Day 3 of 20 Days to BlogTastic - Your First Post


Today is Day 3 of 20 Days to BlogTastic If you'd like to join in on the training click here

Yahoo!  Congratulations to those of you that have a blog setup and looking gorgeous, now let's get to the important stuff...We're looking at making your first blog post today, jump straight in - log onto your blog and click a 'new post' button.  Here's an explanation of what they look like and where to find them.


When you first log into your blog you can click this button to go directly to making a new post.  It will be next to the name of your blog.
If you’ve already clicked the name of your blog you’ll see this button at the top of your screen. Click on it to go directly to making a new post
If you’re already in your blog this button will appear on the left hand side of your screen in the sidebar.  Click on it to go directly to making a new post.

Check out these Thinglinks that show the different areas of a blog post:

Basic Outline of a new post

Click on each of these links to see more in depth Thinglinks on the formatting toolbar.
Formatting Bar - Left
Formatting Bar - Right


How to create your first post
If this is the very first time you've posted to a blog, take a breath, it takes a little bit of getting used to but once you've done it a few times you'll be fine. 
This video shows how to make your first post:





Post Essentials
There are a few things I'd put in every blog post you make:
  1. A Title 
  2. Labels for people and topics that are in the post
  3. Jump breaks for longer posts



A few tips

Think about which account you're using for your photos and videos.  Google drive documents and photos can be given another owner fairly easily, youtube videos are a bit harder.  I suggest uploading youtube videos to a class or administration account rather than an account attached to a specific teacher.

UPDATE - March 2016 - This way of posting photos isn't working anymore.  You can post using photos that have been uploaded to Google Photos.  I'll update this video to reflect the change soon.  

This video explains how to add single photos from Google Photos on Google Drive to your blog post:






At 1minute 57 Seconds This video shows some of the editing features once you've put a photo in a blog post.



These videos show how to add photos to Google Slides and then embed that slideshow into a blog post.  This is a good way to show multiple photos in one blog post.  I'll update these videos over the next few days.


Here's a video that explains how to upload videos to youtube for you blog posts


Here's a video that explains how to add videos to a blog post, from youtube, without the suggested videos at the end.






Ideas for first posts
  • Welcome to term 3 
  • What are you doing in your holidays?
  • What do you think about....?
  • Welcome to room ...
  • Have you seen this great activity?
A few examples
Check out some of the blogs that were posted during our Day 1 and 2 challenges to help you with ideas for your first post.  Here's a link to Day 2 with the list of blogs that have been posted so far.

Flick through this slide show to see a few examples of first posts that have been made from Rowandale school blogs (I've included the blog address with each photo so you can visit and see what they're up to now)





Create and publish your first blog post.  If you've already had a blog setup for a while publish a post that welcomes your students back after the holidays or challenges them to give an opinion about a recent event.
Add a comment to this post to let us know your first post or updated post has been published so we can take a peek and perhaps add a comment.



Have you completed the challenge?
Remember to update your challenge spreadsheet!  You don't need to share your challenge spreadsheet with anyone this is just for your reference.


If you'd like to join the challenge please click here for more information
See you tomorrow!

Comments

  1. Post has been completed. Angela this is so easy to follow. Will these help sheets and Youtube videos stay online so we can refer back them later on?
    Vickie

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    1. Great to hear their easy to follow. Yes, all the posts and videos etc. will be here as long as the blog is here, I don't plan on removing it anytime soon :).

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  2. Easy as!! Well, that is for putting in a photo...videos to come!
    Great stuff Angela.
    Have got another staff member interested, so I hope she has registered. I guess we could do this as a staff later too since the blog will be online for a while?
    Fixed my gadget issue too.....didn't scroll down far enough to see the remove tab...rookie error!

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    1. Yay, so glad you're recommending it to others and yes you're most welcome to carry on as a staff now or at a later date. I've had a few more sign ups in the last 24 hours, your colleague may have been one of them :). If so they'll get the same emails you've had. Glad you fixed the gadget problem.

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  3. First post done! Just a simple welcome back message and a pic of what my family and I have been up too.
    Thank you!

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    1. Simple is often the best way to get a message across, gorgeous photo! Congrats on making your first post.

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  4. Angela I marvel at how you find the time to do all this.... and I appreciate you sharing your knowledge. Thank You! My colleague and I have even added a pic of ourselves as a 'gadget' today..... from two teachers who had never 'blogged' before!

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    1. Thank you for your kind words, teaching/education is my passion so I find time for it whenever I can :).

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  5. I've put up a new post introducing our new term 3 topic and sharing our KWL.

    3eeeps2015.global2.vic.edu.au

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    1. Thanks for sharing great idea to start with a KWL on your new topic.

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  6. Finally decided what to do my post about for this challenge. Chose to do it on my mess of a classroom I created when I decided it would be cool for the kids to come back to the class with a new classroom, it's finally taking shape, hope the kids like it come Monday.

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    1. Thanks for sharing, great idea to share the classroom setup process with your students.

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  7. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  8. Took me a while to write my post, but go there in the end
    http://room3islabankschool.blogspot.co.nz

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    1. Thanks for sharing, looks like you've got an exciting term ahead.

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  9. Added another gadget and added a post. I am only hoping the images and clips I have added are referenced ok and safe. Please advise.

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    1. Thanks for sharing, really informative first post. When referencing images you need to find the original site rather than just google images. Alternatively when you're searching for images select ones that have been marked ok for reuse.

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  10. Hi Angela, I don't have a class but have one post on my blog that I did a couple of weeks ago. I plan to write a post about my blogging experience soon. Question - what is Jump breaks for longer posts? My only post is quite long and wondering if I need one of these?

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    1. No problem, jump breaks split your post up so that whatever is before the jump break shows on your blog then readers need to press the read more levels know to get to whatever is below the jump break in your post. The jump break icon is the one that looks like a ripped bit of paper. Have a play with them you can always delete it if you don't think it works for your blog.

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  11. Hi Angela,
    I have just posted a welcome back - I am going to take a photo tomorrow about what has happened outside our classroom during the holidays and will post then as well.
    Keri

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  12. challenge post done - exciting Saturday night :)

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    Replies
    1. Lol, oh the things we do as teachers on a Saturday night :)

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  13. Day 3 done with a welcome back post

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    1. Congratulations, looking forward to seeing more posts soon!

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  14. My first post is up ... it was so easy with your instructions!

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    1. Congratulations! So great to hear that the instructions made it easy.

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  15. Replies
    1. Yepee!! another virtual high five on its way.

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