a password (write this down so you will remember it), enter a Display Name. If you have already established a Gmail account the screen will ask you to sign in. After signing in you will find this screen:

Naming your blog: I recommend a unique name. related to your role as a future teacher and the content of the blog. Your last name as a future teacher? Mabe not best choice if you marry name will change. If the site is about reading, literature, books, language arts, writing, name it with a carchy name. Here are examples: Your Blog Name will appear on the screen so you will want to create a unique one. You will then add word to the http address which becomes the link youre your blog. Then type word verification and continue. You will be brought to this screen to choose a Template

 You can preview the templates before selecting. Click continue and you will be brought to this screen

Choose Start Blogging and you will be brought to this screen

If you choose settings you can see a variety of tabs including Permissions on the far right tab. If you click permissions you will be brought to this screen.

 Note your Blog is open to all readers by default you will want to leave it open to all for this class. Return to the main page and select the Layout Page. The screen will look like this

Here you can add and rearrange page elements I recommend you start with About Me and add a photo and information about you. CHOOSE TEMPLATE DESIGNER TO GET DIFFERENT LAYOUT SEE GRAPHIC BELOW

 ADDING GADGETS TO YOUR BLOG Adding a Gadget So what is a Gadget? Basically a gadget is a way to add functionality to your Blog. A gadget can do just about anything you can think of it as a miniature program that is running on your blog page. A gadget can show you the weather for your area, cute pictures, allow you to play math games, show news headlines the possibilities are almost endless. There are two types of gadgets: 1. a gadget provided by Google 2. a gadget provided by some third-party Next Check out Add a Gadget. I encourage you to try some of these you can always delete them. GO TO PAGE ELEMENTS Wherever you click on words Add a Gadget, that will be where the gadget is placed. Once you do so, the Add a Gadget window will appear. You can search for a gadget by name by typing a keyword in the box, then click on the blue search icon. You can also click on a section on the left hand side and scroll down to browse the various gadgets. Finally, you can also click on Add your Own and a box will appear with instructions on how to point to the gadget you want to put on the web page.

WHEN ADDING A GADGET YOU WILL NEED TO CONFIGURE IT FOR YOUR PAGE

 The ones I added were all under BASIC.

Picture You can add a photo from your computer Slide Show You can add a slide show of photos from Picasa Web Albums, Flickr or Photo Bucket Search You can create a search bar for others to search your blog Link List You can create a list of best sites for educations, language arts teachers, reading teachers etc. Blog List You can list you favorite blog sites. This is the Blog Roll Described by Morgan above List You can list some of your favorite books and authors

Below is an example of Gadgets I added to a Blog Site for Adolescent Literature

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 I added the following:

Text

Add some words to your blog - like a welcome message - with our rich text editor. By Blogger Here I typed a short welcome explaining the site.

Blog List

Here I plan to add my favorite blogs about adolescent lit.

Show off what you read with a blogroll of your favorite blogs. By Blogger

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Link List

Here I plan to add favorite websites

Add a collection of your favorite sites, blogs, or web pages. By Blogger

List

Here I plan to add favorite books and their authors.

Add a list of your favorite books, movies, or anything you like. By Blogger

Labels

I highly recommend adding this it makes it possible to sort of

have a Table of Contents for your Blog. Show all the labels of posts in your blog. By Blogger

TUTORIAL CREATING A BLOG ROLL ON YOUR BLOG

1. Go to http://www.blogspot.com. 2. Log in! 3. Under the title of your blog, click the Design link. 4. You should be looking at a blank template of the arrangement of your blog. On the right side, theres a link that says Add a Gadget. Click it. A separate window will open. 5. Choose your gadget. For the purposes of this tutorial, well create a blog roll. 6. Title your list. If theres a theme to the blogs, add it in the title. Im going to call mine Educational Blogs. 7. Choose how your blogs are sorted alphabetically or by most recently updated. 8. The next drop down menu asks how many blogs you would like your blog roll to display. This is up to you, as well as what components of the blogs you want the roll to display. 9. Minimize the blog roll set up box and open a new tab or window. Find a blog you want to display in your blog roll if you havent already. Copy the URL. 10. Go back to the blog roll set up box and click on the link that says, Add a blog to your list. 11. Paste the link in and click ADD. Youll now see the blog in your list. You can repeat this by clicking the blue button that says ADD TO LIST until youve included all of the blogs you like. When youre done, click the SAVE button.

