Final Posts & Reflection

We have come a long ways in a short time learning about digital citizenship, networking learning and how to better use social medial (specifically blogging) as a learning tool to engage with others and teach one another.

Starting today, your goal is to reflect on what you have learned as I will be (aka Mrs. Bernard) interviewing you in groups (3-4) to gain insight into what you think about blogging and digital networked learning. Start thinking about what you would say to these questions:

1. Give me an example of something you really liked about blogging?
2. What did you find most difficult about blogging?
3. What was the biggest thing you learned through the whole digital learning project?
4. Could blogging be useful in other classes? Which classes and how?
5. What would you change to make blogging or networked learning better?

In between interviews you will be completing your final posts. Do not forget to refresh your memory on what is required of you by checking the rubric. Your final posts should demonstrate ALL of the rubric categories. Some of you have some homework ahead of you to get caught up an ensure you have an adequate number of posts and that they have all the requirements.

Make your last bogs STELLAR!

You will need one of your phones/ group. Mrs. Bernard will prompt you with the questions  as you either audio record or video record your group. Don’t feel your recording needs to be perfect. Think about the questions for a few minutes and then hit record and she will read the questions to you and you can answer. No need to edit your recording- it is okay if it is not perfect. It should take about 4-5 minutes/ group and each question does NOT need to be answered by each person. All should participate at some point.  Email your audio or video to Mr. Bromm’s school email address when you are done. Do NOT delete the recording until I get back just incase it does not send. I can’t wait to hear your thoughts!

READING comments helps you COMMENT

Last week we took time to read other student blogs from Edublogs. This week we are going to continue blogging, but I want you to spend at least half of your class time reading your classmates or the other grade 8 classes posts and commenting. But, don’t forget, you want your comments to help their learning and yours. Remember this is networked learning!

So before you start reading and commenting, consider these points and watch this video:

Model commenting

• Read comments (…lots of comments) to learn to distinguish between poor, mediocre and quality comments.
• Model commenting to your students by leaving QUALITY comments on their blogs
• Avoid comments, such as “Great job”, “Way to go”, or “I really liked what you wrote”…
• Commenting is about continuing a conversation started in a blog post.
• Commenting is about helping to (potentially) push the author of the post in a new direction, give a new perspective or connect them to new resources.
• Commenting is about relating the thoughts, ideas, experiences or resources of the blog author to your own. Sharing them will paint a better picture of the issue, perspectives, or research.
• Ask yourself if your comment CONTRIBUTED to the conversation, the learning of the author or other readers?
• 21st century skills include critical thinking, problem solving and QUESTIONING. The comment section of a blog is a great place to practices these skills in an authentic environment.

4th Graders Tips from LangWitches

Happy reading and commenting!

READING blogs HELPS you WRITE

The first step to becoming a successful blogger is reading other blogs. Blogging is not the same as texting or Snapchatting your friends. Although blogging is more visual and can be informal, your writing style should be similar to how you would write a reflection,  short story or persuasive essay for your ELA teacher.

A blog is NOT goofy and does not use the same language, lingo, or short-hand that you would use in other more closed social media or face to face with friends and peers. It is more academic because blogs are open to all on the internet and will be a permanent part of your digital footprint. Did you know blogs and other social media are quickly becoming the new job application and resume!

 

 

 

Know the difference between academic and social commenting- samples of good and not so good posts and comments

Plus, you want to build a community and get individuals across the globe to be part of your learning network. Writing in the simple chat/ social media form you would with close friends will not mean anything to those that are outside your circle of friends or peers, which means they are unlikely to comment on your blog or share information with you that could help your writing or learning.

So…how to we write better? Let’s look at some award-winning student blogs and compare this to the rubric:

2015 Edublog Winners

Now, what are your going to do with YOUR blog to build YOUR digital identity?

You have this rubric already in your duo tang. Don’t forget we added inviting responses (by asking questions or challenging ideas)to your posts and commenting on others posts to the COMMUNITY category of the rubric

Here is a hyperlink of the rubric that is easier to read.

Improve Your Blog!

Grade 8’s, you have to check this out! 16 ways to improve your blog:

https://www.slideshare.net/fullscreen/sueanneerr/16-rules-for-blog-writing-and-layout-47486974/1

From: http://www.successfulblogging.com/16-rules-of-blog-writing-which-ones-are-you-breaking/

 

Come back to this infographic often as you blog. It will help you to keep thinking about simple things you can do to make your blog more professional and visual which will draw readers to your posts.

You cannot possibly remember to do all these things in your first few posts, so make sure you keep thinking about this. Many of these ideas will be included in our you assessment rubric as well. After several practice blogs you should be able to say:

“Yes, my blog has those things”

or

“I do that all the time in my blog!”

IF you cannot say that, you have work to do!

 

 

 

 

Sample blogs

Pretty cool for a 10 year olds blog:

http://jarrodsblog.global2.vic.edu.au/

A grade 8’s blog:

http://breanapeportfolio.blogspot.ca/

Consider some of the things Jarrod & Breana did as well as your classmates. Go to the our class blog and find a few blogs of your peers. Take a few minutes and comment. Remember be friendly and give them some feedback. Ask a question or share an idea with them. You can also follow their blog or add a link to your blog as I showed you so you can stay up to date with blogs that interest you.

