Boost Your Blog - 3rd Challenge

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Techie Lab Teacher’s Boost Your Blog Challenge

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A Fun Blogging Challenge with some Ching! Ching!

Your 3rd Blog Challenge Is Here!

Join the “Boost Your Blog Challenge” #3 – Complete the Daily Blog Tasks

and try Win the $50 Target Gift Certificate Check your email daily OR the 157 Staff Dev. Blog for challenge instructions http://bit.ly/dXlJnu

Daily Blog Tasks – Each pg. has a different daily task. Good Luck!

(Wed, July 13th) Task #1 “Can You Follow EVERYBODY?” ---- Follow EVERY Johnson Teacher's Blog Link: http://slidesha.re/raQSi6

Revised July 19, 2011

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Techie Lab Teacher’s Boost Your Blog Challenge

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A Fun Blogging Challenge with some Ching! Ching!

(Thurs, July 14th) Task # 2

“Link It Up!”

--- Make a new link category titled- Teacher Resources Make the following (4) links to: 1. Techie Lab Teacher Blogspot - http://bit.ly/eR0GcT Blog discusses free educational tools available to educators 2. Edublogs “Teacher Challenge- “Kick Start Your Blogging” http://bit.ly/pmlGZi Blog provides helpful activities to help educator produce effective classroom blogs.

3. Choose (2) other comprehensive websites/blogs/wikis that you think would be useful to every teacher at our school site.

For example: (you can’t use it -Lol!) Google Tools for Educators http://sites.google.com/site/toolsforeducators/Home

Revised July 19, 2011

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Techie Lab Teacher’s Boost Your Blog Challenge

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A Fun Blogging Challenge with some Ching! Ching!

(Fri, July 14th) Task # 3

“Say Something Nice”

1. Post comments on (7) of the Johnson Blogs – Link: http://slidesha.re/raQSi6  IMPORTANT: Notify R. Matthews by email which blogs you posted comments.

2. Post comments to the following Techie Lab Teacher Blogspot posts: Post Title: Check Out Schrock’s Google Apps Blooms Correlation Map  http://kathyschrock.net/googleblooms/ Post Title: “Boost Your Blog” Challenge No. 1 Winner  http://techielabteacher.blogspot.com/2011/02/boost-your-blogwinner.html Post Title: Learn 2 Blog Effectively with Edublogs  http://techielabteacher.blogspot.com/2011/01/learn-2-blogeffectively-with-edublog.html  IMPORTANT: Must do for this task - Discuss your successes and challenges you have had since you began to blog.

Revised July 19, 2011

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Techie Lab Teacher’s Boost Your Blog Challenge

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A Fun Blogging Challenge with some Ching! Ching!

(Sat., July 15th) Task #4 “Voki – The Mouthpiece” Embed a “Voki” widget into your blog http://www.voki.com/create.php Your “Voki” message MUST include:  A “Welcome” to your visitors  A short message of the purpose of your blog See these (6) “Voki” examples: 1. 157 Staff Development Blog - http://157staffdevblog.blogspot.com/ 2. Nutrition and Wellness Biology 50- edublog http://nutrition.edublogs.org/2008/04/20/meet-professordoc-the-nutritioncourse-voki/ 3. Voki Educaton Resource Link: http://blog.voki.com/2011/02/18/interviewswith-educators-lisa-nielsen/ 4. LibGuides Help & Documentation http://help.springshare.com/content.php?pid=170792&sid=1474214 5. History – Voki – Pbworks w=Wiki – Jennifer Whitmer http://innovations2010unco.pbworks.com/w/page/31340909/History%20%20Voki 6. World History – Great Voki by Kennedy Jones (A Student) http://www.7aworldhistory.com/4/post/2011/02/great-voki-by-kennedyjones.html Revised July 19, 2011

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Techie Lab Teacher’s Boost Your Blog Challenge

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A Fun Blogging Challenge with some Ching! Ching!