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12. The window will have closed. At the top of the page next to all of the tabs, click View Blog and see what your new blog roll looks like. You can always go back and tweak which blogs you want to include and how many you want to display. 13. Also, feel free to go back and explore many of the other gadgets. BlogSpot allows you to include videos by keyword on your blog, links to other websites, polls, and more. Think, create, and explore!

EXPLORE THE FONTS AND COLORS TO MAKE STUNNING PAGES On the Lay Out Tab Next go to Fonts and Colors. Have a good time explore what you can do to make a stunning page. My experiment is below.

You can easily preview what you choose and return and change colors. Make sure the fonts are readable. AT THIS POINT YOU HAVE CREATED A SIDEBAR ABOUT YOURSELF AND HAVE INCLUDED GADGETS TO ADD ITEMS TO THIS SIDE BAR. ADDING A BLOG LINK TO YOUR GOOGLE SITE AND WORKING WITH THE DASHBOARD

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After you have created your Blog to add the link to your Google site I recommend you go to your Welcome page and copy and paste the exact address to your blog there. Add a note inviting readers to check out your blog. When you have created a blog when you log into the Google Site, you can easily return to your Blog by going to the tabs at the top of the page, select the more tab, select even more, and it will bring you to any items you have created that are connected to Google --- and the Blog link is there or log in to http://www.blogger.com/home and sign in and it will take you to your Dashboard with a list of Blogs you have created. Here is an example of my explorations my dashboard.

I wanted you to know that I have experimented with Blogs so if you want to get some ideas check these out: http://slick-drslickblog.blogspot.com/, http://sue-slick.blogspot.com/, http://kidslityalit.blogspot.com/; http://slicktechworld.blogspot.com/. YOU TUBE TUTORIALS FOR HELP WITH BLOGS Create a Blog in a Few Minutes http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnploFsS_tY&feature=related Creating a Blog List http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kY5cMEOl9Js&feature=channel_page

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Adding a Google Gadget to Blog http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=- OVRlXn9mAs&feature=related Adding a Video to Your Blog http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnzlOYaeOwU&feature=channel If you run into trouble click here: http://help.blogger.com/ SAMPLE BLOGS Planet Esme by Esme Codell http://planetesme.blogspot.com/ Esme Raji Codell who has written Educating Esme about her first year teaching is from the Chicago area and she has taught elementary school. Here is a quote from her section About Me I'm a professional readiologist who thinks children's trade literature is our best hope for equalizing education in America. Anyone who says they care about kids and schools and doesn't read aloud is lying, or about to make the discovery of a lifetime. The Joy of Childrens Literature by Denise Johnson http://thejoyofchildrensliterature.blogspot.com/ (author of our textbook) Miss Rumphius Effect Blogspot http://missrumphiuseffect.blogspot.com/ Jen Robinsons Bookpage http://jkrbooks.typepad.com/ A Year of Reading by Two Teachers Who Read A lot http://readingyear.blogspot.com/ Wild Rose Reader http://wildrosereader.blogspot.com/ Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast http://blaine.org/sevenimpossiblethings/?p=1047 Read Roger: The Hornbook Editors Rants and Rave http://www.hbook.com/blog/

GADGETS AND WIDGETS: SUGGESTIONS FOR BLOGS FOR TEACHERS Check out Google Gadgets. Go to your site, go to manage site, select add gadget. Scroll to see the choices. Remember this is a teacher site so choose accordingly. Here are examples: LABEL Show all the labels of post in your blog very helpful to add tag to your post PHOTOS : Make a text box and insert a headshot photo of you (professional-looking not with boyfriend, significant others, spouse at the beach. TEXYBOX: Add basic information about yourself. If teaching -- Name, School, Grade contact information email. If not teaching Name, Florida Gulf Coast Student, Major Minor, Year of Graduation, email. Or Add a favorite quote,.

