I enjoyed meeting you all today and allowing you to make copious amounts of fun of me. Blogging will become a very important part of our class, allowing a low pressure form of communication and interaction with your classmates, as well as allowing you to practice writing without having to write zillions of formal essays.
The very first thing you should do is establish your own blog; look here to review the blogging guidelines. You can also take a look at my “about” page. This short screencast will walk you through the process of setting up and posting. Email me your password, logon by visiting edublogs, and start playing around with the dashboard.
By tomorrow (Thursday, August 11), you must set up your blog, send me the url, choose your layout, and set up your About page. Consider your online footprint. What do you want to share? Do not include your last name or too many identifying or personal details that you don’t want on the Internet.
You have one blog due for Monday, August 15, whether or not we meet that day. As soon as you set up your blog and do the things mentioned above, your tasks are to:
- BLOG! This week’s topic: Read last year’s student guide blogs and post a blog introducing yourself and covering your expectations and concerns about the class. Include in this post a discussion of blogging, including rules, expectations, and the quality of last year’s student blogs (10 points). These can be found on my page under 2010 Student Blogs.
- Respond: Respond to 2 other students’ blogs in the comment section. You will soon see that for this to work, you MUST post in a timely fashion. So, in other words, post a blog within the next day or two so that people have the weekend to read and respond (20 points). Comments should be significant. The Blogging Instructions page offers more details.
Blogs are due every Monday, and each Monday, you will need to check my blog for your assigned topics. I won’t always post a reminder on the website assignments page, as this should be a habit that you ingrain in yourself. These are not negotiable assignments. Instead of stressing about them, take this opportunity to make them your own, express yourself. Tips- pace yourself, use your own writing voice, and follow the guidelines you found on the blogging instructions page.
Can we blog about anything we want later on in the year?
You will usually get to do a free post every week, so you have lots of freedom throughout the year.
Can I use the same blog from 2 years ago? And if I can should I delete my posts from then?
ahh, blogging again. Hopefully I remember to blog on edublogs as much as I do on tumblr. get pumped
Should our About Page and our first blog be similar?
I looked through the sorts of literature we were going to be studying very fast searching for plays and was extremely upset that I did not see it. I then actually read the sentence and was relieved to see ‘drama.’ Thanks goodness.
do we write something on the about page?
Im excited to become familiar with this new system of blogging. I am a little bit lost right now.
I am not tremendously technologically savvy, so could I get some help editing my page at some point later on?
Im lost too a little bit!
Okay, I’m now starting to realize what to do. I feel like this will be very… interesting
I’m a little confused as to what to write in the About page and the first blog
Ok so just firgured out how to change the “nickname” sorry this is ginny13 again
i agree…i’m not too sure how to work this! It’ll be pretty exciting to become a blogger now though!
Im pumped about being a blogger now but I’m kinda still lost on the site! I like your rules for the class! It seems very straightforward, which I like!
agreeing with some of the others…already a little confused about blogging but im sure i’ll get the hang of it(i hope)
I’m a little lost right now, but I’ll get used to it soon. So for the syllabus, for summer reading, what kind of work will we be doing for the books we read?
I’m excited to blog, but i’m afraid my technology skills are holding me back at the moment.
Andrew, you stole the words right out of my mouth! I am unfamiliar with the act of blogging and hope to get used to it soon.
I think I am going to like this. However, like everyone, I am also a little confused at the moment.
I hope that I get used to this blogging site. I am not sure how to work it quite yet.
This is a little confusing, but I’m starting to get it.
I am severly confused at the moment. Blogging isn’t really my cup of tea.
This is confusing. Please help.
this is really confusing. im not good at technology.
Basically do we discuss any concerns of what ever we have about blogging in our first post? Also, do we come up with our own rules, or is that somewhere? I’ve read everything in your post, but I’m just confusing myself about this first blog.
Do we post once a week?
this is a bit confusing, but i’m getting it just a little.
I’m beyond excited to try this blogging site! It seems rather confusing, but I believe that I’ll be able to catch on easily.
I hope you aren’t confused anymore. We talked about it today. If you are still confused, ask specific questions.
This is a pretty cool installment to the class. I’m not that enthusiastic for this to be quite honest, but this still seems pretty cool. Guess it’ll take some time to adjust to.
When are we supposed to comment on someone else’s blog?
I’m finally figuring out this site but it seems really neat! If and when will we start reviewing summer reading?
I need to learn the website otherwise i’ll be lost.
The site is a little confusing but once I get the hang of it I think blogging is going to be lots of fun!
I am looking forward to blogging this year, although I feel like I have to make sure I do the blogs on time. I better not procrastinate!