(Sun, July 17th)

Task #5 “From My Head to My Feet” 1. Add a sub‐heading to the title of your blog.  As an example ‐ SEE 157 Staff Dev. Blog’s header http://157staffdevblog.blogspot.com  As an example – SEE Techie Lab Teacher Blogspot http://techielabteacher.blogspot.com/

 READ the sentences under the title of blog.  Sub‐headings – can be used for the following: ‐‐‐ to describe the blog ‐‐‐ to direct your reader to a particular post ‐‐‐ to inform the reader of the sounds or vocals they are hearing

2. Add a fun widget “FISH” in the footer of your blog  As an example – SEE D. Reels’ Blog – “B7’s Happenings” http://b7happenings.blogspot.com/

 Directions for FISH ‐ When you click you mouse on an empty space it leave fish food and the fish migrate to that area and eat the food.

Resources 4 U

Edublog – Teacher Challenge “Kick Start Your Blogging”

http://teacherchallenge.edublogs.org/challenges‐2/30‐days‐to‐kick‐start‐your‐blogging/

Free blogging icons

http://bloggeruniversity.blogspot.com/2008/08/round‐up‐of‐free‐blogging‐icons.html

Revised July 19, 2011

6 Techie Lab Teacher’s Boost Your Blog Challenge

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A Fun Blogging Challenge with some Ching! Ching!

(Mon, July 18th) Task #6 - “Wordle Your Words” “Wordle” is a Free Word Cloud Tool - http://www.wordle.net/ This tool is for generating “words clouds” from text you provide.

You may want to create:  spelling words clouds  personality clouds  subject matter clouds  character study clouds 1. SEE the “Wordle” word cloud I made from the description from above.

2. Simply copy and paste a bunch of text into the “Wordle” box and it will generate your cloud instantly.

3. You can customize your word cloud by font, color, language, layout, etc.

4. Convert your “Wordle” cloud into an image and upload to your blog as a new post and give a brief description of you word cloud.

5. “Wordle” video YouTube tutorial – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhL5D9nz5aI&feat ure=player_embedded SEE other examples 3rd Gr. Class Task of Naming their Guinea Pig – http://mswift.edublogs.org/2011/03/24/naming-ourguinea-pig/

Revised July 19, 2011

7 Techie Lab Teacher’s Boost Your Blog Challenge

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A Fun Blogging Challenge with some Ching! Ching!

(Tues., July 19th) Task #7

“Lights, Camera, Action”

1. Make a “short” screencast video for your students or parents to show them how to use a web tool (maybe how to use “Wordle”- your choice).

2. Upload/ or embed the video into your blog using a FREE screen recording application. For example: SEE my demo of using Screenr - http://157staffdevblog.blogspot.com/p/boost-your-blog.html Screenr - http://www.screenr.com/  My Blog’s Description of Screenr (super easy, but doesn’t display in district’s network) http://techielabteacher.blogspot.com/2011/01/screenr-web-based-screen-recorder.html 

ActivInspire’s Screen recorder feature Record a step in a lesson you are teaching.

Notify me if you need help utilizing this feature

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Jing – http://www.techsmith.com/jing/ Edublogs’ Description of Jing http://teacherchallenge.edublogs.org/2011/04/26/free-tools-challenge-18-the-powers-of-jing/ Other screencasting applications: http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2009/05/four-free-tools-for-creating.html

IMPORTANT: Make the video (very short) – 2min or less. Blogs cannot handle large videos upload, unless they are embedded from another video storage site. This task is a challenge.

Examples of educational screencasts in blogs: Blog: Stretch You Digital Dollar (Scroll down to almost bottom of page) - YouTube http://digitaldollar.edublogs.org/2010/03/08/screencasts-turn-students-into-digital-teachers/

This was your last blog task for Challenge No. 3.

Good Luck!

Revised July 19, 2011