Today's Session

Revamping your Classroom Communication

Session Resources

Matt Villasana, Columbia Public Schools
mvillasa@columbia.k12.mo.us
@mattvillasana on Twitter

As you get settled:

• Sign into your Google account, or create one
• Access these resources at bloggeremints.blogspot.com
• Have your Twitter account up and ready to connect (I'll be sending resources during the session, so you might want to follow me or #emints)
• Join this Today's Meet chat room

Session Goals:

• View classroom and student Blogger sites
• Determine what types of features you would like to include on your blog
• Blog creation walk-through and play-along
• Share your creation!

Please contact me for additional information or support

Pick a font and stick with it!

This is for you, promiscuous font users. You know who you are. It could be that you use a different font for each post. Or perhaps you change fonts each paragraph, or heaven forbid, in each sentence. Makes my head hurt just thinking about it. 

Best practice (in my opinion), is to pick a legible font for your posts and stick with it. And don't get me started on font size and color. Keep the formatting professional and let your writing be the star. 

Blogger tip: Publish with your iPad!

You carry it around all day, so you might as well use it to blog. Blogger has a simple and effective app. It's available for iOS and Android devices. It's really easy to switch bogs under one account so you can post to multiple blogs. 

Pictures are really easy to insert. Just snap a picture or screenshot and insert it directly into your post. Here's a picture of this screen. Kind of crazy, eh?

I have found that teachers love posting from their iPads. It's just so convenient. With that being said, I wouldn't change layouts, add pages, or adjust themes on the iPad. Just create posts. 

Once I press "publish", this post will be available for the world to view. Pressing now...

Blog tip: Use pictures, but don't go crazy

Here's an awesome picture of a computer lab
that I found using Pics4Learning

You know the saying, so I won't mention it here. But it's true. Using pictures will make your blog posts more informative and interesting. The best pictures are ones you take that highlight what's happening in your classroom or school. 

However, there are time when you want to use a stock photo. If so, remember to try to abide by copyright guidelines. Here are some links to some good resources for finding copyright free images:

Picture Resources:
Morguefile

Getty Images

Pics4Leaarning

Or you can use Google's Advanced Search options to narrow down sites that offer copyright free images. Just do a search, then click on the little gear on the search page. Lots of great parameters to adjust your search results. 

Welcome to my eMINTS Blog about Blogger!

The first post is always the toughest, and the most unnatural. It's usually full of forced comments like "I'm so excited to share my learning with you". But that's OK. You have to get started with something. 

A good idea is to outline the purpose of your blog. If you are a classroom teacher, highlight the types of posts you see yourself publishing. Try not to set a schedule because those usually change once you figure out how you want to use your blog. And if you promise a once-a-day posting schedule, you may be forced to live up to it! 

Finally, have fun! A blog is supposed to be informal. Show your personality. Readers want to be informed in an entertaining way. So enjoy it!