Today we're looking at connecting your blog with social media and other ways you can connect your community to your blog. If you'd like to find out more about the 20 Days to BlogTastic Click here.
Social Media - Twitter
Do you have a Twitter account? Does your school have a Twitter account? what about your classroom?
Why not tweet out a link to your latest blog post at the end of each day? This could be a student job if you have a class account. The other option is to make this happen automatically - Twitterfeed is a great way to automatically post a new tweet every time you make a new blog post.
On a side note if you haven't explored KidsEdChatNZ on Twitter take a peek it's a great experience for students to have on a Wednesday afternoon (NZ Time).
If you're looking for personal professional development Twitter is a great place to start. This video quickly explains some of the benefits of Twitter...
The #EdChatNZ site has great resources for getting started with Twitter. Check them out here
You can tweet out a link to your latest blog post. Right click on the post title and copy the link address. Paste the link address into a Tweet (you may need to shorten the link first, you can do this through goo.gl) and tweet it out.
I've setup Twitter feed for our school so every time one of our classes makes a new post on their blog it's tweeted out to the world. Here's a quick explanation of how to do that
Social Media - Comments for Kids
The Comments4Kids hashtag on Twitter is full of potential places for you and your students to make comments. Remember you can also post to this hashtag by adding it to the end of your tweet.
More information about the Comments 4 Kids hastag can be found on the website here. While you're there check out some of the blogs that have been showcased, a great way to connect with another new group of class blogs.
Social Media - Facebook
Does your school have a Facebook account? Do you run a parents group via Facebook for you class or school? This is another great place to post links to your latest blog posts.
As mentioned above Twitterfeed is a great way to do this automatically. It works the same was as connecting a Blog, you're just choosing your Facebook Page instead. Please note that you will need to have admin access to your schools Facebook Page to be able to do this.
Other Connections
Remember you can always occasionally let your friends and family know about your class blog especially if your class is doing something amazing.
In Day 10's challenge I mentioned sharing your blog through posters and newsletters using a QR code. There were also a few other ideas about how to share you blog. Check back there for other ideas and see if there's another one you could put into action today.
Do you have business card?
If you give out work contact details via a physical or digital business card consider adding your class blog address to the bottom. Let you're contacts know what it is and ask them to check out your latest post and perhaps make a comment.
Have you been on a class trip recently?
Let the organisers/education staff that you may have connected with on that trip know about your class blog and the great posts you've made about your trip. You could also post a thank-you video, picture, letter to your helpers on your blog and direct your helpers to it in a little thank-you card you send to them.
We're taking it easy today, reflect on how you're sharing your class blog and try sharing it in a different way today. Once you've decided how you're going to share you class blog today add a comment below. If you have other great ideas for sharing your class blog please add those to the comments too, it's great to get ideas from other educators.
Have you completed the challenge?
Remember to update your challenge spreadsheet!
If you'd like to join the challenge please click here for more information
Social Media - Twitter
Do you have a Twitter account? Does your school have a Twitter account? what about your classroom?
Why not tweet out a link to your latest blog post at the end of each day? This could be a student job if you have a class account. The other option is to make this happen automatically - Twitterfeed is a great way to automatically post a new tweet every time you make a new blog post.
On a side note if you haven't explored KidsEdChatNZ on Twitter take a peek it's a great experience for students to have on a Wednesday afternoon (NZ Time).
If you're looking for personal professional development Twitter is a great place to start. This video quickly explains some of the benefits of Twitter...
The #EdChatNZ site has great resources for getting started with Twitter. Check them out here
You can tweet out a link to your latest blog post. Right click on the post title and copy the link address. Paste the link address into a Tweet (you may need to shorten the link first, you can do this through goo.gl) and tweet it out.
I've setup Twitter feed for our school so every time one of our classes makes a new post on their blog it's tweeted out to the world. Here's a quick explanation of how to do that
Social Media - Comments for Kids
The Comments4Kids hashtag on Twitter is full of potential places for you and your students to make comments. Remember you can also post to this hashtag by adding it to the end of your tweet.
More information about the Comments 4 Kids hastag can be found on the website here. While you're there check out some of the blogs that have been showcased, a great way to connect with another new group of class blogs.
Social Media - Facebook
Does your school have a Facebook account? Do you run a parents group via Facebook for you class or school? This is another great place to post links to your latest blog posts.
As mentioned above Twitterfeed is a great way to do this automatically. It works the same was as connecting a Blog, you're just choosing your Facebook Page instead. Please note that you will need to have admin access to your schools Facebook Page to be able to do this.
Other Connections
Remember you can always occasionally let your friends and family know about your class blog especially if your class is doing something amazing.
In Day 10's challenge I mentioned sharing your blog through posters and newsletters using a QR code. There were also a few other ideas about how to share you blog. Check back there for other ideas and see if there's another one you could put into action today.
Do you have business card?
If you give out work contact details via a physical or digital business card consider adding your class blog address to the bottom. Let you're contacts know what it is and ask them to check out your latest post and perhaps make a comment.
Have you been on a class trip recently?
Let the organisers/education staff that you may have connected with on that trip know about your class blog and the great posts you've made about your trip. You could also post a thank-you video, picture, letter to your helpers on your blog and direct your helpers to it in a little thank-you card you send to them.
We're taking it easy today, reflect on how you're sharing your class blog and try sharing it in a different way today. Once you've decided how you're going to share you class blog today add a comment below. If you have other great ideas for sharing your class blog please add those to the comments too, it's great to get ideas from other educators.
Have you completed the challenge?
Remember to update your challenge spreadsheet!
If you'd like to join the challenge please click here for more information
Tonight I am going to share our class blog via email with all my colleagues at school.
ReplyDeleteThanks heaps for all this information - It has been really valuable.
Great idea, and so easy too. Remember to encourage them to comment on your blog... maybe send a few of your students around to show them how :)
DeleteMy initial method of sharing my blog was by email. I think what I would do to increase our numbers of parents looking at the blog would be to run as session with the students on how to use QR codes and then as a homework task, get them to do the same with their parent(s) at home using the blog's QR code. It would also be a good opportunity for them to showcase their blog entries to their parents.
ReplyDelete