This page is under construction. Please do not edit this one.

 

Blogging is more than just writing on a blog.  It's impossible for any teacher to really understand why, without experiencing being a blogger for a few months (this is the consensus in the educational community).

These guidelines are meant to help teachers help students get the authentic experience of blogging, even if those teachers are not "bloggers."

A. Set up your blog:

1. print out this Responsible Use Policy, print name, signature, and date, hand it to your teacher
2. go to KIS Writes homepage
3. click "create a new blog here"
4. blog name: you can change it later
5. username = first name + last initial + two-digit graduation year (ex: lesliek09)
   1. if you do not follow this format, your blog will be deleted and you'll have to start over
6. sign-up email: cannot be Hotmail account (hotmail blocks the validation email) - get a Gmail account
7. check email for validation message
8. copy password from validation page, paste it in login
9. change password in "My Profile" to a password you won't forget (your email password is fine)
10. click "use rich text editor" box in My Profile
11. save
12. choose a theme in "Presentation"
13. drag and drop "widgets" into sidebars - be sure to include "meta"
14. save
15. Akismet spam protection: code is c5169e6d16f2

2. Claim Your Blog on Technorati

1. Create an account
2. Username = first name + last initial
3. Do not put identifying personal information here! No phone numbers, city, addresses, or photos of you.
4. Click "Blogs > Claim a Blog"
5. Read and follow instructions to claim your blog
6. Be sure to put key words ("tags") in your claimed blog boxes that describe your blog for readers searching for blogs that write about what you'll be writing about
7. Click "save info"
8. Go to your blog's page on Technorati (click the link to your claimed blog)
9. Copy your blog's Technorati page address (URL) in the address window

3. Put a Technorati Link in Your Blog's Blogroll (links list in the sidebar)

1. Go to your blog's "dashboard" (hit "meta > login" if you can't get in)
2. Click "Blogroll > Add Link"
3. Type "Technorati" in the "Name" window
4. Type "Connections Since (date you started your blog)" in "Categories" window on the right, and click "Add"
5. Uncheck "Blogroll" in the "Categories" window
6. Paste your Technorati address in the "Address" window (be sure not to have two "http://" prefixes after pasting)
7. (You have to be using Firefox to do this!)  Right click (ctrl + click) on this image, and click "copy image location"      (this copies the URL of the picture)
8. Right click (ctrl + click) on the "Advanced > Image Address" window (toward the bottom of the page) and click "paste" (this pastes the picture URL in the window)
9. Click "Add Link >>" button
10. Click "View Blog" to see your cool little Technorati button in your sidebar!
11. Click on the Technorati picture - if it goes to your Technorati page, congratulations!  :)  (If it doesn't, start over!)

Qualities of a Good Blogger:

1. Title

2. Interesting ideas

3. Connections to others writing about the same ideas, and links to what they wrote, and extensions (challenging, qualifying, adding to their ideas)

4. Images, multimedia embeds (and citations of sources, and no copyright violations - see Creative Commons Search)

5. Quality of communication (whether writing, movie-making, podcasting, whatever):  see separate rubrics or guidelines for each medium

6. Presentation: font large enough and readable?  blank lines separating paragraphs?  images and movies attractively formatted?