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PICASA SLIDESHOW Picasa is a part of Google suite so you can easily add a slide show created in Picasa PICASA PHOTO STREAM or FLICKR PHO TO STREAM Flickr (Yahoo) A photo stream you select photo that stream and recycle -- -- it is not a slide show. POLL Poll students about favorite books, current issues. BLOG LIST List blog addresses of other students in the class (You may want to rename adding their last name before their Blog Site Name.) Take time to search for teacher blogs, your field, your grade level find favorites, and check out their blog rolls. LINK LIST Add a collection of your favorite sites, blogs, webpages. Plan ahead consider categories of lists to add. Best Blogs Sites 2013. , New Web 2.0 Resources, Websites for Holocaust Resources, Websites Related to (Social Justice, Anti-bullying, Historical Fiction: Civil War, Revolutionary Wat, Hurricane Survival , Saving the Animals, etc. LISTS Add a list of your favorite books , movies, etc. Again categorize. Favorite Professional Teaching Book such as Teaching Writing, Teaching Technology Resources for Students; Favorite Books for 5th Grade Students, Favorite Poetry Books, etc.

GOING BEYOND SOME BASIC GADGETS

Try out a Voki http://www.voki.com/ You make a character who can talk to the audience! Check out the suggestions on this site. http://blogs.funiber.org/formacion- profesores/2012/01/26/building-blogs-as-learning-environments/ Try out Goodreads OR Shelfari - social network sites that allows you to create bookshelves of books you have read. Go to http://www.goodreads.com/ OR http://www.shelfari.com/ create your bookshelves. Then check out the gadgets. Check out suggestions on this site http://theedublogger.com/2010/10/21/top-widgets-for-the- sidebar-of-your-class-or-student-blog/ See Widget sites http://www.widgetbox.com/widgets/gallery/ They are free here dont be fooled. See Tips about Creating Blogs to use with students. http://www.teachingtips.com/blog/2008/07/21/50-useful-blogging-tools-for-teachers/ See Vocabulary Widgets http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2011/09/vocabulary-widgets-for- your-blog-or.html For Childrens Literature Widgets by Reading Rockets. http://www.readingrockets.org/sharing/widgets/

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Edublogs top widgets see http://edublogs.org/2010/10/21/the-top-widgets-to-embed-in-your- blog/ 100 Blogs Every New Teachers Should Read http://www.onlineschools.org/2009/10/20/100- blogs-every-new-teacher-should-read/ MAKE PLANS FOR ORGANIZING AND LABELING MAKING IT EASIER TO READ YOUR BLOG.
TABS AT THE TOP OF A BLOG PAGE PAGES Pages are static pages. When a reader goes to a page you will have one post visible on the pages. This is not a good choice when making plans for an on-going blog. CATEGORIES If you are wanting to create tabs at the top of your blog pages to help you reader go to different categories of information, you will want to create these categories using LABELS. You might want to choose your planned Categories that relate to Childrens or Adolescent Literature. The important thing will be to be sure to add LABELS to your posts to the categories you want your reader to view.

Here is a tutorial for creating your categories

http://www.infobarrel.com/Create_Categories_at_the_Top_of_Your_Blogger_Blog

How to Make Blog INTO WHAT IS MORE LIKE A WEBSITE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qh-Mbunjmng&feature=share&list=ULQh-Mbunjmng

How to Use Blog With Students

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pm_ZbmoVIF4&feature=share&list=ULPm_ZbmoVIF4

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