Blogging Course Information

Hello! This course is no longer "live," but I am happy you've stopped by to check it out. If you are an educator interested in starting your own blog or are hoping to introduce your students to blogging, there are some posts here that I hope will help you on your journey. The posts at the beginning of the blog under the "2015" heading will help get you started. While you peruse this site, keep in mind that this was the first time that I taught the course and the first time my students blogged as well, so many imperfections exist, but I think the risk we took in trying something new was well worth any of the errors we made along the way.

Furthermore, if you come across a post or assignment that you would like more information about, please email me at christoffersenj@rocori.k12.mn.us. I would be happy to share any rubrics or handouts I made for you to use in your personal classroom. Thanks so much and best wishes on trying out some new technological tools!

Interview Post

Hello bloggers!
It's our last full class day today, and we are ending it with a partner interview post. You should come up with a list of 7-10 questions to ask a partner about regarding your blog topic. Be creative and make sure the questions are open-ended. Once you have your questions, interview a partner, and record their responses on your blog. It will look something like this:

What has been your favorite part about being in this blogging class?

Alexa: Getting 20 reviews back about my blog:)

If you had to pick your favorite blog to check out from amongst your classmates, whose would it be and why?

Zavier: Probably Dylan's because I like football, and because YOU CAN'T FORGET ABOUT DYLAN!

As you can see, it is helpful to color-code so the reader can tell who is asking and who is answering the questions.

Have fun with this and remember that responses should be written in sentences.

Cheers!
Mrs. C

Voting Day!

Hello bloggers! Today you get to vote on some of your favorite blog elements in class. Use the roster on my page to vote. Start with the first name, and go down the list. Then, you can go back and vote for the spaces you have left. If you don't think anyone fits a particular award, you may leave it blank.

Tell Me A Story

Tell Me a Story

Find an image that relates to your topic. It would help to have people in it, and the more dramatic, the better. Post first. 

Beneath it, make up a story that goes with and explains what led up to the moment in the photo. Be creative! Should be at least 15 sentences with some descriptive elements.

Have a great day!

Blogging Reviews

Hello Bloggers!
Sadly, next week will be our final week together. Sniff. So, let's get those blogs all shined up! Today you get to visit some of your peers' blogs and review how they look so far. I will have you review 3 for sure. If a problem comes up with a link, then pick a different one to do, but I think they all should work. Be sure you get to their home page to start and go from there. Once you finish your reviews, turn them in and work on a new post or polishing up your own blog.

Cheers!
Mrs. C

Found Poetry

Greetings Bloggers!

Today, you get to share your poetic side to the blogging world. For today's task, I would like you to do the following:

1. Finish your found poem based on your topic.
2. Type a new post with your poem and an explanation of how you did it. What was easy? What was the most challenging?
3. Add your poem to this padlet by clicking anywhere on the page and pasting your poem. Find an image to go with it as well. Make sure they are all school-appropriate. You will need a title for your poem as well.
4. Vote on your ballot and turn in to me.

If you finish early, you can always add a new post about your topic to your blog.

Have a great day!

A Poem About Blogging

This is a poem about the drawbacks of blogging as found in this link:

The Blogger’s Lament by Brit

Upstairs in the unforgiving
World, the World must earn a living,
Struggling 'gainst the time and tide,
'Til sun sets on that World Outside
And softly sweet the night is falling,
But the blogger’s lonely calling,
Keeps him to his basement tied. For the blogger’s work is ne’er abated,
The newsfeed’s greed is never sated,
The blogosphere keeps getting bigger,
And RSI it cramps his trigger-
happy finger, ever-clicking,
Ever cutting, pasting, sticking,
And in the end for what? Go figure!

The focus in the poem is on how lonely and difficult it can be to try to make a living at blogging. Overall, it doesn't seem as if the author is happy with doing this for a living and would rather do something else but seems trapped in the cycle of the never-ending demands of his work.