This week you will be working on:

• commenting
• adding blogs to follow or websites to link to our blogs
• and of course our second blog post!

I forget how to add a hyperlink & other things!

The more you practice blogging, the less you will forget.  But if you do forget try this ideas:

1. Ask your learning partner can help
2. Search for help on Google i.e. “How to add a hyperlink in WordPress post” will give you videos & tips to do this.
3. Ask Mr. Bromm
4. Watch this 4 min video on the basics

Add a profile picture/ gravatar to your WordPress:

1. To do this you will login to Gravatar with your WordPress credentials (usename & password)
2. In left menu- go to users – my profile- then click white button at bottom of page that says “add photo through gravatar”
3. Follow the steps to upload a photo
4. Use a real photo of yourself to create a positive digital footprint. If you or your parents are not comfortable with your photo online, do not add a profile picture/ gravatar

By the end of next class:

• I will start commenting on your first blog
  • you may already have started commenting on your classmates- so start doing this if you have not- build your networking community!
• show you how to categorize your posts & add categories to your menu
  • create a category for PAA content
  • create a category for personal content
  • be sure to always categorize your posts before you publish
• link other blogs you want to follow
  • follow blogs by using “blogs I follow option” or adding links
  • links is a way to add a blog or any website you want linked to your account
  • go to a blog post directly to: “like” it, comment, or follow the
• for homework finish your first blog post.

Writing Your first blog post

Are you refreshed and ready to go from your holiday? I’m not sure if this guy is:

http://images.memes.com/meme/278502

Now that you have had an opportunity to try some of the key features and personalize your blog site, it is time to dive into writing an introductory post! The more you write and try out the features of WP, the more you will learn about WordPress and becoming an effective blogger! This is not plain old boring paragraph style essay writing. Yee-haw!

Give it a try. You don’t have to publish right away, just save your edits and then publish when you’re ready.

In your first blog post I want you to cover a few simple things:

• Who are you? You don’t need to get too personal here- remember everyone can see your blog!
• What ways to you learn best- from your past experiences in and out of school? (i.e. do you like watching someone show you?)
• What was it about that experience that helped you learn or made learning meaningful to you?
• What is your take on using digital open education and digital networking?

Use these questions to guide your blog post. Be creative in your answers. Use sentences or bullets or both! Add photos, hyperlinks, videos etc. to make your blog fun and visual. But remember, these things should be related to the bullets above. So don’t put a random photo, video or hyperlink, put stuff related to introducing yourself, your interests, stuff you find about how you like to learn best, or ideas about what digital education is. Maybe you find a cool video of another teenager explaining how they learn??

Find photos, videos, links to articles to help you answer these questions and practice your WordPress technical skills. We will talk about crediting the sources you borrow from. We will talk later about how to sift for good information & how to credit ideas. Now, just blog!

And most importantly use your learning partner, classmates, and me to discover new ideas, troubleshoot technical glitches, and to begin your networked learning experience! If you forget how to do something- Google it and you find lots of videos and tips for WordPress!

Technical reminder- you’re writing a POST, not a PAGE right now. You will categorize your post later. You can save your first blog post, but do NOT publish it yet! I will show you how to create categories next time.

Delete your practice post from last class if you want or keep it for your second post. After this first blog, I will give you feedback/ comments and then you can create  a second blog post on whatever topic you want!! Football, photography, cars, Snapchat, swimming, music, etc.

Some motivation for you….if a 7 Year old can do this, you can blog post and eventually create your own learning videos for your blog!

Let’s Get Going!

Welcome to our  PAA8 Blog, 8-9 & 8-19:

We have spent a couple of classes learning about open education, digital communication, networked learning, and what that all means as a 21 Century learner.

Now that we have created you own PLE (personal learning environment) with Symbaloo and created a class blog to house our project directions and share our learning story, we will take a bit of time to explore the technical parts of WordPress (WP) before we write your first blog.

What to do first:

1. Create your blog domain/ address if you missed last class- see Mr. Bromm
   1. choose a domain name that is appropriate i.e. nathanbromm  – my wordpress address would then be nathanbromm.wordpress.com
   2. choose a username- keep it the same as domain to be simple i.e. nathanbromm
   3. choose a password
   4. add your email address that you use most often (school or personal)
   5. record your WP domain, username & password on Mr. Bromm’s spreadsheet
   6. choose penscratch theme for your blog- you can change it later- sometimes you have to pick this before you do your domain name
   7. create and verify your WordPress account by going to your email inbox. You must make sure you spell your email address correctly and know your email password. IF you don’t, this will cause issues when you try to activate your WP account.

2. Add YOUR blog and the class blog below to your Symbaloo bookmarks/tiles

https://paa8learningproject.wordpress.com/

3. Click on your name on this blog- right side and see if the link works!

4. TYPE wp-admin to the end of your WordPress URL when you need to edit!

5. Mini lesson on headers titles, header photo, themes, categories, pages, posts, links & widgets, pictures, hyperlinks, following other blogs, etc.

6. Profile picture using gravatar- optional. If you’re comfortable with a picture of you on your blog this is a great way to create a profile photo that can be used with any of your online work. Remember, create a positive digital footprint for yourself!

7. WordPress exploration- play around and customize your blog. Do not forget to add “wp-admin” to the URL to be in the editing mode. Have fun!