Exercise One: Blog Bling

Welcome back, recruits!  This week's exercise is an extension of last week--we are going to jazz up your blog.  We also want to introduce you to other blog sites available to you.  Blogger isn't your only option! It worked well for us because it's linked to our school Gmail accounts.  Check out Jeremy's collection of other blogging and social media tools that are designed to be used by classroom teachers and students. http://mvtrainings.weebly.com/blogging-web--social-media.html

To Complete Boot Camp Exercise 1:  Blog Bling

1.  Last week we showed you how to follow our blog.  Now, you should choose 3 of your fellow recruits to follow as well.  You'll also be responsible for commenting on 3 other people's posts or products for each activity.

2.  Change the layout of your blog.  Add some gadgets, like Followers (as you can see, we added that to our blog to show all of your blogs!).  Add 3 gadgets of your choosing.

3.  In your blog post for the week, embed a video or photo.  Search Youtube for a video you would use in your classroom.  Embed the video and explain why it would be useful to you.  (When you create your post, there are buttons to either link or embed a photo or a video as part of the menu). Here is a sample video about 21st Century Learners to get you thinking about the wide variety of Web 2.0 tools that are available and how your students may be using them already.

4.  Reflect:

• How could a blog be useful in your classroom or professional life?  If you're not sure of the potential benefits, do a Google search for something like "using blogs in the classroom".  
• Go to http://mvtrainings.weebly.com/blogging-web--social-media.html and view some of the blog options.  Which do you think would be the best option for you?